# Great Castles Of Europe



## mudwhistle

Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, France






The *Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte* is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 kilometres (34 mi) southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne _département_ of France.

Constructed from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the château was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the "Louis XIV style" combining architecture, interior design and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is an example of this style.[1]












Once a small château between the royal residences of Vincennes and Fontainebleau, the estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte was purchased in 1641 by Nicolas Fouquet, an ambitious 26-year-old member of the Parlement of Paris. Fouquet was an avid patron of the arts, attracting many artists with his generosity.

When Fouquet became King Louis XIV's superintendant of finances in 1657, he commissioned Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Nôtre to renovate his estate and garden to match his grand ambition. Fouquet’s artistic and cultivated personality subsequently brought out the best in the three.[2]

To secure the necessary grounds for the elaborate plans for Vaux-le-Vicomte’s garden and castle, Fouquet purchased and demolished three villages. The displaced villagers were then employed in the upkeep and maintenance of the gardens. It was said to have employed 18 thousand workers and cost as much as 16 million livres.[3]

The château and its patron became for a short time a focus for fine feasts, literature and arts. The poet Jean de La Fontaine and the playwright Molière were among the artists close to Fouquet. At the inauguration of Vaux-le-Vicomte, a Molière play was performed, along with a dinner event organized by François Vatel and an impressive firework show.[4]






Links

Vaux-le-Vicomte - Wikipedia
Day trip from Paris to Vaux le Vicomte
Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte - Vaux le Vicomte


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## mudwhistle




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## mudwhistle

Alnwick Castle, UK
















*Alnwick Castle* (/ˈænɪk/ (

 listen)) is a castle and stately home in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest, and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a Grade I listed building[2] and as of 2012 received over 800,000 visitors per year.[3]

Alnwick Castle guards a road crossing the River Aln.[4] Yves de Vescy, Baron of Alnwick, erected the first parts of the castle in about 1096.[5] Beatrix de Vesci, daughter of Yves de Vescy married Eustace Fitz John, Constable of Chestershire and Knaresborough. By his marriage to Beatrix de Vesci he gained the Baronies of Malton and Alnwick. The castle was first mentioned in 1136 when it was captured by King David I of Scotland.[6] At this point it was described as "very strong".[4] It was besieged in 1172 and again in 1174 by William the Lion, King of Scotland and William was captured outside the walls during the Battle of Alnwick.[7] Eustace de Vesci, lord of Alnwick, was accused of plotting with Robert Fitzwalter against King John in 1212.[8] In response, John ordered the demolition of Alnwick Castle and Baynard's Castle (the latter was Fitzwalter's stronghold);[9] however, his instructions were not carried out at Alnwick.[10]

The castle had been founded in the late 11th century by Ivo de Vesci, a Norman nobleman from Vassy, Calvados in Normandy. Descendent of Ivo de Vesci, John de Vesci succeeded to his father's titles and estates upon his father's death in Gascony in 1253. These included the barony of Alnwick and a large property in Northumberland and considerable estates in Yorkshire, including Malton. Due to being under age, King Henry III of England conferred the wardship of John's estates to a foreign kinsmen, which caused great offence to the de Vesci family. The family's property and estates had been put into the guardianship of Antony Bek, who sold them to the Percys. From this time the fortunes of the Percys, though they still held their Yorkshire lands and titles, were linked permanently with Alnwick and its castle and have been owned by the Percy family, the Earls and later Dukes of Northumberland since.[11] The stone castle Henry Percy bought was a modest affair, but he immediately began rebuilding. Though he did not live to see its completion, the building programme turned Alnwick into a major fortress along the Anglo-Scottish border. His son, also called Henry (1299–1352), continued the building.[12] The Abbot's Tower, the Middle Gateway and the Constable's Tower survive from this period.[11] The work at Alnwick Castle balanced military requirements with the family's residential needs. It set the template for castle renovations in the 14th century in northern England; several palace-fortresses, considered "extensive, opulent [and] theatrical" date from this period in the region, such as the castles of Bamburgh and Raby.[13] In 1345 the Percys acquired Warkworth Castle, also in Northumberland. Though Alnwick was considered more prestigious, Warkworth became the family's preferred residence.[14]

The Percy family were powerful lords in northern England. Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland (1341–1408), rebelled against King Richard II and helped dethrone him. The earl later rebelled against King Henry IV and after defeating the earl in the Battle of Shrewsbury, the king chased him north to Alnwick. The castle surrendered under the threat of bombardment in 1403.[15]





Alnwick Castle by J.M.W. Turner
During the Wars of the Roses, castles were infrequently engaged in battle and conflict was generally based around combat in the field. Alnwick was one of three castles held by Lancastrian forces in 1461 and 1462, and it was there that the "only practical defence of a private castle" was made according to military historian D. J. Cathcart King.[16] It was held against King Edward until its surrender in mid-September 1461 after the Battle of Towton. Re-captured by Sir William Tailboys, during the winter it was surrendered by him to Hastings, Sir John Howard and Sir Ralph Grey of Heton in late July 1462. Grey was appointed captain but surrendered after a sharp siege in the early autumn. King Edward responded with vigour and when the Earl of Warwick arrived in November Queen Margaret and her French advisor, Pierre de Brézé were forced to sail to Scotland for help. They organised a mainly Scots relief force which, under George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus and de Brézé, set out on 22 November. Warwick's army, commanded by the experienced Earl of Kent and the recently pardoned Lord Scales, prevented news getting through to the starving garrisons. As a result, the nearby Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh castles soon agreed terms and surrendered. But Hungerford and Whittingham held Alnwick until Warwick was forced to withdraw when de Breze and Angus arrived on 5 January 1463.

The Lancastrians missed a chance to bring Warwick to battle instead being content to retire, leaving behind only a token force which surrendered next day.

By May 1463 Alnwick was in Lancastrian hands for the third time since Towton, betrayed by Grey of Heton who tricked the commander, Sir John Astley. Astley was imprisoned and Hungerford resumed command.

After Montagu's triumphs at Hedgeley Moor and Hexham in 1464 Warwick arrived before Alnwick on 23 June and received its surrender next day.

After the execution of Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, in 1572 Alnwick castle was uninhabited.[12] In the second half of the 18th century Robert Adam carried out many alterations. The interiors were largely in a Strawberry Hill gothic style not at all typical of his work, which was usually neoclassical.

However, in the 19th century Algernon, 4th Duke of Northumberland replaced much of Adam's architecture. Instead he paid Anthony Salvin £250,000 between 1854 and 1865 to remove the Gothic additions and other architectural work. Salvin is mostly responsible for the kitchen, the Prudhoe Tower, the palatial accommodation, and the layout of the inner ward.[17] According to the official website a large amount of Adam's work survives, but little or none of it remains in the principal rooms shown to the public, which were redecorated in an opulent Italianate style in the Victorian era by Luigi Canina.

Links

Alnwick Castle - Wikipedia
https://www.pinterest.com/alnwickcastle/alnwick-castle-film-locations/
Harry Potter filming locations guide


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## mudwhistle




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## mudwhistle

Windsor Castle, UK














*Windsor Castle* is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is notable for its long association with the English and later British royal family and for its architecture. The original castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I, it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle's lavish early 19th-century State Apartments were described by the art historian Hugh Roberts as "a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms widely regarded as the finest and most complete expression of later Georgian taste".[4] Inside the castle walls is the 15th-century St George's Chapel, considered by the historian John Martin Robinson to be "one of the supreme achievements of English Perpendicular Gothic" design.[5]

Originally designed to protect Norman dominance around the outskirts of London and oversee a strategically important part of the River Thames, Windsor Castle was built as a motte-and-bailey, with three wards surrounding a central mound. Gradually replaced with stone fortifications, the castle withstood a prolonged siege during the First Barons' War at the start of the 13th century. Henry III built a luxurious royal palace within the castle during the middle of the century, and Edward III went further, rebuilding the palace to make an even grander set of buildings in what would become "the most expensive secular building project of the entire Middle Ages in England".[6] Edward's core design lasted through the Tudor period, during which Henry VIII and Elizabeth I made increasing use of the castle as a royal court and centre for diplomatic entertainment.

Windsor Castle survived the tumultuous period of the English Civil War, when it was used as a military headquarters by Parliamentary forces and a prison for Charles I. At the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II rebuilt much of Windsor Castle with the help of the architect Hugh May, creating a set of extravagant Baroque interiors that are still admired. After a period of neglect during the 18th century, George III and George IV renovated and rebuilt Charles II's palace at colossal expense, producing the current design of the State Apartments, full of Rococo, Gothic and Baroque furnishings. Queen Victoria made a few minor changes to the castle, which became the centre for royal entertainment for much of her reign. Windsor Castle was used as a refuge by the royal family during the Luftwaffe bombing campaigns of the Second World War and survived a fire in 1992. It is a popular tourist attraction, a venue for hosting state visits, and the preferred weekend home of Elizabeth II.

Links

Windsor Castle - Wikipedia
Windsor Castle
Royal Residences: Windsor Castle


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## mudwhistle

Balmoral Castle, UK










*Balmoral Castle* /bælˈmɒrəl/ is a large estate house in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, near the village of Crathie, 6.2 miles (10 km) west of Ballater and 6.8 miles (11 km) east of Braemar.

Balmoral has been one of the residences for members of the British Royal Family since 1852, when the estate and its original castle were purchased privately by Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria. They remain as the private property of the royal family and are not the property of the Crown.

Soon after the estate was purchased by the royal family, the existing house was found to be too small and the current Balmoral Castle was commissioned. The architect was William Smith of Aberdeen, although his designs were amended by Prince Albert.

The castle is an example of Scots Baronial architecture, and is classified by Historic Scotland as a category A listed building.[1] The new castle was completed in 1856 and the old castle demolished shortly thereafter.

The Balmoral Estate has been added to by successive members of the royal family, and now covers an area of approximately 50,000 acres (20,000 ha). It is a working estate, including grouse moors, forestry, and farmland, as well as managed herds of deer, Highland cattle, and ponies.

Links
Balmoral Castle - Wikipedia
Balmoral - The Scottish holiday home to the Royal Family.
Balmoral Castle


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## mudwhistle

Neuschwanstein Castle, FRG















*Neuschwanstein Castle* (German: _*Schloss Neuschwanstein*_, pronounced [nɔʏˈʃvaːnʃtaɪn], English: *"New Swanstone Castle"*[1]) is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as a homage to Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.

The castle was intended as a home for the king, until he died in 1886. It was open to the public shortly after his death.[2] Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle.[3] More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer.[4] The palace has appeared prominently in several movies such as _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_ and _The Great Escape_ and serves as the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle[5] and later, similar structures.







Links
Neuschwanstein Castle - Wikipedia
Neuschwanstein – The Fairytale Castle
25 Enchanting Facts About Neuschwanstein Castle


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## mudwhistle




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## mudwhistle

Castle of Coco, Spain











Coca, Segovia


Coca is a municipality in the province of Segovia, central Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. It is located 50 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital city of Segovia, and 60 kilometres from Valladolid. Coca is known for its 15th-century Mudéjar castle, and as the birthplace of Roman Emperor Theodosius I. The town had a population of 2,131 in 2009.


The town is surrounded by pine forests which contribute to the economy of the town and the region.
Coca, Segovia - Wikipedia


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## mudwhistle

*Château de Chenonceau, France*

*



*

*The Château de Chenonceau (French: [ʃɑto də ʃənɔ̃so]) is a French château spanning the River Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire valley.[1]*

*The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century.[2] The current château was built in 1514–1522 on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river. The bridge over the river was built (1556-1559) to designs by the French Renaissance architect Philibert de l'Orme, and the gallery on the bridge, built from 1570–1576 to designs by Jean Bullant.[3]*

*Description*
*

*

*View of the château from the edge of the formal gardens to the west of the residence. The medieval keep to the left is the last vestige of the previous château, located in what is now the forecourt, still surrounded by moats.*
*An architectural mixture of late Gothic and early Renaissance, Château de Chenonceau and its gardens are open to the public. Other than the Royal Palace of Versailles, it is the most visited château in France.*

*The château has been classified as a Monument historique since 1840 by the French Ministry of Culture.[4] Today, Chenonceau is a major tourist attraction and in 2007 received around 800,000 visitors.[5]*

*History*
*The Marques family*
*In the 13th century, the fief of Chenonceau belonged to the Marques family. The original château was torched in 1412 to punish owner Jean Marques for an act of sedition. He rebuilt a château and fortified mill on the site in the 1430s. Jean Marques's indebted heir Pierre Marques found it necessary to sell.*

*



*

*Links*

*Château de Chenonceau - Wikipedia*
*Château de Chenonceau - Chenonceau, Indre-et-Loire, France*


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## mudwhistle

*Ashford Castle, Cong, Ireland*






*Ashford Castle* is a medieval castle that has been expanded over the centuries and turned into a five star luxury hotel near Cong on the Mayo-Galway border, on the shore of Lough Corrib in Ireland. It is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World organisation and was previously owned by the Guinness family.
*Contents*
*Early history*

A castle was built on the perimeter of a Monastic site in 1228 by the Anglo-Norman House of Burke.[1]

After more than three-and-a-half centuries under the de Burgos, whose surname became Burke or Bourke, Ashford passed into the hands of a new master, following a fierce battle between the forces of the de Burgos and those of the English official Sir Richard Bingham, Lord President of Connaught, when a truce was agreed. In 1589, the castle fell to Bingham, who added a fortified enclave within its precincts.[_citation needed_][2]

Dominick Browne, of the Browne Family (Baron Oranmore) received the estate in a Royal Grant in either 1670 or 1678.[3] In 1715, the estate of Ashford was established by the Browne family and a hunting lodge in the style of a 17th-century French chateau was constructed. The double-headed eagles still visible on the roof represent the coat of arms of the Brownes.[1]

In the late 18th-century a branch of the family inhabited the castle. In the early 19th-century, one Thomas Elwood was agent for the Brownes at Ashford and was recorded as living there in 1814.[4]
















Links

Ashford Castle - Wikipedia


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## Dalia

Amelie, Maisons Familiales, Autriche, Château, Sissi.

https://www.pinterest.fr/xoxofromParis/possenhofen


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## skye

So many castles.....so little time!


