Wéris, the Belgian Stonehenge (1)

Wéris, the Belgian Stonehenge (1)

Back home again from holiday with a set of new pictures.

Today I start with a small series of Wéris.
Wéris is a megalithic site in the south of Belgium and is known as the ‘Belgian Stonehenge’.

Of course it can not really be compared to with the very impressive Stonehenge monument in the UK, but there are quite some many interesting prehistoric relics, graves and monuments to be seen.
I will show a few of them in my series.

Scientists even think that, in the prehistorical Bronze Age, Wéris might well has been one of the most important megalithic centers on the European continent.

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My first shot of the series shows the ‘Haina stone’, on top of an afforested hill.
This ‘magical’ stone is a 3 meter high menhir(°) that consists of a 500 million (!) years old boulder.

Since the middle ages, the boulder was painted white by the villagers of Wéris in an attempt to chase away the devil.
Each year during the summer solstice, the stone was painted white again and this happened until the middle of the 20th century when it was banned.
The whitewash is still visible today.

(°) : a menhir is a standing stone that was often used as a sanctuary by Neolithic people (between 2000 and 3000 years BC)