Menhirs de Clendy

A neolithic alignment of 45 standing stones on the lakeshore, around 6,500 years old

A short walk north of the town centre, the Menhirs de Clendy stand on a strip of grass between the lakeshore and the main road. The alignment dates from around 4500 BC, making it contemporary with the great Breton megaliths at Carnac, and it is the most important neolithic stone setting in Switzerland.

The site is unfenced, free, and never crowded. A small information panel explains what is known of the people who put the stones here, which is not much. The combination of grey limestone monoliths, lake water, and the distant Alps is striking — especially in late afternoon when the low sun rakes across the stones.

things to do sight
A story
When the level of Lake Neuchâtel was lowered during the Jura water-correction works of the 1870s, the stones surfaced from the mud where they had lain since being toppled in antiquity. They were re-erected in 1986 in what archaeologists believe is close to their original arrangement: a line of 45 menhirs running roughly north-south, the largest just under four metres tall.

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