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## mudwhistle

*Schloss Schönbrunn und Garten, Austria*

*



*










* Schönbrunn Palace *
At the end of the seventeenth century Emperor Leopold I commissioned the Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, who had received his training in Rome, to design an imperial hunting lodge for his son, Crown Prince Joseph, later to become Emperor Joseph I. Replacing the château de plaisance built on this site for the dowager empress Eleonora of Gonzaga in 1642, it was to grow into a palatial imperial residence over the course of the eighteenth century.

* From the hunting lodge into a summer residence *
An overview of the fascinating architectural history of Schönbrunn Palace, the beginnings of which go back to the Middle Ages. 
You can also find out about the origins of the famous ‘Schönbrunn Yellow‘ paint!





*The early history of Schönbrunn*
The history of Schönbrunn and the buildings that previously stood on this site dates back to the fourteenth century. In 1569 the Katterburg estate came into Habsburg possession through Maximilian II. According to legend, Emperor Matthias discovered a spring that gave the estate the name it still bears today.






*Architectural history: 17th & early 18th century*
Schönbrunn was not spared the depredations of Turkish forces during the siege of Vienna in 1683. Subsequently a hunting lodge designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach was built on the site of the manor house but was uncompleted when Joseph I died suddenly in 1711. It was then used by the emperor’s wife, Wilhelmine Amalia, as her dower residence.






*Architectural history: 18th century*
The first phase of work on the former hunting lodge began in the winter of 1742/43 and eventually culminated in a huge rebuilding project that turned it into a stately residence which from 1745 was occupied every summer by the imperial family. Changing circumstances and constant interventions by Maria Theresa meant that the work continued into the 1760s. The final project commissioned by the empress was the redesigning of the gardens in the 1770s.






*Architectural history: 19th century*
Following the death of Maria Theresa in 1780 the palace at Schönbrunn was not used again until the reign of Emperor Franz II (I) in the early nineteenth century. When preparations for the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15 were being made it became clear that Schönbrunn urgently needed renovating and refurbishing to bring it up to date. The renovation of the façade concluded the work and under the supervision of court architect Johann Aman the palace was given the characteristic appearance it still retains today.

Links

Schönbrunn
The Palace


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## mudwhistle

*Vajdahunyad Castle, Budapest, Hungary*














*Vajdahunyad Castle* (Hungarian: _Vajdahunyad vára_) is a castle in the City Park of Budapest, Hungary. It was built in 1896[1] as part of the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated the 1,000 years of Hungary since the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895. The castle was designed by Ignác Alpár to feature copies of several landmark buildings from different parts the Kingdom of Hungary, especially the Hunyad Castle in Transylvania (now in Romania). As the castle contains parts of buildings from various time periods, it displays different architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. Originally, it was made from cardboard and wood, but it became so popular that it was rebuilt from stone and brick between 1904 and 1908. Today, it houses the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, the biggest agricultural museum in Europe.[2]

The statue of the chronicler Anonymus (by Miklós Ligeti) is also displayed in the castle court. Anonymus lived in the 12th century (his true identity is unknown, but he was a notary of Béla III of Hungary), who wrote the chronicle Gesta Hungarorum (Deeds of the Hungarians).

The castle contains a statue of Béla Lugosi, as well, who was a Hungarian-American actor famous for portraying Count Dracula in the original 1931 film.






Links

Vajdahunyad Castle - Wikipedia
History of Vajdahunyad Castle Budapest - Vajdahunyad Castle
Vajdahunyad Castle


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## mudwhistle

*Peles Castle, Sinaia, Romania*











*Peleș Castle* (Romanian: _Castelul Peleș_ pronounced [kasˈtelul ˈpeleʃ] (

 listen)) is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inauguration was held in 1883. It was constructed for King Carol I.

*Location*
The complex is northwest of the town of Sinaia, which is 48 kilometres (30 mi) from Braşov and 124 kilometres (77 mi) from Bucharest. Nestled in the southeastern Carpathian Mountains, the complex is composed of three monuments: Peleș Castle, Pelișor Castle, and the Foișor Hunting Lodge.

*History*
When the King Carol I of Romania (1839–1914), under whose reign the country gained its independence, first visited the site of the future castle in 1866, he fell in love with the magnificent mountain scenery. In 1872, the Crown purchased 1,300 square kilometres (500 sq mi) of land near the Piatra Arsă River. The estate was named the Royal Estate of Sinaia. The King commissioned the construction of a royal hunting preserve and summer retreat on the property, and the foundation was laid for Peleș Castle on 22 August 1873. Several auxiliary buildings were built simultaneously with the castle: the guards' chambers, the Economat Building, the Foișor hunting lodge, the royal stables, and a power plant. Peleș became the world's first castle fully powered by locally produced electricity.

The first three design plans submitted for Peleș were copies of other palaces in Western Europe, and King Carol I rejected them all as lacking originality and being too costly. German architect Johannes Schultz won the project by presenting a more original plan, something that appealed to the King's taste: a grand palatial alpine castle combining different features of classic European styles, mostly following Italian elegance and German aesthetics along Renaissance lines. Works were also led by architect Carol Benesch.[2] Later additions were made between 1893 and 1914 by the Czech architect Karel Liman, who designed the towers, including the main central tower, which is 66 metres (217 ft) in height. The Sipot Building, which served as Liman's headquarters during the construction, was built later on. Liman would supervise the building of the nearby Pelișor Castle (1889–1903, the future residence of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania), as well as of King Ferdinand's villa in the Royal Sheepfold Meadow.

The cost of the work on the castle undertaken between 1875 and 1914 was estimated to be 16,000,000 Romanian lei in gold (approx. US$ 120 million today). Between three and four hundred men worked on the construction. Queen Elisabeth of the Romanians, during the construction phase, wrote in her journal:

Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, the Gypsies were coolies. Albanians and Greeks worked in stone, Germans and Hungarians were carpenters. Turks were burning brick. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech. The Frenchmen were drawing, the Englishmen were measuring, and so was then when you could see hundreds of national costumes and fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled in all dialects and tones, a joyful mix of men, horses, cart oxen and domestic buffaloes.

Construction saw a slight slowdown during the Romanian War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1877–78, but soon afterwards the plans grew in size and construction was quite rapid. Peleș Castle had its official Royal Ball of Inauguration on 7 October 1883. King Carol I and Queen Elizabeth lived in Foişor Villa during construction, as did King Ferdinand and Queen Mary during the construction of Pelișor Castle. King Carol II was born at the castle in 1893, giving meaning to the phrase "cradle of the dynasty, cradle of the nation" that Carol I bestowed upon Peleș Castle. Carol II lived in Foișor Villa for periods during his reign.

After King Michael I's forced abdication in 1947, the Communist regime seized all royal property, including the Peleș Estate. The castle was opened as a tourist attraction for a short time. It also served as a recreation and resting place for Romanian cultural personalities. The castle was declared a museum in 1953. Nicolae Ceaușescu closed the entire estate between 1975 and 1990, during the last years of the Communist regime. The area was declared a "State Protocol Interest Area", and the only persons permitted on the property were maintenance and military personnel.

Links

Peleș Castle - Wikipedia
Peles Castle - Castles and Fortresses in Romania.


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## mudwhistle

*Burg Hohenwerfen, Salzburg, Austria*











*Hohenwerfen Castle* (German: _Festung Hohenwerfen_) is a medieval rock castle, situated on a 623 metres (2,044 ft)[1] precipice overlooking the Austrian market town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Salzburg. The fortress is surrounded by the Berchtesgaden Alps and the adjacent Tennen Mountains. Hohenwerfen is a "sister" of Hohensalzburg Castle, both built by the Archbishops of Salzburg in the 11th century.

*History*
The fortification was built between 1075 and 1078 at the behest of Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg during the Imperial Investiture Controversy, meant as a strategic bulwark atop a 155-metre (509 ft) high rock. Gebhard, an ally of Pope Gregory VII and the anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden, had three major castles extended to secure the route across the Eastern Alps along the Salzach river against the forces of King Henry IV of Germany: Hohenwerfen, Hohensalzburg and Petersberg Castle at Friesach in Carinthia. Nevertheless, King Henry had Gebhard expelled in 1077 and the archbishop could not return to Salzburg until 1086, only to die at Hohenwerfen two years later.





Johann Michael Sattler: _Festung Hohenwerfen_, 1827/28
In the following centuries Hohenwerfen served Salzburg's rulers, the prince-archbishops, not only as a military base but also as a residence and hunting retreat. The fortress was extended in the 12th century and to a lesser extent again in the 16th century during the German Peasants' War, when in 1525 and 1526 riotous farmers and miners from the south of Salzburg moved towards the city, laying fire and severely damaging the castle.





Shot from the castle, overlooking the gardens. 2004
Alternatively it was used as a state prison and therefore had a somewhat sinister reputation. Its prison walls have witnessed the tragic fate of many 'criminals' who spent their days there – maybe their last – under inhumane conditions, and, periodically, various highly ranked noblemen have also been imprisoned there including rulers such as Archbishop Adalbert III, arrested by his own _ministeriales_ in 1198; Count Albert of Friesach (in 1253); the Styrian governor Siegmund von Dietrichstein, captured by insurgent peasants in 1525; and Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau, who died here in 1617 after six years of imprisonment.

In 1931 the fortress, since 1898 owned by Archduke Eugen of Austria was again damaged by a fire and, though largely restored, finally had to be sold to the Salzburg _Reichsgau_ administration in 1938. After World War II it was used as a training camp by the Austrian Gendarmerie (rural police) until 1987.

Currently, the bastion functions as a museum. Among the numerous attractions offered by the fortress are guided tours showing its extensive weapons collection, the historical Salzburg Falconry with the falconry museum as well as a fortress tavern. The historic Falconry Centre is a special attraction, offering daily flight demonstrations using various birds of prey, including eagles, falcons, hawks, and vultures





Links

Hohenwerfen Castle - Wikipedia
Hohenwerfen Castle


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## mudwhistle

*Highclere Castle, UK*

*



*


*Highclere Castle* /ˈhaɪklɪər/ is a country house in the Jacobethan style by the architect Charles Barry, with a park designed by Capability Brown. The 5,000-acre (2,000 ha) estate is in Hampshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Newbury, Berkshire. It is the country seat of the Earl of Carnarvon, a branch of the Anglo-Welsh Herbert family.[2]

Highclere Castle was a filming location for the British comedy series _Jeeves and Wooster_, which starred comedians Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. It was also used as the main filming location for the award-winning period drama _Downton Abbey_.[3] The great hall and some of the bedrooms located inside the building were also used for filming.

The castle and gardens are open to the public during July and August and at times during the rest of the year.

*History*
*Early years*
The castle stands on the site of an earlier house, which was built on the foundations of the medieval palace of the Bishops of Winchester, who owned this estate from the 8th century.[4][5] The original site was recorded in the Domesday Book[_citation needed_].

*Edward II*
An itinerary of King Edward II lists him as spending 2 September 1320 with Rigaud of Assier, the Bishop of Winchester, at Bishop's Clere, alias Highclere. The same tour has him on 31 August 1320 at Sandleford Priory, where he apparently stayed for the night,[6] and on 29 and 30 August he was at Crookham, Berkshire.[7]

*Robert Sawyer*
Since 1679 Highclere has been home to the Earls of Carnarvon and their forebears. In 1692, Sir Robert Sawyer, a lawyer, MP, Speaker, and college friend of Samuel Pepys, bequeathed a mansion at Highclere to his only daughter, Margaret, the first wife of the 8th Earl of Pembroke. Their second son, Robert Sawyer Herbert, inherited Highclere, began its portrait collection and created the garden temples. His nephew and heir Henry Herbert was created Baron Porchester and later Earl of Carnarvon by George III.

