Hunebed D49 - Coevorden

This dolmen is also known as the Papeless Church and is a passage grave. In a passage grave, a corridor leads to the burial chamber(s). It was not until about 1848 that hunebed D49 was called "Papeloze Kerk" in publications. In the second half of the 16th century, when open Protestant religious practice was not allowed by the Catholic authorities, so-called 'hagenpreken' were held here. These were secret Protestant services where no priest ('a paap') was present.

The dolmen was largely restored to its original state by Drenthe archaeologist Albert van Giffen in 1958, 1959, using many stones brought in from elsewhere. He left half of the basement without stop stones and
mantle mound, to allow sufficient light into the reconstructed half and to show visitors part of the stone skeleton.

At D49 is a plaque in honour of Professor Dr Albert van Giffen. He was by far the best-known Dutch archaeologist of the 20th century and was also called "father of the hunebeds" or in good Drents: "oes spittertien"

Over more than 50 years, Van Giffen mapped all still existing dolmens and conducted soil research at several of them. He restored a large number of collapsed and partly destroyed hunebeds.

He was also responsible for the official numbering of the dolmens in the Netherlands, whereby the letter stands for the province in which the dolmen is located and the numbering increases from north to south.

Dr van Giffen's restorations and investigations are important but not uncontroversial. He often relied on 'guesswork' because the original situation could not always be determined with certainty. Nevertheless, Dr van Giffen's work still forms the basis of our knowledge about dolmens today.