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Legendary Travel: Find Your Grail This Summer in Brittany

June 30, 2008 at 9:45 AM | 0 Comments

Get out your jousting staffs! The city of Rennes, France is stealing the standard proudly flown over the UK for its exhibit, "King Arthur: A Legend in the Making," which claims to be the first to examine the famous defender of Great Britain.

The exhibit, opening July 15 at the Champs Libres in Rennes, will explore Arthur in his various retellings from Welsh lore to Tennyson to, one can hope, Disney. Anglophiles might fear, however, that Rennes, in the Breton region, is seizing the glory of Arthurian legend for France. Undoubtedly it will be a matter of discussion at the 22nd congress of the International Arthurian Society, held at nearby Rennes University the July 15-20.

You could accept exhibit curator Sarah Toulouse's anti-poetic explanation for the guy who beat back the Anglo-Saxon invaders, as delivered to the Telegraph:

King Arthur is a mythical character who was invented at a certain point in history for essentially political reasons. If he had really existed there would be more concrete historical traces of him.

Related Stories:
· Britain's King Arthur Rides in France [AFP, via France 24]
· King Arthur Is Propaganda, Say French [Telegraph]
· Movie Set Travel: The Last Legion [Jaunted]

[Photo from "The Sword In The Stone": Virgin Media]