*Milles and Pococke families*
In 1680 Sir Robert Sawyer presented the living of Highclere to Rev. Isaac Milles (1638-1720), the elder, who remained there till his death. White Oak was the parsonage where Milles took pupils, including the many children of Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, by marriage the new proprietor of Highclere. Rev. Isaac Milles (fl. 1701-1727), the younger,[8] carried on his father’s school at Highclere.[9] Milles the younger's daughter Elizabeth married Reverend Richard Pococke,[10] LL.B. (1660–1710) and had the Rt. Rev. Richard Pococke (1704–1765), who having been educated by his grandfather Milles, at his school at Highclere rectory, went on to become domestic chaplain to the Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, and then Bishop of Ossory and Meath, and a renowned travel writer and orientalist.

Bishop Pococke was one of the first to collect seeds of the Cedar of Lebanon which he did during his tour of Lebanon in 1738.[11] Some of these seeds germinated and grew at Highclere and Wilton House, but probably also at nearby Sandleford and his family's own Newtown House, Hampshire.[12][13]

Coincidently, the seemingly unrelated and earlier Rev. Edward Pococke (1604–1691), another orientalist, was sometime vicar of Chieveley, and then rector of Childrey both nearby in Berkshire, was an even earlier importer of the cedar.[14] And of his six sons, the eldest, Edward Pococke (1648–1727) was chaplain to the Earl of Pembroke, and rector of Minall or Mildenhall, Wiltshire (1692), and canon of Salisbury (1675).[15]






Links

Highclere Castle - Wikipedia
Highclere Castle - Photos of Highclere Castle
Tour Highclere Castle


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## mudwhistle




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## mudwhistle

Dalia said:


> Amelie, Maisons Familiales, Autriche, Château, Sissi.
> 
> https://www.pinterest.fr/xoxofromParis/possenhofen


*Château de Possenhofen*

*



*











*Possenhofen Castle*

*Possenhofen Castle* (German: _Schloss Possenhofen_) is located in the town of Possenhofen on the western shore of Lake Starnberg in Bavaria, Germany.

*History*
The castle was built in 1536 by Jakob Rosenbusch, was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War, then rebuilt. It passed through various owners before being bought in 1834 by Maximilian, Duke in Bavaria, father of the future Empress Elisabeth (wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria); thus, the castle is best remembered today as her childhood home and favourite vacation retreat.

The castle served as a seat of the Dukes in Bavaria, a junior branch of the House of Wittelsbach, until it became derelict after 1920. Luitpold Emanuel Ludwig Maria, Duke in Bavaria (1890-1973) sold it, as well as Biederstein Castle in Munich-Schwabing, in order to build his late romantic Schloss Ringberg. Possenhofen Castle subsequently served various functions—children's home, hospital, even a motorcycle repair shop—until being restored and converted to flats in the 1980s. The street address is Karl-Theodor-Strasse 14, Possenhofen.

Coordinates: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


47.95875°N 11.313056°E

Links

Possenhofen Castle - Wikipedia
Possenhofen Castle - Pöcking - Landmark & Historical Place, Arts & Entertainment | Facebook
ÉLISABETH DE WITTELSBACH, HÉRITIÈRE D’UNE GRANDE DYNASTIE


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## Dalia

Castle Sully sur Loire, France.

Castle of Sully


----------



## mudwhistle

*Warwick Castle, UK*











*Warwick Castle* (/ˈwɒrɪk/ (

 listen) _*WORR*-ik_) is a medieval castle developed from an original built by William the Conqueror in 1068. Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England, situated on a bend of the River Avon. The original wooden motte-and-bailey castle was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century. During the Hundred Years War, the facade opposite the town was refortified, resulting in one of the most recognisable examples of 14th century military architecture. It was used as a stronghold until the early 17th century, when it was granted to Sir Fulke Greville by James I in 1604. Greville converted it to a country house and it was owned by the Greville family, who became Earls of Warwick in 1759, until 1978 when it was bought by the Tussauds Group.

In 2007, the Tussauds Group was purchased by The Blackstone Group which merged it with Merlin Entertainments; Warwick Castle was then sold to Nick Leslau's investment firm Prestbury Group under a sale and leaseback agreement.[1] Merlin continues to operate the site under a renewable 35-year lease.[2][3]

*Location*




The 1834 Ordnance Survey shows the castle to the south of the town, next to the River Avon.
Warwick Castle is situated in the town of Warwick, on a sandstone bluff at a bend of the River Avon. The river, which runs below the castle on the east side, has eroded the rock the castle stands on, forming a cliff. The river and cliff form natural defences. When construction began in 1068, four houses belonging to the Abbot of Coventry were demolished to provide room. The castle's position made it strategically important in safeguarding the Midlands against rebellion.[4] During the 12th century, King Henry I was suspicious of Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick. To counter the earl's influence, Henry bestowed Geoffrey de Clinton with a position of power rivalling that of the earl.[5] The lands he was given included Kenilworth – a castle of comparable size, cost, and importance,[6] founded by Clinton[7] – which is about 8 kilometres (5 mi) to the north. Warwick Castle is about 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) from Warwick railway station and less than 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) from junction 15 of the M40 motorway; it is also close to Birmingham Airport.[8]

*History*
*Antecedent*
An Anglo-Saxon burh was established on the site in 914; with fortifications instigated by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. The burh she established was one of ten which defended Mercia against the invading Danes. Its position allowed it to dominate the Fosse Way, as well as the river valley and the crossing over the River Avon. Though the motte to the south-west of the present castle is now called "Ethelfleda's Mound", it is in fact part of the later Norman fortifications, and not of Anglo-Saxon origin.[9]






Links

Warwick Castle - Wikipedia
Warwick Castle


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## mudwhistle

*Mont Saint-Michel, France*

*



*


*Le Mont-Saint-Michel* (pronounced [lə mɔ̃ sɛ̃ mi.ʃɛl]; Norman: _Mont Saint Miché_, English: Saint Michael's Mount) is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located about one kilometre (0.6 miles) off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is 100 hectares (247 acres) in size. As of 2009, the island has a population of 44.[1]

The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times and since the 8th century AD has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery; below, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, houses for fishermen and farmers.

The commune's position — on an island just 600 metres from land — made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey, but defensible as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned would-be assailants. The Mont remained unconquered during the Hundred Years' War; a small garrison fended off a full attack by the English in 1433.[2] The reverse benefits of its natural defence were not lost on Louis XI, who turned the Mont into a prison. Thereafter the abbey began to be used more regularly as a jail during the Ancien Régime.

One of France's most recognizable landmarks, visited by more than 3 million people each year, Mont Saint-Michel and its bay are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.[3] Over 60 buildings within the commune are protected in France as _monuments historiques_.[4]






*Formation*
Now a rocky tidal island, the Mont occupied dry land in prehistoric times. As sea levels rose, erosion reshaped the coastal landscape, and several outcrops of granite emerged in the bay, having resisted the wear and tear of the ocean better than the surrounding rocks. These included Lillemer, the Mont-Dol, Tombelaine (the island just to the north), and Mont Tombe, later called Mont Saint-Michel.

Mont Saint-Michel consists of leucogranite, which solidified from an underground intrusion of molten magma about 525 million years ago, during the Cambrian period, as one of the younger parts of the Mancellian granitic batholith.[5] (Early studies of Mont Saint-Michel by French geologists sometimes describe the leucogranite of the Mont as "granulite", but this granitic meaning of granulite is now obsolete).[6]

The Mont has a circumference of about 960 metres (3,150 ft) and its highest point is 92 metres (302 ft) above sea level.[7]

*Tides*
The tides can vary greatly, at roughly 14 metres (46 ft) between high and low water marks. Popularly nicknamed "St. Michael in peril of the sea" by medieval pilgrims making their way across the flats, the mount can still pose dangers for visitors who avoid the causeway and attempt the hazardous walk across the sands from the neighbouring coast.

Polderisation and occasional flooding have created salt marsh meadows that were found to be ideally suited to grazing sheep. The well-flavoured meat that results from the diet of the sheep in the _pré salé_ (salt meadow) makes _agneau de pré-salé_ (salt meadow lamb), a local specialty that may be found on the menus of restaurants that depend on income from the many visitors to the mount.

*Tidal island*




Low tide in 2005




Mont Saint-Michel in 2014 with the new bridge
The connection between Mont Saint-Michel and the mainland has changed over the centuries. Previously connected by a tidal causeway (a path uncovered only at low tide), this was converted into a raised (permanently dry) causeway in 1879, preventing the tide from scouring the silt around the mount. The coastal flats have also been polderised to create pastureland, decreasing the distance between the shore and the island, and the Couesnon River has been canalised, reducing the dispersion of the flow of water. These factors all encouraged silting-up of the bay.

On 16 June 2006, the French prime minister and regional authorities announced a €164 million project (_Projet Mont-Saint-Michel_)[8] to build a hydraulic dam using the waters of the river Couesnon and the tides to help remove the accumulated silt, and to make Mont Saint-Michel an island again.

The construction of the dam began in 2009. The project also includes the removal of the causeway and its visitor car park. Since 28 April 2012 the new car park on the mainland has been located 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) from the island. Visitors can walk or use shuttles to cross the causeway.

On 22 July 2014 the new bridge by architect Dietmar Feichtinger was opened to the public. The light bridge allows the waters to flow freely around the island and improves the efficiency of the now operational dam. The project which cost €209 million was officially opened by President François Hollande.[9]

On rare occasions tidal circumstances produce an extremely high 'supertide'. The new bridge was completely submerged on 21 March 2015, by the highest sea level for at least 18 years, as crowds gathered to snap photos.[10]

*History*
The original site was founded by an Irish hermit who gathered a following from the local community. Mont Saint-Michel was used in the sixth and seventh centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Gallo-Roman culture and power until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in 460. From roughly the fifth to the eighth century, Mont Saint-Michel belonged to the territory of Neustria, and in the early ninth century was an important place in the marches of Neustria.





Inside the walls of Mont Saint-Michel
Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called _Mont Tombe_ (Latin: _tumba_). According to legend, the archangel Michael appeared in 708 to Aubert of Avranches, the bishop of Avranches, and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet.[11]

Unable to defend his kingdom against the assaults of the Vikings, the king of the Franks agreed to grant the Cotentin peninsula and the Avranchin, including Mont Saint-Michel traditionally linked to the city of Avranches, to the Bretons in the Treaty of Compiègne (867). This marked the beginning of the brief period of Breton possession of the Mont. In fact, these lands and Mont Saint-Michel were never really included in the duchy of Brittany and remained independent bishoprics from the newly created Breton archbishopric of Dol. When Rollo confirmed Franco as archbishop of Rouen, these traditional dependences of the Rouen archbishopric were retained in it.

The mount gained strategic significance again in 933 when William I Longsword annexed the Cotentin Peninsula from the weakened Duchy of Brittany. This made the mount definitively part of Normandy, and is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the 1066 Norman conquest of England. Harold Godwinson is pictured on the tapestry rescuing two Norman knights from the quicksand in the tidal flats during a battle with Conan II, Duke of Brittany. Norman ducal patronage financed the spectacular Norman architecture of the abbey in subsequent centuries.





Bayeux Tapestry scenes 16 and 17: William and Harold at Mont Saint-Michel (at top centre); Harold rescuing knights from quicksand
In 1067, the monastery of Mont Saint-Michel gave its support to William the Conqueror in his claim to the throne of England. This he rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island off the southwestern coast of Cornwall which was modelled after the Mount and became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.





Cannons abandoned by Thomas de Scales, 7th Baron Scales at Mont Saint-Michel on June 17, 1434. As of June 2013, only the second cannon, the one closer to the wall, is on display inside the entrance to the Mont's outer wall.
During the Hundred Years' War, the Kingdom of England made repeated assaults on the island but were unable to seize it due to the abbey's improved fortifications. The English initially besieged the Mont in 1423–24, and then again in 1433–34 with English forces under the command of Thomas de Scales, 7th Baron Scales. Two wrought-iron bombards that Scales abandoned when he gave up his siege are still on site. They are known as _les Michelettes_. Mont Saint-Michel's resolute resistance inspired the French, especially Joan of Arc.

When Louis XI of France founded the Order of Saint Michael in 1469, he intended that the abbey church of Mont Saint-Michel become the chapel for the Order, but because of its great distance from Paris, his intention could never be realised.

