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Founded: 1721Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: Thirty Years War & Rise of Prussia (Germany)
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The origins of the Alfter palace go back to the 12th century. After it was destroyed many times and each time rebuilt provisionally, in 1721 the castle site was converted into a Baroque palace. The two-floor manor flanked by towers was largely based on the style of the previous buildings, but a lower castle with wings was added. The office of the Elector of Cologne's hereditary Marshall has been associated with Schloss Alfter since 1188. In 1445 the site came under the ownership of the Count and later Elector zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck.
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.