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| Sunday, 27 November 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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'Brittany, the Kingdom of the Stones' by Ranga Chandrarathne The traditional programme of the Alliance francaise de Kandy - Kandy Alliance Photo - in its 2005 edition welcomed an exhibition titled: 'Brittany, the Kingdom of the Stones', by Janine Guillaume. This exhibition was declared open on November 25 at 6.30 pm and will continue till December 2.
What could they have been used for, what exactly did they mean, all these underground chambers, these cromlec'hs, these dolmens, these standing stones, rising ironically like markers? The confused worship of the stones has survived all the Celtic ups and downs, and survived for so long it was necessary to Christianize the menhirs by carving on them a cross and the instruments of the Passion, just as the Romans had tried to impose on them the image of their gods. "My photographs, explains Janine Guillaume, accompanies you to the country of parish closes, along legendary lanes which are lined with holy fountains, carved clock towers, splendid chapels, roadside crosses and granite calvaries... For many years, people have become aware of the richness of our patrimony, and at the same time of its fragility. We have been able to preserve the stones of Brittany. In Spring and Summer, our houses find them smile again with the roses which embellish their front, the geraniums brightening up their windows and the blue and pink hydrangeas blossoming everywhere. All my photographs - focusing exclusively on the Armorican peninsula, the "Finistere" (Land's end) - depict the Brittany of today, full of authenticity, but equally the Brittany of yesterday rich in its rites and customs, its stories and legends. The lesson of the centuries is preserved there along with the magic of the Round Table..." |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Brittany is first and foremost under the sign of stone... And stone
appears, in the legends and history of Brittany, as the chief means of
expression of its successive inhabitants. Of the obscure people who have
followed one another down through the ages, traces remain which are
relatively simple to decipher - the graves, the bones, the rudimentary pots
and weapons - , and others which are completely illegible. 