Mont Saint-Michel
Mont Saint-Michel



*UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name* Mont Saint-Michel and its Bay
*Location* Manche, canton of Pontorson, France 


*Coordinates*



48°38′09″N 1°30′37″W
*Area* 3.97 km2 (42,700,000 sq ft)
*Criteria* Cultural: i, iii, vi
*Reference* 80
*Inscription* 1979 (3rd Session)
*Website* www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/index.htm?lang=en







Location of Mont Saint-Michel
[edit on Wikidata]
The wealth and influence of the abbey extended to many daughter foundations, including St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall. However, its popularity and prestige as a centre of pilgrimage waned with the Reformation, and by the time of the French Revolution there were scarcely any monks in residence. The abbey was closed and converted into a prison, initially to hold clerical opponents of the republican regime. High-profile political prisoners followed, but by 1836, influential figures—including Victor Hugo—had launched a campaign to restore what was seen as a national architectural treasure. The prison was finally closed in 1863, and the mount was declared a historic monument in 1874. Mont Saint-Michel and its bay were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979, and it was listed with criteria such as cultural, historical, and architectural significance, as well as human-created and natural beauty.[3]


Links

Mont Saint-Michel - Wikipedia
Site officiel de loffice de tourisme du mont saint michel - Home page
Mont Saint-Michel


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## mudwhistle

*Predjama Castle, Slovenia*
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia*
*

*
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia*
*Predjama Castle (Slovene: Predjamski grad or grad Predjama, German: Höhlenburg Lueg, Italian: Castel Lueghi) is a Renaissance castle built within a cave mouth in south-central Slovenia, in the historical region of Inner Carniola. It is located in the village of Predjama, approximately 11 kilometres from the town of Postojna and 9 kilometres from Postojna Cave.[1]

History of the castle




1816 lithography of the castle by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
The castle was first mentioned in the year 1274 with the German name Luegg, when the Patriarch of Aquileia built the castle in Gothic style. The castle was built under a natural rocky arch high in the stone wall to make access to it difficult. It was later acquired and expanded by the Luegg noble family, also known as the Knights of Adelsberg (the German name of Postojna).

Legend of Erazem of Predjama




Cave of Predjama Castle
The castle became known as the seat of the knight Erazem Lueger (or Luegger), lord of the castle in the 15th century and a renowned robber baron. He was the son of the Imperial Governor of Trieste, Nikolaj Lueger.

According to legend, Erazem came into conflict with the Habsburgs when he killed the commander of the Imperial army, Marshall Pappenheim, who had offended the honour of Erazem's deceased friend, Andrej Baumkircher of Vipava. Fleeing the vengeance of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III, Erazem reached the family fortress of Predjama. From there, he allied himself with King Matthias Corvinus and began to attack Habsburg estates and towns in Carniola. The emperor commissioned the governor of Trieste, Andrej Ravbar, with the capture or killing of Erazem. Erazem was killed after a long siege. Erazem was betrayed by one of his men and was killed by a shot from a cannon.[2]

After the reconstruction
After the siege and destruction of the original castle, its ruins were acquired by the Oberburg family. In 1511, the second castle, built by the Purgstall family in the first decade of the 16th century, was destroyed in an earthquake. In the year 1567, Archduke Charles of Austria leased the castle to baron Philipp von Cobenzl, who paid it off after 20 years. In 1570, the current castle was built in the Renaissance style, pressed next to a vertical cliff under the original Medieval fortification. The castle has remained in this form, virtually unchanged, to the present day.

In the 18th century, it became one of the favourite summer residences of the Cobenzl family. Both the Austrian statesman Philipp von Cobenzl and the diplomat Count Ludwig von Cobenzl spent time in the castle.

In 1810, the castle was inherited by Count Michael Coronini von Cronberg, and in 1846 it was sold to the Windischgrätz family, who remained its owners until the end of World War II, when it was nationalized by the Yugoslav Communist authorities and turned into a museum.

The hidden passageway
A vertical natural shaft leads out of the original castle, which Erazem ordered to be enlarged, and leads to the exit located at the top of the cliff, 25 meters away from the cliff's edge. This shaft allowed Erazem to secretly supply the castle with food in the time of the siege; he also used it to continue with his robberies.

Popular culture
Predjama Castle was used as the castle featured in the 1986 movie Armour of God by Golden Harvest starring Jackie Chan, Alan Tam, Rosamund Kwan and Lola Forner. It was also investigated for paranormal activity in a 2008 episode of Ghost Hunters International on the Sci Fi Channel. It was also the filming location of Laibach's Sympathy For The Devil cover's music video.

The multiplayer map "Castle" from the 2014 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive DLC, Operation Breakout, is based on Predjama Castle.










*
Links

Predjama Castle - Wikipedia
Predjama Castle - Culture of Slovenia


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## mudwhistle

*Hunyad Castle, Romania*

*



*


*Hunedoara* (Romanian pronunciation: [huneˈdo̯ara]; German: _Eisenmarkt_; Hungarian: _Vajdahunyad_, Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈvɒjdɒhuɲɒd] (

 listen)) is a city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in southwestern Transylvania near the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, and administers five villages: Boș (_Bós_), Groș (_Grós_), Hășdat (_Hosdát_; _Hochstätten_), Peștișu Mare (_Alpestes_) and Răcăștia (_Rákosd_).

The city includes the most important Gothic-style secular building in Transylvania: the Hunyad Castle, which is closely connected with the Hunyadi family. The castle was destroyed by fire five times, but underwent many reconstructions from Austro-Hungarian and later Romanian authorities. Besides the castle, the town developed as a production center for iron and a market for the mountain regions nearby. During the 20th century, Hunedoara's population increased to 86,000 inhabitants. The city contained the largest steel works in Romania (until Galați took the lead), but activity gradually diminished after the fall of the Iron Curtain due to the loss of the market. This was a blow to the overall prosperity of the town, which is now recovering through new investments.

The population consists of a majority of Romanians, with Romani, Hungarians and Germans as the most important minorities. The city contains numerous parks, with poplars and chestnut trees flanking the streets. There are many tourist attractions, including a large dam, with tourist facilities, located a few kilometers from the city, in the mountains.




*Etymology*
The name of the town seems inexorably linked to the name of the Hunyadi family (also known as Corvinus). The most probable explanation for the Romanian name "Hunedoara" is the transliteration of the Hungarian name "Hunyadvár" meaning "Castle of Hunyad", as many Hungarian towns have this suffix. Historically, the following names were recorded: _Hungnod_ (1265), _Huniad_ (1278), _Hwnyadwar_ (1409), _Vayda Hunyadi_ (1575). The latter Hungarian name _Vajdahunyad_ (voivode Hunyad) is a direct referral to John Hunyadi. The etymology of the Hunyadi family implies a Vlach (Romanian) origin.

*History*
Stone Age tools were discovered in the Sânpetru (Saint Peter) hill near the castle and in the surrounding villages. The region was very rich in iron, which had been extracted in the area since the Iron Age by Thracian tribes. The Dacian fortresses of Orăştie mountains, most notably Sarmiszegetusa, which became the most important religious and political center of Dacia, was located close to Hunedoara and was supplied by the iron produced here. The remains of eight Dacian iron furnaces have been found at the Sânpetru hill near the castle. The discovery of important monetary treasures of Dacian coins and Roman imperial coins testifies to the importance of the site.

After Dacia was conquered around 106 AD and turned into a Roman province, the iron-rich region attracted the attention of the Romans, who began to exploit it by building furnaces. A "Villa Rustica" emerged in Teliuc, a Roman fortification on Sanpetru hill, outpost of the famous legio XIII Gemina whose main castrum was at Apullum in Dacia. Other Roman artifacts were discovered in the city area, and also in Pestis, where the remains of a Roman village were discovered. The new capital city of the Roman province of Dacia, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, was also situated in the proximity.

After the Roman military and administrative retreat during the Migration Period the region had no significant historic sites, although it may be possible that the iron activity continued. The ethnic structure of the region changed significantly, most notably with Goths, Huns, Slavs, Pechenegs, Magyars and Cumans.

There is an ongoing scholarly debate over the ethnicity of Transylvania's population before the Hungarian conquest (see Origin of the Romanians). After 1000, as part of Kingdom of Hungary, under Slavic influence small political feuds grew (ruled by knjazes). South of the Carpathians the Pechenegs and Cumans held political power, and Hunedoara acted as a buffer zone for the Hungarian Crown. In time, the Vlach populations in the mountains nearby developed an original highlander culture. Their land is called "Tara Padurenilor" (Woodlanders Country) and they began to dominate the area demographically. The region also had a sizable population of German Saxons, colonizers brought by the Hungarian Crown after the Mongol Invasion and later, Romani who migrated from the Indian subcontinent.

The first recorded evidence of the city was made in 1265 under the name Hungnod as a hub for leather tanning and wool processing. The city of Hunedoara became an important iron extracting and processing center in Transylvania. "Corpus Inscriptiorum Latinorum" refers to a local inhabitant as "natas ibi, ubi ferum nascitur", that is, "born where the iron was born". As the backbone for the manufacture of weapons and tools, the town industry was vital for the region.

The city has been known since the 14th century mainly as the residence of the Hunyadi family. On October 18, 1409, Voicu (Vajk in Hungarian, also referenced as Wojk in historical sources), was rewarded for military bravery by Sigismund of Luxembourg, and received the domain of Hunedoara and the title of Knyaz (a Slavic feudal title, see "Universitas Valachorum").

Voicu was a Wallachian, Christian Orthodox faith (later converted to the Roman Catholic Church) from the area of today's Argeş County (Wallachia). In a village called Corbi are the remains of a fortress attributed to Voicu.[1] Voicu's father, Şerban (recorded Serbe) migrated into Transylvania from Wallachia. This is attested by the Medieval writer Thuroczy who said "_Quod ad genus tuum attinet, te ab ipsis vetustissimis Valachorum principibus originem ducere, patre natus Stephano Olacho, viro praestanti, cujus etiam aliqui tua familia Daciae Transalpinae, quae nunc Valachorum patria est, principes fuerint._" He also continues later "_inter quos Valachi gentiles tui minime postremos habent..._"[2]






The same document that recorded Voicu's reward for military bravery by Sigismund of Luxembourg also mentions his three sons: Mogoş, Radu and Ioannus Corvinus (Hungarian: János Hunyadi; Romanian: Ioan de Hunedoara; English: John Hunyadi). Both names Mogoş[3] and Radu[4] are of Wallah origin, proving the ethnicity of Voicu once more. Ioannus Corvinus spent his childhood here. His mother was a Hungarian princess with Croatian origins. He married Erzsébet Szilágyi, a Hungarian noblewoman. Hunedoara received town privileges in 1448 from the King of Hungary. John Hunyadi consolidated the citadel on top of an ancient fortress, creating the two main halls, for Diet and Knights. A Franciscan abbey was built nearby the castle in 1448 and John of Capistrano, a famous Italian monk, was sent by the Pope to organize a crusade against the Turks, and lived in the castle. John of Capistrano became instrumental later in inciting the peasantry to crusade, starting from Frankfurt and marching towards Belgrade.

John Hunyadi was to become one of the heroes of the fight against the encroaching Ottoman Empire. He fought in the service of Sigismund, mastering military tactics in the Hussite Wars and the Italian republics, and became the most skillful warrior of Hungary. He was elevated and named Voivode (Prince) of Transylvania, which was at the time an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Elected regent of Hungary, he formed a coalition with the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia and engaged in crusades against the Turks to free Serbia and Bulgaria. The crusade, for a brief period, united the diverging forces of the Balkans, and the victories gained in battles managed to secure the Kingdom of Hungary from Ottoman occupation for over a century. Although he died in a military camp, his son Mátyás (Matthias) later became the most famous of Hungarian kings. Pope Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II) called him Athleta Christi ("Christ's Champion") and The White Knight of Wallachia,[5] also writing _"the Hungarians being occupied in the wars with the Turks under the leadership of Hunyadi, remained more as winners than as losers. This man was a Dacian (today we call them Valahi) and not of noble birth, but well learned in weapons, and was the first to show the Hungarians that the Turks could be defeated."_. Statues of John Hunyadi can be found in Hunedoara and various other locations in Romania and Hungary.

In 1457 Matthias gave permission to the Wallachian serfs to build an orthodox church, beautifully decorated with paintings and preserved until today. He continued to consolidate the castle and the feudal domain of Hunedoara. The castle of Hunedoara became one of the biggest in the medieval world, standing as a witness to the greatness of his family of noble warriors and statesmen, in an era of war and despair for the region, as the Ottoman Empire approached Central Europe. In the times of Hunyadi rule, Hunedoara became a market (opidum) for iron. Matthias Corvinus named the city a tax-free area, and this privilege lasted until the 17th century. The population varied between 784 people in 1512 and 896 people in the 17th century. After Matthias died, Hunedoara passed to his son, John (Hungarian: János; Romanian: Ioan), but he too died young. His wife, Beatrice de Frangepan, married Georg of Hohenzollern, Marquis of Brandenburg in 1509. But Georg de Brandenburg would not reside in Hunedoara, instead appointed a representative, György Stolcz.





Hunedoara as depicted by Ludwig Rohbock (1820-1883)
In 1514, during the peasant revolt of György Dózsa, some were imprisoned in the castle and probably tortured. The town numbered 184 houses, a considerable size for the time, and was ruled by an appointed Orthodox priest. In 1528 a fire destroyed 124 houses. In 1534 as the Kingdom of Hungary was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, the castle was besieged during the rebellion of Czibak Imre, the bishop of Oradea and two years later John Zápolya donated the castle along with other possessions to Török Bálint making him the richest nobleman of Hungary. In 1557 Török János, a proselytizer of Reformation is mentioned to have killed his unfaithful wife Kendi Anna in the castle. In 1601 the castle was besieged by the Wallachian army of Michael the Brave in his campaign - while ruling Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania - against the Ottoman Empire, and to switch the Ottoman vassalage to the Habsburgs.

