Holsthum

Schloss Holsthum, also called Herrenhaus Laeis, is a manor house in the municipality of Holsthum in the county of Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a cultural monument and listed building.The present manor house is a building with eight axes of symmetry with rendered walls, a slate-covered half-hipped mansard roof. It was built in 1789 by officiant (Herrschaftsverwalter or manager of a noble estate), Johann Dominik Laeis, and his son, Matthias Dominik Laeis, by permission of the baroness, Maria Theresia of Eltz-Rodendorf. In the 15th century, the family of Nickenich lived at Holsthum, from 1496 the Burscheid line of the lords of Metternich. From 1753 the Freiherr, Schenk von Schmidtburg, was the owner of the Holsthum estate. The house was given a careful renovation in 2010.

The Hartberg megalithic tomb is an archaeological site of the late Neolithic Age, near Schankweiler and about 10 kilometres (6 mi) south-west of Bitburg, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with Luxemburg.

Ferschweiler is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany.

Schankweiler is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. The Hartberg megalithic tomb, a prehistoric site, is near Schankweiler.

Prümzurlay is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. In 1960, the first bungalow holiday village in Germany was built near the ruins of the Prümerburg and is now named after the castle.

The Ferschweiler Plateau, which is home to the villages of Ferschweiler and Ernzen among others, is an extensive highland area made from sandstone and is located in the collective municipality of Irrel in the county of Bitburg-Prüm in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. From a landscape perspective the Ferschweiler Plateau lies within the South Eifel, a region in the Eifel Mountains. The Ferschweiler Plateau is well known for its many Neolithic (New Stone Age) sites. Important sites include the Fraubillen cross which was originally from the megalithic culture and, according to the missionary, Willibrord, was re-fashioned by hand from a menhir over 4.50 metres high, but is now only 3.50 metres high. Also noteworthy are the Langstein ("Long Stone") and the Druidenstein ("Druid Rock"). At the back of the plateau is the Devil's Gorge as well as Neolithic and a Gallo-Roman grave field. The Ferschweiler Plateau is an escarpment (like the smaller neighbouring plateaux of Bollendorf and Wolsfeld) that was formed rom the porous Luxembourg Sandstone from the Jurassic (Lias li2), most of which lies on the largely impervious layers of the Upper Triassic (keuper).

The Prümerburg is a ruined hill castle on a roughly 30-metre-high lias-sandstone rock on the upper edge of the valley of the Prüm in the municipality of Prümzurlay in the county of Bitburg-Prüm in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Fraubillen cross (German: Fraubillenkreuz) is a menhir, which has been resculpted into a cross. It stands by a wayside on the Ferschweiler Plateau in the Eifel mountains in Germany, between Ferschweiler, Schankweiler, Nusbaum-Rohrbach and Bollendorf. According to tradition, the celebrated missionary in the Eifel region, Willibrord refashioned the roughly 5,000-year-old menhir by hand into the shape of a cross as a Christian monument. Two niches for figures have been chiselled into the rock, each surrounded by holes. Today, the cross is about 3.5 metres high. The origin of its name is unclear. It could be derived from Unserer lieben Frau Bild-Kreuz, "Sculpted Cross of Our Dear Lady". Another possibility is that the name is derived from Sibyl, which was given to prophetic women. Evidence of the latter is that the menhir was mentioned in 1617 as the Sybillen Creutz ("Sybil Cross").

Ernzen is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany.

The Devil's Gorge or Teufelsschlucht is located on the eastern edge of the Ferschweiler Plateau within the South Eifel Nature Park in the vicinity of Irrel. It was formed towards the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago as the result of one or more rock collapses. The cause of this event was probably a combination of the geological and climatic circumstances. The heavily fissured, more or less porous, rock strata of the so-called Luxembourg Sandstone (geologically part of the Lower Jurassic or German Lias) are laid over keuper beds that tend towards being impervious. As weathering progresses, the structure becomes unstable as a result of the undercutting of the sandstone base. Towards the end of the last glaciation period this undercutting, in combination with extensive frost shattering, reached the point where it caused the aforementioned rock collapse. Today numerous boulders on the slopes of the Ferschweiler Plateau bear witness to the major rock displacements of this period. The Devil's Gorge is a rock fissure between about 1 and 5 metres wide and is a direct consequence of the rock collapse. With its bizarre landscape, steep rock faces, narrow gorges and fissures, the Devil's Gorge is a popular attraction for tourists and the start point for other walks in the vicinity.

Irrel is a municipality in the district Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Eifel, near the border with Luxembourg, at the confluence of the rivers Prüm and Nims. It is located approximately 15 km south-west of Bitburg and 5 km north-east of Echternach. Irrel was the seat of the former Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Irrel. Since 1 July 2014 it is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Südeifel.

Irrel was a former Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") in the district Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde was in Irrel. On 1 July 2014 it merged into the new Verbandsgemeinde Südeifel.The Verbandsgemeinde Irrel consisted of the following Ortsgemeinden ("local municipalities"):