Motto:
“If a man does not embrace his past, he has no future.” Ardeth Bay
Dear visitors, come with us to reveal the curtain of the mystery and calm down in the meditative, quiet environment of our castle sanctuary situated in the upper part of the caste park. Here we have built a faithful copy of the Neolithic pagan sanctuary taking our visitors back in time to pre-Christian times and to recall the history of Central Europeans as co-creators of megalithic culture.
Several historical references and brief explanations of terminology used
Megalith of the Greek mega = giant and lithos = stone
Menhir means in the Celts a long stone (men = stone, hir = long) in Brittany language is the same meaning.
Megalithic structures
Among the terms “Menhiry” and “megaliths”, Wikipedia equates: in both cases they are mostly elongated stones in the natural state, or stone blocks only roughly recessed in one end to the ground. They were lonely or organized in groups, either in rows or in circles. The material was different kinds of rocks. Builders most often used stones with an increased proportion of siliceous components.
Since when are the menhirs here, actually?
The oldest sights in Europe date back to the sixth millennium BC. No weapons were found in any of the megaliths, which leads to the belief that it was an unarmed, but highly knowledgeable person in the fields of astronomy, mathematics and geometry, handling the technology of breaking, transporting and erecting large stone blocks. Interestingly, most of the megalithic monuments are repeated as a basic length of 82.9cm.
What did the menhirs serve for?
Stone assemblies served as astronomical observatories that replaced the calendar. It was also a ceremony that replaced the later famous cathedrals in which ceremonies took place.
Our ancestors, by erecting or placing these stones, modified the energetic and magnetic fluxes of Earth (sometimes called dragon veins), and in this way adapted and “cured” the landscape. Our ancestors perceived Earth as the living organism we are part of and whose internal processes can be human interference balance or vice versa.
Where can we find menhirs?
In France, in Brittany, there are several kilometers of massive stones near the town of Carnac. In our regions, we have a small analogy on the plateau above the village of Kounov in Rakovník, and many interesting menhirs can be found in nearby Prague – Vyšehrad.
If you are interested, here you can find (» http://menhiry.mysteria.cz/seznam.htm «) a list of menhirs in the Czech Republic – use our Hotel Dlouhá Lhota as a base for excursions to the footsteps of builders of megalithic buildings.
The largest megalities in the world are in Russia in Siberia, Mount Shoria in the southern Siberian region. Traces of megalithic civilizations can be found in Turkey, Palestine, Korea, Africa, Scandinavia in the Caucasus and of course in Europe.
Inspiration to our Slavic Shrine
Just in case you are interested we present a description of the sacred grove from a monk named Saxo Gramaticus of the 12th century that inspired the emergence and final appearance of our Slavic shrine. The core of the grove is made up of ancient oaks with cracks. A fence of forks with ornately carved spikes was bulit around this core. There were two entrances, some kind of wooden gates. There was nothing to tear or collect anything, Branches of fabrics and sacrificial articles were hanging on the branches. The grove belonged to a pond or spring. Courts were held there, but to shed blood it was forbidden at such a place.