The town and the castle survived relatively unharmed by the Counter-Reformation of Giorgio Basta, general of the Habsburg Empire. By 1618, ownership of the castle passed to the Bethlen family. Gabriel Bethlen Voivode of Transylvania consolidated and enlarged the castle, and gave it to his nephew Stephen Betlen who lived here with his wife Mary Széchy, famed for her beauty.

The Reformed Church of Hungary was established in Hunedoara in 1634 and Imre Thököly, one the leaders of the Protestant anti-Habsburg uprising and later Prince of Transylvania owned the castle and spent much time living in it. By 1685, the castle passed into the possession of Michael Apafi, the pro-Habsburg Prince of Transylvania. In 1710, the old church was returned to the Franciscans, and in 1725 it reacquired it's monastic rank. By this time, the majority of population was Romanian.

Most of current Hunedoara was at that time a lush plain through which the Cerna river was meandering. The first blast furnace was built by 1603,[_citation needed_] followed by another four. The modern iron operations began at the foot of Saint Peter hill (Sanpetru), close to the most distant tower of the castle called Nebojša, (Serbian for "have no fear", a tower that was the furthest away from the castle in medieval times, to provide last refuge in the case of a siege; cf. Nebojša Tower). The mine shaft can still be viewed. Iron manufactures were also situated nearby.

In 1667 there was already a steel mill on the Cerna river producing 490 tons of pig iron and 66 tons of iron by 1699. In 1714 Georg Steinhilbert made a second one and a third was made in 1727. In 1743 the operations were handled directly by the Treasury. Of the mills mentioned, one was located under the main bridge and its walls are now in ruins.

The first tall industrial furnace in the world for iron extracting, it has been argued,[_citation needed_] was built in 1750 in Topliţa near Hunedoara, and a later one in Govăşdia in 1806. Both furnaces can be visited today. To reach it by road could only be through Teliucu Inferior (Alsótelek then) and Teliucu Superior (Felsőtelek then). Until 2001, there was a system of narrow-gauge railway built in the 19th and 20th centuries that ran from Hunedoara castle, near Zlaşti through a 747 and a 42 meter long tunnel through the mountain, and the breathtaking landscape of "Ţara Pădurenilor" (Woodlanders' country) before arriving to Govăjdia. It was dismantled and scrapped from Zlaşti to Govăjdia and Crăciuneasa by the last owner the Talc-Dolomită Zlaşti company. The last remaining 2.3 km (1.43 mi) long narrow-gauge rail system from the Hunedoara castle to Zlaşti was in use by the Talc-Dolomită Zlaşti company till 2007. In the summer of 2009 they have removed this last remaining section of this line. There are efforts now for restoring the train line for tourism purposes.

In the 18th and part of the 19th century, as the town of Hunedoara became more and more industrialized, peasants from regions nearby began to move to the city and the population increased. Only the German, Hungarian and Székelys of Transylvania were represented in the Diet (see Unio Trium Nationum). The Romanians who at the time formed about approx. 50% of the population felt exploited and revolted on several occasions. The peasants of Hunedoara county supported the Revolt of Horea, Cloşca and Crişan in 1784, when they unsuccessfully besieged the nearby fortress of Deva.

The castle in Hunedoara gave refuge to the local nobility, and it was its last function as military defense. Later representatives from the region were sent to the Romanian national assemblies held in Blaj during the 1848 Revolution where Romanians decided to demand equal rights and resist the attempt of Hungary of gaining independence from the Habsburg House. This started a small scale insurrection across Transylvania that was quickly quieted by the Hungarian army, except for the Apuseni Mountains, on the north of Hunedoara, where the tribune Avram Iancu struggled to keep the Hungarian forces away from controlling the gold mines. The subsequent failures of the later Austro-Hungarian monarchy to fulfill to the demands of the Romanians together with the Magyarization campaigns further exacerbated and alienated the Romanian population of Hunedoara.

During World War I the Romanians from Hunedoara county actively supported the Romanian Army and the Romanian National Assembly declared the Union of Transylvania with Romania in 1918. After the ending of the war Transylvania became part of Romania. The Romanian populations in and around the city quickly earned political rights and representation, and industrial development continued at an ever-increasing rate.

During World War II the steel works were part of the war effort for the Axis. The Romanian Army lost 700,000 soldiers on the Eastern Front and the Allies, an additional 400,000 soldiers fighting against the Axis.

After the Soviet occupation and the subsequent communist regime, industry was favored, and Hunedoara had for a time the biggest steel-producing plant in Romania and the Balkans. The city grew larger, and the factories extended so much that they equaled or exceeded the size of the city. The population also increased to over 87,000. The football team, Corvinul Hunedoara, was for a very long time one of the highest-rated football teams in Romania, rivaling Steaua or Dinamo. A large stadium was built along with other sports facilities such as covered swimming pools and a skating ring. Besides the Corvinul sports club, two other sport clubs were constructed, Constructorul and Siderurgistul, each offering different sport facilities. Other notable constructions included a theater house, several large cinemas, many schools and high-schools and an engineering faculty.





Winter 2012 near the Castle
The communist collapse meant that the old markets for steel vanished, and many enterprises had to be closed or abandoned. However, investment from Romanian and foreign capital ventures started offering new job opportunities for the people. Currently Arcelor-Mittal runs what is left of the steel works. The steel mill now operates the No. 2 Electric Steel Mill, Continuous Caster and the rolling mills. Production is scheduled to rise above 500,000 tons of steel in 2007 and beyond. The rest of the production facilities have been demolished or have been sold to private investors.

Links

Hunedoara - Wikipedia
Great Castles of Europe: Hunyad Castle


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## mudwhistle

*Château de Chantilly, France*

*



*


*Chantilly* (French pronunciation: [ʃɑ̃.ti.ji]) is a commune in the Oise department in the valley of the Nonette in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. Surrounded by Chantilly Forest, the town of 11,000 inhabitants falls within the metropolitan area of Paris. It lies 38.4 km (23.9 miles) north-northeast from the centre of Paris and together with six neighbouring communes forms an urban area of 36,474 inhabitants (1999 census).

Intimately tied to the House of Montmorency in the 15th to 17th centuries, the Château de Chantilly was home to the princes of Condé, cousins of the kings of France, from the 17th to the 19th centuries. It now houses the Musée Condé. Chantilly is also known for its horse racing track, the Chantilly Racecourse, where prestigious races are held for the prix du Jockey Club and the prix de Diane. Chantilly and the surrounding communities are home to the largest racehorse-training community in France.

Chantilly is also home to the Living Museum of the Horse, with stables built by the Princes of Condé. It is considered one of the more important tourist destinations in the Paris area. Chantilly gave its name to Chantilly cream and to Chantilly lace. The city was the base for the England National Football Team during the Euro 2016 Championship.






*Geography*
Chantilly lies in the Parisian basin, at the south end of the region of Hauts-de-France and the north end of the Parisian metropolitan area. It belongs to the historic region of Valois. Chantilly lies 39 km southwest of Beauvais, 79 km south of Amiens, and 38 km north of Paris.

Saint-Maximin lies to the north, Vineuil-Saint-Firmin to the northeast, Avilly-Saint-Léonard to the east, Pontarmé and Orry-la-Ville to the south-east, Coye-la-Forêt to the south, Lamorlaye to the southwest, and Gouvieux to the west.

Chantilly is the center of an urban area that includes the communes of Avilly-Saint-Léonard, Boran-sur-Oise, Coye-la-Forêt, Gouvieux, Lamorlaye, and Vineuil-Saint-Firmin. It's the third-largest urban area in the Oise and the seventh-largest in Hauts-de-France. It has no large businesses or heavy industry and 40% of the population works in Ile-de-France, in other words Paris, or its closer suburbs, which are less than an hour away by train.

*Topography*




Chantilly straddles the junction of the Paris Basin and the western County of Valois, of which the Nonette river is a boundary. The site of the town was originally a clearing or meadowland, sometimes called a lawn or _pelouse_, which is mostly occupied today by the racecourse. The remaining open space between the town and the racecourse is always referred to as the "little lawn". The highest point in the area, 112 meters, is at Bois Lorris, in Lamorlaye. The lowest elevation is 35m, at the Canardière on the banks of the Nonette in Gouvieux.

The commune sits on a Lutetian sedimentary limestone plateau covered by Chantilly Forest. Sand created by wind and erosion covers this chalky plateau. Although the sand is less than a meter thick it is very useful for training horses in the forest.

This stone has also been used for building in parts of the region, and still is today in the adjoining commune of Saint-Maximin. It was also used for building in Chantilly itself during the 18th century, when a quarry on the current site of the racecourse produced stone for the court officials' housing and the stables. In the following century the quarry was used to grow mushrooms, then as an air raid shelter during World War II. It now belongs to the Chantilly Estate and is periodically open to the public.[1]

Another geological feature is alluvial accumulations in the river valleys, which have allowed, in the case of the Nonette, the development of community gardens in the locality known as the Canardière.

*Hydrology and water supply*




The Canardière on the Nonette




Canal of the Machine
The town is bounded at its southern edge by the Thève, a 33 km-long tributary of the Oise River. At this point that valley contains the Commelles ponds, created in the 13th century by the monks of Chaalis Abbey to stock fish.

The Nonette river runs through the town itself. This 44 km-long river is also part of the watershed of the Oise River and is channeled into canals throughout the municipality. In fact, the creation of the château gardens by André Le Nôtre required the complete transformation of the waterway starting in 1663. The riverbed was moved a hundred meters north to create the 2.5 km-long Grand Canal that runs in front of the château. The old riverbed became the 800m-long Canal Saint-Jean, named after a 16th-century chapel demolished when the gardens were created. The Canardière, beneath the actual viaduct, was channeled and cleaned up at this time also.

The Canal de la Machine, perpendicular to the other two and nearly 300 meters long, brought water to the Pavilon du Manse, which fed it to the garden ponds and waterfalls in the western gardens, since disappeared, sending it to a reservoir once located on the lawn. Part of this reservoir still exists near the racecourse, but it no longer contains water. Some of this hydrologic work was used to feed factories in the valley. The gardens that remain were watered by a completely different system based on an aqueduct coming from the area around Senlis.





The Château de Chantilly seen from the road north of town
In the 18th century a mineral water source was discovered in the valley and a garden pavilion was built between 1725 and 1728 to allow the public to come drink from it. This was a separate source from the source of ferruginous water, called Chantilly water, discovered at La Chausée in Gouvieux, and bottled and carbonated there from 1882 into the 20th century.

Also in the 18th century, a supply of drinking water was created by diverting water from the reservoir. In 1823, the last prince of Condé had eighteen fountains installed for the use of residents. In 1895 these were replaced with a supply from a water treatment plant in the neighboring village of Lamorlaye. This brought in water from Chantilly, Lamorlaye and Boran-sur-Oise then distributed the treated water through two water towers on the Mont de Pô in Gouvieux. This water supply has been managed by the private company Lyonnaise des eaux since 1928. In 1999 the average price of a cubic meter of water was 3.25 euros.

The sewer system was installed in 1878 meanwhile, but initially limited to the area around rue d'Aumale, the Condé Hospice and the rue de Paris, now known as the avenue du Maréchal Joffre. It was extended to the entire town in 1910 through a state subsidy financed by a tax on racetrack bets. A sewage treatment plant was built in 1969 at La Canardière, then moved to Gouvieux in 2006. This 22 km network is administered by a regional agency, the syndicat intercommunal pour le traitement des eaux de la vallée de la Nonette (SICTEUV), which covers Apremont, Avilly-Saint-Léonard, Chantilly, Gouvieux et Vineuil-Saint-Firmin.

