Poilvache Castle is a ruined medieval castle in the Walloon municipality of Yvoir, overlooking the village of Houx from a clifftop on the river Meuse.
The present ruins date from the 15th century, although there has been a fortification on the site since the time of Charlemagne. The Liégeois town of Poilvache, a thriving walled town, protected by a castle, with a prosperous economy and its own mint, and allied to Duke Philippe the Good, virtually ceased to exist following its 1430 siege by the rebellious Prince-Bishop of Liège, Jean de Heynsbergh, and an estimated army of 30,000 Liégeois, Dinantais and Hutois. The Dinantais besiege Montaigle Castle in 1465 for the same reasons but Montaigle was destroyed in the 16th century by the army of Henri II of France.
From the top of these rocks it is possible to see the isle in the river where the German army and its armoured divisions crossed (in the North of the isle), the river Meuse on 13 May 1940.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.