Krevo Castle is one of the oldest Belarus castles and dates from the early 14th century. It is an important place in Belarus because it was the first all-stone castle to be built in the region. The stone walls were 2.5m thick and 13m high. The castle had two towers which guarded the rest of the fortress. Grand Duke Keistut was murdered in the castle in 1381, and in 1385 the famousKrevo Union (between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) was signed here.
During the 16th century the Tatars and the Russians tried to capture the castle but it remained intact. By the early 19th century the castle was abandoned and the buildings were mostly destroyed during World War I. Today only the ruins of the castle remain. The perimeter walls can still be seen, but only a few fragments of the towers are still intact. There is a magnificent view of the ruins from the top of nearby Yuryeva Mountain.
Many legends surround the Krevo Castle ruins, including tales of an underground tunnel from the castle to Vilnius, and a beautiful princess who was bricked up alive in the castle walls. There is a pagan temple on Yuryeva Mountain and 1 of 4 amulet boulders, which used to lie at the entrance of Krevo to protect the town against trouble and disease, still remains.
References:La Hougue Bie is a Neolithic ritual site which was in use around 3500 BC. Hougue is a Jèrriais/Norman language word meaning a \'mound\' and comes from the Old Norse word haugr. The site consists of 18.6m long passage chamber covered by a 12.2m high mound. The site was first excavated in 1925 by the Société Jersiaise. Fragments of twenty vase supports were found along with the scattered remains of at least eight individuals. Gravegoods, mostly pottery, were also present. At some time in the past, the site had evidently been entered and ransacked.
In Western Europe, it is one of the largest and best preserved passage graves and the most impressive and best preserved monument of Armorican Passage Grave group. Although they are termed \'passage graves\', they were ceremonial sites, whose function was more similar to churches or cathedrals, where burials were incidental.