*History*




Les tres riches heures du Duc de Berry, _February_, Musée Condé
*Before the city*
No traces of inhabitation from the prehistoric or Iron Age eras has ever been found in Chantilly. A Roman-era grave site was however found on the banks of the Nonette, and Gallo-Roman roads have been discovered in the Chantilly Forest. Merovingian tombs from the seventh century were found in the 17th and 19th centuries not far from the Faisanderie.[2]

Around 1223 Guy IV of Senlis made an agreement with the prior of Saint-Leu-d'Esserent that first referred to _Terra cantiliaci_. He was the royal grand bouteiller, a hereditary position in charge of the king's vineyards, and became the first lord of Chantilly, which at the time was little more than a rock in the middle of a swampy area. A stronghouse was mentioned in the area in a 1227 document. In 1282 an act of the Parliament of Paris mentions Chantilly Forest.[3] A 1358 document mentions the destruction of the château in the Grande Jacquerie. It was rebuilt by Pierre d'Orgemont and completed in 1394. During the Hundred Years' War Anglo-Burgundian forces laid siege to the château and Jacqueline de Paynel, widow of Pierre II d'Orgemont, who died at the battle of Agincourt, and of Jean de Fayel, was forced to surrender it. In return, the lives of those in the château were spared, but the surrounding villages were laid to waste.[4]

The city began as just a few hamlets scattered outside the château. At the beginning of the 16th century, there were four:


Les Grandes Fontaines, near the foot of the current rue des Fontaines,
Les Petites Fontaines, also called Normandie, the foot of the current quai de la Canardière and rue de la Machine,
Les Aigles, near today's racetrack, which owes its name to the labourers who lived there in the late Middle Ages. It disappeared completely during the French Wars of Religion.
Quinquempoix, the largest and closest to the château.[5]




The hôtel de Beauvais, built in 1539, is the oldest building in Chantilly today.
In this period, Quinquempoix began to see an extension of the château's functions. It was home to a chapel devoted to Saint Germain mentioned as early as 1219, which disappeared in the 17th century with the extension of the château's gardens. Several houses were built in Quinquempoix to accommodate the prince's court officials. Also, the hôtel de Beauvais, built in 1539, lodged the master of the hunt of constable (connétable) Anne de Montmorency. The hôtel de Quinquempoix, built around 1553, housed the constable's equerry.[6]

In 1515, Anne's father, Guillaume de Montmorency, had obtained a papal bull that gave him the right to have mass said and all the sacraments performed in the chapel of the château, which was one of the first steps toward autonomy from the surrounding parishes.[7]






Links

Château de Chantilly - Wikipedia
Chantilly, Oise - Wikipedia
Château de Chantilly | Paris Adèle


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## mudwhistle

*Palace At Westminister, London*

*



*

*The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London.*


*Its name, which is derived from the neighbouring Westminster Abbey, may refer to either of two structures: the Old Palace, a medieval building complex destroyed by fire in 1834, and its replacement, the New Palace that stands today. The palace is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and for ceremonial purposes, retains its original status as a royal residence. The building is managed by committees appointed by both houses, which report to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker.*


*The first royal palace was built on the site in the 11th century, and Westminster was the primary residence of the Kings of England until fire destroyed much of the complex in 1512. After that, it served as the home of the Parliament of England, which had been meeting there since the 13th century, and also as the seat of the Royal Courts of Justice, based in and around Westminster Hall. In 1834, an even greater fire ravaged the heavily rebuilt Houses of Parliament, and the only significant medieval structures to survive were Westminster Hall, the Cloisters of St Stephen's, the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, and the Jewel Tower.*


*The subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the Palace was won by the architect Charles Barry, whose design was for new buildings in the Gothic Revival style, specifically inspired by the English Perpendicular Gothic style of the 14th–16th centuries. The remains of the Old Palace (except the detached Jewel Tower) were incorporated into its much larger replacement, which contains over 1,100 rooms organized symmetrically around two series of courtyards and has a floor area of 112,476 m2 (1,210,680 sq ft).[1] Part of the New Palace's area of 3.24 hectares (8 acres) was reclaimed from the Thames, which is the setting of its nearly 300-metre long (980 ft) façade,[1] called the River Front. Barry was assisted by Augustus Pugin, a leading authority on Gothic architecture and style, who designed the interior of the Palace. Construction started in 1840 and lasted for 30 years, suffering great delays and cost overruns, as well as the death of both leading architects; works for the interior decoration continued intermittently well into the 20th century. Major conservation work has been carried out since then to reverse the effects of London's air pollution, and extensive repairs took place after the Second World War, including the reconstruction of the Commons Chamber following its bombing in 1941.*


*The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament, and the Westminster system of government has taken its name after it. The Elizabeth Tower, in particular, which is often referred to by the name of its main bell, Big Ben, is an iconic landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, and an emblem of parliamentary democracy. The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.*

*



*

*Links*

*Palace of Westminster - Wikipedia*
*Big Ben*
*Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament, London*


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## mudwhistle

*Palace of Versailles, France*

*



*


The *Palace of Versailles* (French: _Château de Versailles_), or simply *Versailles* (English: /vɛərˈsaɪ/ _vair-*SY*_ or /vərˈsaɪ/ _vər-*SY*_; French: [vɛʁsaj]), is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. It is now open as a museum and is a very popular tourist attraction.

When the château was built, the community of Versailles was a small village dating from the 11th century. Today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of the centre of the French capital.[1] Versailles was the seat of political power in the Kingdom of France from 1682, when King Louis XIV moved the royal court from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789, within three months after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.

Especially under Louis XIV, the whole senior nobility were pressured to spend large amounts of time at Versailles, as a form of political control. Louis XIV evolved a rigid routine of court life as a performance, much of which took place in front of large groups of people, at some points in the day including tourists. Building the château and maintaining the court there was phenomenally expensive, but did a good deal to establish the dominance of French style and taste in the whole of Europe, giving French luxury manufacturing advantages that long outlasted the fall of the Ancien Régime.

Louis XIV's expansion of the building was begun around 1661, with Louis Le Vau as architect. It was not completed until about 1715, having been worked on by architects including François d'Orbay, Charles Le Brun (interiors especially), Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Robert de Cotte. André Le Nôtre began the gardens and structures in them. There were a range of satellite buildings around the grounds. While the main château building remains essentially intact, though without much of its contents, some of these other buildings have been destroyed.











Links

Palace of Versailles - Wikipedia
Palace of Versailles: Facts & History


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## mudwhistle

*Chatsworth House*, *Derbyshire, England*

*



*


*Chatsworth House* (/ˈtʃætswɜːrθ/[1]) is a stately home in Derbyshire, England, in the Derbyshire Dales 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north-east of Bakewell and 9 miles (14 km) west of Chesterfield (SK260700). The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has been home to the Cavendish family since 1549.

Standing on the east bank of the River Derwent, Chatsworth looks across to the low hills that divide the Derwent and Wye valleys. The house, set in expansive parkland and backed by wooded, rocky hills rising to heather moorland, contains an important collection of paintings, furniture, Old Master drawings, neoclassical sculptures, books and other artefacts. Chatsworth has been selected as the United Kingdom's favourite country house several times.[2][3]











Links

Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, Peak District. Home of the Dukes of Devonshire.
Chatsworth House - Wikipedia


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## mudwhistle

*Bran Castle in Romania*

*



*


*Bran Castle* (Romanian: _Castelul Bran_; German: _Törzburg_; Hungarian: _Törcsvár_), situated near Bran and in the immediate vicinity of Brașov, is a national monument and landmark in Romania. The fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, on DN73. Commonly known as "Dracula's Castle" (although it is one among several locations linked to the Dracula legend, including Poenari Castle and Hunyad Castle), it is often erroneously referred to as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker's _Dracula_. There is, however, no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle, which has only tangential associations with Vlad the Impaler, voivode of Wallachia, the putative inspiration for Dracula. As discovered by the Dutch author Hans Corneel de Roos,[1] the location Bram Stoker actually had in mind for Castle Dracula while writing his novel was an empty mountain top, Mount Izvorul Călimanului, 2,033 metres (6,670 ft) high, located in the Călimani Alps near the former border with Moldavia. Stoker's description of Dracula's crumbling fictional castle also bears no resemblance to Bran Castle.

The castle is now a museum dedicated to displaying art and furniture collected by Queen Maria.[2] Tourists can see the interior on their own or by a guided tour. At the bottom of the hill is a small open-air museum park exhibiting traditional Romanian peasant structures (cottages, barns, etc.) from across the country.[3]






Links

Bran Castle - Wikipedia
Bran Castle - Castles and Fortresses in Transylvania, Romania


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## mudwhistle

*Eltz Castle, FRG*

*



*

*Eltz Castle* (German: _Burg Eltz_) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Bürresheim Castle (_Schloss Bürresheim_), Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed.

*Location*
The castle is surrounded on three sides by the Elzbach River, a tributary on the north side of the Moselle. It is on a 70-metre (230 ft) rock spur, on an important Roman trade route between rich farmlands and their markets. The Eltz Forest has been declared a nature reserve by Flora-Fauna-Habitat and Natura 2000.[1]

*Description*




Plan of Eltz Castle




Eltz Castle on the reverse side of the 500 Deutsche Mark note (1965–1990s)




Castle Eltz, Aerial view
The castle is a so-called _Ganerbenburg_, or castle belonging to a community of joint heirs. This is a castle divided into several parts, which belong to different families or different branches of a family; this usually occurs when multiple owners of one or more territories jointly build a castle to house themselves. Only a very rich medieval European lord could afford to build a castle on his land; many of them only owned one village, or even only a part of a village. This was an insufficient base to afford a castle. Such lords lived in a knight's house, which was a simple house, scarcely bigger than those of his tenants. In some parts of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, inheritance law required that the estate be divided between all successors. These successors, each of whose individual inheritance was too small to build a castle of his own, could build a castle together, where each owned one separate part for housing and all of them together shared the defensive fortification. In the case of Eltz, the family comprised three branches and the existing castle was enhanced with three separate complexes of buildings.

The main part of the castle consists of the family portions. At up to eight stories, these eight towers reach heights of between 30 and 40 metres (98 and 131 ft). They are fortified with strong exterior walls; to the yard they present a partial framework. About 100 members of the owners' families lived in the over 100 rooms of the castle.

*History*
Platteltz, a Romanesque keep, is the oldest part of the castle, having begun in the 9th century as a simple manor with an earthen palisade. By 1157 the fortress was an important part of the empire under Frederick Barbarossa, standing astride the trade route from the Moselle Valley and the Eifel region.[2] In 1472 the Rübenach house, built in the Late Gothic style, was completed. Remarkable are the Rübenach Lower Hall, a living room, and the Rübenach bedchamber with its opulently decorated walls.

Between 1490 and 1540, the Rodendorf house was constructed, also in Late Gothic style. It contains the vaulted "banner-room".

The Kempenich houses were finished about 1530. Every room of this part of the castle could be heated; in contrast, other castles might only have one or two heated rooms.


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## mudwhistle

*The Alcazar Castle, Spain*

*



*

The *Alcázar of Segovia* (literally, "Segovia Fortress") is a castle, located in Segovia, Spain, a World Heritage Site. Rising out on a rocky crag above the confluence of two rivers near the Guadarrama mountains, it is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape – like the bow of a ship. The Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then. It is currently used as a museum and a military archives building.

The Alcázar of Segovia, like many fortifications in Spain, started off as Roman fort, but apart from the foundations, little of the original structure remains. A Muslim era fort, which was itself largely replaced by the present structure, was built by the Berber Almoravid dynasty. The first reference to this particular "alcázar" was in 1120, around 32 years after the city of Segovia returned to Christian hands (during the time when King Alfonso VI reconquered lands to the south of the Duero river down to Toledo and beyond).

The shape and form of the Alcázar was not known until the reign of King Alfonso VIII (1155–1214), however early documentation mentioned a wooden stockade fence. It can be concluded that prior to Alfonso VIII's reign, the Muslim era structure was no more than a wooden fort built over the old Roman foundations. Alfonso VIII and his wife, Eleanor of England, made this alcázar their principal residence and much work was carried out to erect the beginnings of the stone fortification we see today.





Alcazar, viewed from the south, outside of the city




Armory Room
The Alcázar of Segovia was one of the favorite residences of the monarchs of Castile in the Middle Ages, and a key fortress in the defence of the kingdom. It was during this period that most of the current building was constructed by the Trastámara dynasty.

In 1258, parts of the Alcázar had to be rebuilt by King Alfonso X after a cave-in and the Hall of Kings was built to house Parliament soon after. However, the single largest contributor to the continuing construction of the Alcázar is King John II who built the "New Tower" (John II tower as it is known today).

In 1474, the Alcázar played a major role in the rise of Queen Isabella I. On 12 December news of the King Henry IV's death in Madrid reached Segovia and Isabella immediately took refuge within the walls of the Alcázar where she received the support of Andres Cabrera and Segovia's council. She was enthroned the next day as Queen of Castile and León.

The next major renovation at the Alcázar was conducted by King Philip II after his marriage to Anna of Austria. He added the sharp slate spires to reflect the castles of central Europe. In 1587, architect Francisco de Morar completed the main garden and the School of Honor areas of the castle.

The royal court eventually moved to Madrid and the Alcázar then served as a state prison for almost two centuries before King Charles III founded the Royal Artillery School in 1762. It served this function for almost a hundred years until March 6, 1862 where a fire badly damaged the roofs of the treasury, keep, armory, sleeping quarters, and framework.

It was only in 1882 that the building was slowly restored to its original state. In 1896, King Alfonso XIII ordered the Alcázar to be handed over to the Ministry of War as a military college.











Links 

Alcázar of Segovia - Wikipedia
History


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## Dalia

Since then, become private property, it is unfortunately not visitable!

LA FRANCE MEDIEVALE: VIENNE (38) - Le château de la Bâtie


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## mudwhistle

*Castle Frankenstein in Germany*

*



*

*Frankenstein Castle* (German: _Burg Frankenstein_) is a hilltop castle in the Odenwald overlooking the city of Darmstadt in Germany. It is thought that this castle may have been an inspiration for Mary Shelley when she wrote her 1818 Gothic novel _Frankenstein_.

*Location*
Frankenstein Castle is located (49°47' 35.84"N, 8°40' 5.58"E) in southern Hesse (Germany) on the spurs of the Odenwald mountain range at an elevation of 370 meter (1,200 ft.) close to the southern outskirts of Darmstadt. It is one of many historic castles along the Hessian Bergstrasse, also famous for its vineyards and its mild climate.

