Controversy erupts as ancient building stones in Carnac France removed for new hardware store

The ancient building stones in Carnac in France have been removed in favor of a new hardware store. It evokes reactions.

Oliver Lepick, mayor of Carnac, claims that he complied with the legislation when builders of a hardware store received a building permit. The consequence is that ancient building stones are removed, writes CNN.

The so-called Carnac Stones in the village of the same name in Brittany, France, consist of 2,500 megalithic stones from the Stone Age.

The monuments consist of parallel and kilometer-long rows of boulders up to 6.5 meters high, according to Large Norwegian encyclopedia.

According to mayor Lepick, the excavations are three kilometers away from a protected tourist attraction. He believes the stones on which the rail trade is to be built have “low archaeological value” and did not deserve archaeological protection.

The removal of the stones became known after the local amateur archaeologist, Christian Obletz, accused local authorities of vandalism in a blog post.

– The latest is planning permission granted by the mayor of Carnac for a Mr. Bricolage store, which destroys 39 menhirs, Obeltz said in a blog post earlier this month, writes CNN.

He is one of those preparing an application for UNESCO World Heritage status to be sent to the French Ministry of Culture at the end of December.

For his part, the mayor denies that the demolition is vandalism.

– There were never 39 menhirs in this place. The preventive excavations we carried out in 2015 clearly show this, Lepick told a French news channel.