*Meaning of "Frankenstein"*
Frankenstein is a German name consisting of two words: The Franks are a Germanic tribe and "stein" is the German word for "stone". Accordingly, the meaning of Frankenstein is "Stone of the Franks". The word "stein" is common in names of landscapes, places and castles in Germany. Consequently, the term "Frankenstein" is a rather ordinary name for a castle in this region.

*History*




Frankenstein Castle - Chapel




Frankenstein Chapel inside
Before 1250, Lord Conrad II Reiz of Breuberg built Frankenstein Castle and thereafter named himself _von und zu_ Frankenstein. The first document proving the existence of the castle in 1252 bears his name. He was the founder of the free imperial Barony of Frankenstein, which was subject only to the jurisdiction of the emperor, with possessions in Nieder-Beerbach, Darmstadt, Ockstadt, Wetterau and Hesse. Additionally the Frankensteins held other possession and sovereignty rights as burgraves in Zwingenberg (Auerbach (Bensheim)), in Darmstadt, Groß-Gerau, Frankfurt am Main and Bensheim. The hill on which the castle stands was probably occupied by another castle from the 11th century, which fell into ruins after Frankenstein Castle was built a short distance away to the northwest. Claims of an even older predecessor upon the hill are widespread, but historically unlikely.

In 1292 the Frankensteins opened the castle to the counts of Katzenelnbogen (County of Katzenelnbogen) Katzenelnbogen[1] and formed an alliance with them.

In 1363, the castle was split into two parts and owned by two different families of the lords and knights of Frankenstein. At the beginning of the 15th century, the castle was enlarged and modernized. The Frankenstein knights became independent of the counts of Katzenelnbogen again.

Being both strong opponents of the reformation and following territorial conflicts, connected disputes with the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, as well as the adherence to the Roman Catholic faith and the associated "right of patronage", the family head Lord John I decided to sell the lordship to the Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1662, after various lawsuits at the Imperial Chamber Court.

The castle was used as refuge and a hospital afterward, falling into ruins in the 18th century. The two towers that are so distinctive today are a historically inaccurate restoration carried out in the mid-19th century.













Links

Frankenstein Castle - Wikipedia
Frankenstein Castle Facts - Halloween in Germany


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## mudwhistle

*Braunfels Castle ~ Hesse ~ Germany*

*



*
*Braunfels* is a town in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road.

*Geography*
*Location*
The climatic spa of Braunfels lies at a height of some 100 m above the Lahn valley. It is 9 km southwest of Wetzlar, and 28 km northeast of Limburg an der Lahn.

*Neighbouring communities*
Braunfels borders in the northwest on the town of Leun, in the north on the town of Solms, in the east on the community of Schöffengrund, in the southeast on the community of Waldsolms (all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis), in the south on the community of Weilmünster, and in the west on the town of Weilburg and the community of Löhnberg (all three in Limburg-Weilburg).

*Constituent communities*
Besides the main town, which bears the same name as the whole, there are outlying centres called Altenkirchen, Bonbaden, Neukirchen, Philippstein and Tiefenbach

Currently, Bonbaden, is home to about 1600 people.[_citation needed_] Bonbaden has a primary school (levels 1-4) and an Evangelical and Catholic church. A cultural highlight is the _Freilichtbühne Bonbaden_ (Bonbaden Open-Air Stage), which presents two different plays for children each summer, and an evening play for adults.[_citation needed_]

*History*
The town and stately seat of Braunfels were first mentioned in 1246. Braunfels has had town rights since 1607. In 1950 Braunfels had a population of 3,337. In the course of municipal reforms, the aforesaid constituent communities, formerly all independent villages, were amalgamated with Braunfels in 1972.

Bonbaden had its first documented mention in 772, and so celebrated 1200 years of existence in 1972. Bonbaden is therefore one of Lahn-Dill's oldest inhabited places.

Schloss Braunfels, a stately home that had been built from a castle built in the 13th century by the Counts of Nassau, served as of about 1260 as the Solms-Braunfels noble family's residential castle. After Solms Castle had been destroyed by the Rhenish League of Towns in 1384, Braunfels Castle became the seat of the Counts of Solms. Over the castle's more than 750-year-long history, building work was done many times. Particularly worthy of mention is the town and castle fire of 1679, which burnt much of Braunfels and its stately seat down. Both were then built into a Baroque residence. Schloss Braunfels was rebuilt out of materials that were still on hand. The town was given a regular marketplace, which is still preserved today and lies before the town wall.









Braunfels Castle Travel Guide


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## Darkwind

mudwhistle said:


> Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, France
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> The *Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte* is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 kilometres (34 mi) southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne _département_ of France.
> 
> Constructed from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the château was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the "Louis XIV style" combining architecture, interior design and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is an example of this style.[1]
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> Once a small château between the royal residences of Vincennes and Fontainebleau, the estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte was purchased in 1641 by Nicolas Fouquet, an ambitious 26-year-old member of the Parlement of Paris. Fouquet was an avid patron of the arts, attracting many artists with his generosity.
> 
> When Fouquet became King Louis XIV's superintendant of finances in 1657, he commissioned Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Nôtre to renovate his estate and garden to match his grand ambition. Fouquet’s artistic and cultivated personality subsequently brought out the best in the three.[2]
> 
> To secure the necessary grounds for the elaborate plans for Vaux-le-Vicomte’s garden and castle, Fouquet purchased and demolished three villages. The displaced villagers were then employed in the upkeep and maintenance of the gardens. It was said to have employed 18 thousand workers and cost as much as 16 million livres.[3]
> 
> The château and its patron became for a short time a focus for fine feasts, literature and arts. The poet Jean de La Fontaine and the playwright Molière were among the artists close to Fouquet. At the inauguration of Vaux-le-Vicomte, a Molière play was performed, along with a dinner event organized by François Vatel and an impressive firework show.[4]
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> Links
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> Vaux-le-Vicomte - Wikipedia
> Day trip from Paris to Vaux le Vicomte
> Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte - Vaux le Vicomte


I am SOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad I don't have to mow that lawn!  

I love this stuff.  Its one of My bucket list items to tour all the castles in West and Eastern Europe.


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## mudwhistle

*Bojnice Castle in Slovakia*






*Bojnice Castle* (Slovak: _Bojnický zámok_, Hungarian: _Bajmóci vár_) is a medieval castle in Bojnice, Slovakia. It is a Romantic castle with some original Gothic and Renaissance elements built in the 12th century. Bojnice Castle is one of the most visited castles in Slovakia, receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and also being a popular filming stage for fantasy and fairy-tale movies.

*History*
Bojnice Castle was first mentioned in written records in 1013, in a document held at the Zobor Abbey. Originally built as a wooden fort, it was gradually replaced by stone, with the outer walls being shaped according to the uneven rocky terrain. Its first owner was Matthew III Csák, who received it in 1302 from the King Ladislaus V of Hungary. Later, in the 15th century, it was owned by King Matthias Corvinus, who gave it to his illegitimate son John Corvinus in 1489. Matthias liked to visit Bojnice and it was here that he worked on his royal decrees. He used to dictate them under his beloved linden tree, which is now known as the "Linden tree of King Matthias". After his death the castle became the property of the Zápolya family (see John Zápolya). The Thurzós, the richest family in the northern Kingdom of Hungary, acquired the castle in 1528 and undertook its major reconstruction. The former fortress was turned into a Renaissance castle. From 1646 on, the castle's owners were the Pálffys, who continued to rebuild the castle.

Finally, the last famous castle owner from the Pálffy family, Count János Ferenc Pálffy (1829-1908), made a complex romantic reconstruction from 1888 to 1910 and created today's beautiful imitation of French castles of the Loire valley. He not only had the castle built, but also was the architect and graphic designer. He utilized his fine artistic taste and love for collecting pieces of art. He was one of the greatest collectors of antiques, tapestries, drawings, paintings and sculptures of his time. After his death and long quarrels, his heirs sold many precious pieces of art from the castle and then, on 25 February 1939, sold the castle, the health spa, and the surrounding land to Ján Baťa (of the shoe firm Bata).

After 1945, when Bata's property was confiscated by the Czechoslovak government, the castle became the seat of several state institutions. On 9 May 1950, a huge fire broke out in the castle, but it was rebuilt at government expense. After this reconstruction, a museum specializing in the documentation and presentation of the era of architectural neo-styles was opened here. Bojnice Museum is now part of the Slovak National Museum today.

*Description*
The castle is renowned for its attractions, including the popular Castle Fairytale, the International Festival of Ghosts and Spirits and the Summer Music Festival. The romantic castle is also a popular location for filming fairy tale movies, such as _Fantaghirò_. In 2006, the castle attracted about 200,000 visitors. It hosts the single most popular museum in Slovakia and has featured in many movies[






Links

Bojnice Castle | Slovakia.com


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## mudwhistle

*Malbork Castle in Poland*






The *Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork*[1] (Polish: _zamek w Malborku_; German: _Ordensburg Marienburg_), located in the Polish town of Malbork, is the largest castle in the world measured by land area.[2]

It was originally built by the Teutonic Knights, a German Roman Catholic religious order of crusaders, in a form of an _Ordensburg_ fortress. The Order named it _Marienburg_ (Mary's Castle). The town which grew around it was also named Marienburg. In 1466, both castle and town became part of Royal Prussia, a province of Poland. It served as one of the several Polish royal residences, interrupted by several years of Swedish occupation, and fulfilling this function until Prussia claimed the castle as a result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772. Heavily damaged after World War II, the castle was renovated under the auspices of modern-day Poland in the second half of the 20th century and most recently in 2016. Nowadays, the castle hosts exhibitions and serves as a museum.

The castle is a classic example of a medieval fortress and, on its completion in 1406, was the world's largest brick castle.[3] UNESCO designated the "Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork" and the Malbork Castle Museum a World Heritage Site in December 1997.[4] It is one of two World Heritage Sites in the region with origins in the Teutonic Order. The other is the "Medieval Town of Toruń", founded in 1231 as the site of the castle Thorn.

Malbork Castle is also one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (_Pomnik historii_), as designated September 16, 1994. Its listing is maintained by the National Heritage Board of Poland.






Links

Malbork Castle - Wikipedia
Malbork Castle - Malbork, Poland - History and Visitor Information


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## mudwhistle

*Ksiaz Castle in Poland*






*Książ* (pronounced [ˈkɕɔ̃ʂ], Polish: _Zamek Książ_, German: _Schloss Fürstenstein_) is the largest castle in the Silesia region, located north of Wałbrzych in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland. It lies within Książ Landscape Park, a protected area which is part of the Waldenburg Mountains. The castle overlooks the gorge of the Pełcznica river and is one of the Wałbrzych's main tourist attractions.

*History*
A first fortification at the site was destroyed by the Bohemian forces of King Ottokar II in 1263. The Silesian duke Bolko I the Strict (d. 1301), ruler in Świdnica and Jawor, had a new castle built from 1288 to 1292 and took his residence here, adding _Lord of Książ_ to his titles. The burgraviate included the neighbouring settlements of Świebodzice, Szczawno, and Pełcznica. When the last Świdnica duke Bolko II the Small died in 1368 without children, the castle's estates passed to the Luxembourg king Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, the son of Bolko's niece Anne, while his widow Agnes of Habsburg reserved the usufruct for herself. After her death in the year 1392, King Wenceslaus, also King of the Romans since 1376, seized the Duchy of Świdnica and obtained Książ Castle.

As Agnes, contrary to her limited real rights, had sold the Książ estates, the castle passed through many hands. In 1401 it was obtained by the Bohemian noble Janko of Chotěmice (d. after 1442), who later rose to a governor of the Świdnica-Jawor lands. Durning the Hussite Wars, the castle was captured by the insurgents and occupied in 1428-1429. After Janko's death, the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady acquired Książ from his descendants and transferred the administration to the Moravian general Birka of Nasiedle. In 1466 Hans von Schellendorf obtained the castle from the Bohemian Crown.

The second castle complex was devastated in 1482 by Georg von Stein, a military commander in the service of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus while his forces campaigned the Silesian lands. Stein entrusted Frederick of Hohberg with the estates, his descendant Konrad I of Hoberg obtained the castle hill in 1509. The Hohberg (from 1714: Hochberg) family. The family, elevated to the rank of _Freiherren_ in 1650, _Grafen_ in 1666, and Imperial counts (_Reichsgrafen_) in 1683, owned the castle until the 1940s. From the mid 16th century onwards, the premises were rebuilt in a lavish Renaissance style.





_Schloss Fürstenstein_ in the 1920s
During World War II, the castle was seized by the Nazi regime in 1944 after Count Hans Heinrich XVII of Hochberg, Prince of Pless (Pszczyna), had moved to England in 1932 and became a British citizen; moreover, his brother Count Alexander of Hochberg, a Polish citizen and owner of Pszczyna Castle, had joined the Polish army. Supervised by _SS_ and _Organisation Todt_ personnel, the building complex at Książ became part of the vast underground Project Riese complex, presumably a projected Führer Headquarter and a future abode for Adolf Hitler.[1]Construction works were carried out under inhumane conditions by forced labourers and inmates of Gross-Rosen concentration camp, until the castle was occupied by Red Army forces in the wake of the Vistula–Oder Offensive in 1945. A memorial marks the site of the _Fürstenstein_ subcamp. Large parts of the historic building structure were demolished during construction; numerous artefacts were stolen or destroyed during the Soviet occupation.

After the war, the castle complex was used as a recreation home and cultureal centre. In recent years, large parts of the interior have been elaborately restored. Parts of the adit complex beneath the castle are currently used by the Polish Academy of Sciences for gravimeter measuring, while several tunnels are accessible to the public on guided tours.






Links

Książ - Wikipedia
Książ Castle


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## mudwhistle

*Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, FRG*






*Charlottenburg Palace* (German: _Schloss Charlottenburg_) is the largest palace in Berlin,[1] Germany.[2] It is in the Charlottenburg district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough.

The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during the 18th century. It includes much lavish internal decoration in baroque and rococo styles. A large formal garden surrounded by woodland was added behind the palace, including a belvedere, a mausoleum, a theatre and a pavilion. During the Second World War, the palace was badly damaged but has since been reconstructed. The palace with its gardens are a major tourist attraction.
*History*
*Palace*




Statue Friedrich Wilhelm I (der Große Kurfürst) elector of Brandenburg in the _cour d'honneur_ of the palace
The original palace was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg in what was then the village of Lietzow. Named _Lietzenburg_, the palace was designed by Johann Arnold Nering in baroque style. It consisted of one wing and was built in  2 1⁄2 storeys with a central cupola. The façade was decorated with Corinthian pilasters. On the top was a cornice on which were statues. At the rear in the centre of the palace were two oval halls, the upper one being a ceremonial hall and the lower giving access to the gardens. Nering died during the construction of the palace and the work was completed by Martin Grünberg and Andreas Schlüter. The inauguration of the palace was celebrated on 11 July 1699, Frederick's 42nd birthday.[3]





Tea house "Belvedere" in palace garden
Friedrich crowned himself as King Friedrich I in Prussia in 1701 (Friedrich II, known as Frederick the Great, would later achieve the title King of Prussia). Two years previously, he had appointed Johann Friedrich von Eosander (also known as Eosander von Göthe) as the royal architect and sent him to study architectural developments in Italy and France, particularly the Palace of Versailles. On his return in 1702, Eosander began to extend the palace, starting with two side wings to enclose a large courtyard, and the main palace was extended on both sides. Sophie Charlotte died in 1705 and Friedrich named the palace and its estate _Charlottenburg_ in her memory. In the following years, the Orangery was built on the west of the palace and the central area was extended with a large domed tower and a larger vestibule. On top of the dome is a wind vane in the form of a gilded statue representing Fortune designed by Andreas Heidt. The Orangery was originally used to overwinter rare plants. During the summer months, when over 500 orange, citrus and sour orange trees decorated the baroque garden, the Orangery regularly was the gorgeous scene of courtly festivities.

Inside the palace, was a room described as "the eighth wonder of the world", the Amber Room (_Bernsteinzimmer_), a room with its walls surfaced in decorative amber. It was designed by Andreas Schlüter and its construction by the Danish amber craftsman Gottfried Wolfram started in 1701. Friedrich Wilhelm I gave the Amber Room to Tsar Peter the Great as a present in 1716.[4]





Charlottenburg Palace, Orangerie
When Friedrich I died in 1713, he was succeeded by his son, Friedrich Wilhelm I whose building plans were less ambitious, although he did ensure that the building was properly maintained. Building was resumed after his son Friedrich II (Frederick the Great) came to the throne in 1740. During that year, stables for his personal guard regiment were completed to the south of the Orangery wing and work was started on the east wing. The building of the new wing was supervised by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, the Superintendent of all the Royal Palaces, who largely followed Eosander's design. The decoration of the exterior was relatively simple but the interior furnishings were rich with painting and sculpture,textiles and mirror. The ground floor was intended for Frederick's wife Elisabeth Christine, who, preferring Schönhausen Palace however, was only an occasional visitor. The especially splendid decoration of the upper floor, which included the White Hall, the Banqueting Hall, the Throne Room and the Golden Gallery, was designed mainly by Johann August Nahl. In 1747, a second apartment for the king was prepared in the distant eastern part of the wing. During this time, Sanssouci was being built at Potsdam, and once this was completed Frederick was only an occasional visitor to Charlottenburg.[5]

In 1786, Frederick was succeeded by his nephew Friedrich Wilhelm II who transformed five rooms on the ground floor of the east wing into his summer quarters and part of the upper floor into Winter Chambers, although he did not live long enough to use them. His son, Friedrich Wilhelm III came to the throne in 1797 and reigned with his wife, Queen Luise for 43 years. They spent much of this time living in the east wing of Charlottenburg. Their eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who reigned from 1840 to 1861, lived in the upper storey of the central palace building. After Friedrich Wilhelm IV died, the only other royal resident of the palace was Friedrich III who reigned for 99 days in 1888.[6]

The palace was badly damaged in 1943 during the Second World War.[7] In 1951, the war-damaged Stadtschloss in East Berlin was demolished and, as the damage to Charlottenburg was at least as serious, it was feared that it would also be demolished. However, following the efforts of Margarete Kühn, the Director of the State Palaces and Gardens, it was rebuilt to its former condition,[8] with gigantic modern ceiling paintings by Hann Trier. From 2004 till early 2006, Charlottenburg Palace was the seat of the President of Germany, whilst Schloss Bellevue was being renovated.[_citation needed_]

*Grounds*




Gardens of Charlottenburg Palace
The garden was designed in 1697 in baroque style by Simeon Godeau who had been influenced by André Le Nôtre, designer of the gardens at Versailles. Godeau's design consisted of geometric patterns, with avenues and moats, which separated the garden from its natural surroundings. Beyond the formal gardens was the Carp Pond. Towards the end of the 18th century, a less formal, more natural-looking garden design became fashionable. In 1787 the Royal Gardener Georg Steiner redesigned the garden in the English landscape style for Friedrich Wilhelm II, the work being directed by Peter Joseph Lenné. After the Second World War, the centre of the garden was restored to its previous baroque style.[9]

In 1788, Friedrich Wilhelm II arranged for the building of the Belvedere, designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, in the grounds beyond the Carp Pond. The building was used as a teahouse and as a viewing-tower. Langhans also designed the Palace Theatre, which was built between 1788 and 1791 to the west of the Orangery wing.[10] The Mausoleum was built as a tomb for Queen Luise between 1810 and 1812 in neoclassical style to a design by Heinrich Gentz. After the death of Friedrich Wilhelm III, it was extended; this design being by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. It was extended again in 1890–91 by Albert Geyer to accommodate the graves of Wilhelm I and his wife Augusta.[11] In 1825, Friedrich Wilhelm III added the _Neuer Pavilion_, an Italianate villa designed by Schinkel, to the north of the palace. This was damaged in the war in 1943 and was reconstructed between 1957 and 1970.[12]






Links

Charlottenburg Palace - Wikipedia
Schloss Charlottenburg - Berlin.de


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## mudwhistle

*Linderhof Palace, FRG*







*Linderhof Palace* (German: _Schloss Linderhof_) is a Schloss in Germany, in southwest Bavaria near Ettal Abbey. It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.

*Development of the building*
Ludwig already knew the area around Linderhof from his youth when he had accompanied his father King Maximilian II of Bavaria on his hunting trips in the Bavarian Alps. When Ludwig II became King in 1864 he inherited the so-called _Königshäuschen_ from his father, and in 1869 began enlarging the building. In 1874 he decided to tear down the Königshäuschen and rebuild it on its present-day location in the park. At the same time three new rooms and the staircase were added to the remaining U-shaped complex, and the previous wooden exterior was clad with stone façades. The building was designed in the style of the second rococo-period. Between 1863 and 1886 a total of 8,460,937 marks was spent constructing Linderhof.[1]

*Symbolic background*
Although Linderhof is much smaller than Versailles, it is evident that the palace of the French Sun-King Louis XIV (who was an idol for Ludwig) was its inspiration. The staircase, for example, is a reduction of the famous Ambassador's staircase in Versailles, which would be copied in full in Herrenchiemsee. Stylistically, however, the building and its decor take their cues from the mid-18th century Rococo of Louis XV, and the small palace in the Graswang was more directly based on that king's Petit Trianon on the Versailles grounds.[2] The symbol of the sun that can be found everywhere in the decoration of the rooms represents the French notion of absolutism that, for Ludwig, was the perfect incorporation of his ideal of a God-given monarchy with total royal power. Such a monarchy could no longer be realised in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. The bedroom was important to the ceremonial life of an absolute monarch; Louis XIV of France used to give his first (lever) and last audience (coucher) of the day in his bedchamber. In imitation of Versailles, the bedroom is the largest chamber of Linderhof Palace. By facing north, however, the Linderhof bedroom inverts the symbolism of its Versailles counterpart, showing Ludwig's self-image as a "Night-King."

The location of the palace near Ettal Abbey again presents another interesting point. Because of its architecture Ludwig saw the church of the monastery as the room where the holy grail was preserved. This fact connects the idea of a baroque palace to the one of a "medieval" castle such as Neuschwanstein and reminds of the operas of Richard Wagner whose patron Ludwig was.

*The rooms*
Linderhof, in comparison to other palaces, has a rather private atmosphere. In fact, there are only four rooms that have a real function.

*Hall of Mirrors*
This room was used by the king as some kind of living room. He enjoyed sitting in the niche, sometimes reading there the whole night. Because Ludwig II used to sleep in the daytime and stay awake in the night, the mirrors created an unimaginable effect for him when they reflected the light of the candles a thousand times. The parallel placement of some mirrors evoke the illusion of a never ending avenue.

_Appointments:_

The middle table has a top with lapis-lazuli, amethyst and chalcedony inlay work and shows the Bavarian coat of arms in glass mosaic.

A carpet made of ostrich plumes.

An ivory candelabra in the alcove with 16 branches.

Two mantelpieces clad with lapis-lazuli and decorated with gilded bronze ornaments.

*Eastern and Western Tapestry Chambers*
The two tapestry chambers are almost identical and have no specific function. The western one is sometimes called "Music Room" because of the aeolodion (an instrument combining piano and harmonium) in it. Only the curtains and the coverings on the furniture are real products of the Parisian Gobelin Manufactory. The scenes on the walls are painted on rough canvas in order to imitate real tapestries.

*Audience Chamber*
The audience chamber is located to the west of the palace and is flanked by the yellow and lilac cabinets. The cabinets were only used as antechambers to the larger rooms. Ludwig II never used this room to hold an audience. This would have been against the private character of Linderhof and the chamber would have been much too small for it. He rather used it as a study where he thought about new building projects. That there _is_ an audience chamber in Linderhof, however, reminds us of the demand of the king on an absolute monarchy.

_Appointments:_

Two round tables with malachite tops, gift of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia to King Ludwig II.

Throne baldachin with ostrich feather bunches (as an oriental symbol of royal power).

*Dining Room*
This room is located to the east and is flanked by the pink and blue cabinets. The pink cabinet, unlike the other cabinets, had a real function. The king used it as a robing room. The dining room is famous for its disappearing dumb-waiter called "Tischlein deck dich". This table was installed so that Ludwig could dine alone here. Yet the staff had to lay the table for at least four persons because it is said that the king used to talk to imaginary people like Louis XV, Mme de Pompadour or Marie Antoinette while he was eating. For Ludwig II enjoyed the company of those people and admired them. You can find portraits of them in the cabinets, and scenes of their lives everywhere in the palace's rooms.

_Appointments:_

Meissen porcelain centrepiece with china flowers.

*Bedchamber*
The model for this room was not Louis XIV's bedchamber in Versailles but the bedroom of the Rich Rooms in Munich Residence. This room was completely rebuilt in 1884 and could not be totally finished until the king's death two years later. The position of the bed itself on steps in the alcove that is closed off by a gilded balustrade gives it the appearance of an altar and thereby glorifies Ludwig II as he slept during the day.

_Appointments:_

A glass candelabra with 108 candles.

Two console tables of Meissen porcelain (which was the king's favorite china)

*The park*
The gardens surrounding Linderhof Palace are considered one of the most beautiful creations of historicist garden design, designed by Court Garden Director Carl von Effner. The park combines formal elements of Baroque style or Italian Renaissance gardens with landscaped sections that are similar to the English garden.

*Linderhof's Linden or The Old "Königslinde"*
Deriving from the romantic image of animated nature Ludwig was fascinated by trees. For this reason a tall, 300-year-old linden tree was allowed to remain in the formal gardens although disturbing its symmetry. Historic pictures show a seat in it, where Ludwig used to take his "breakfast" at sunset hidden from view amongst the branches. Contrary to common understanding the tree did not give the palace its name. It came from a family called "Linder" that used to cultivate the farm (in German "Hof" = farm) that over centuries had been in the place where now Linderhof palace is.[3]

*Formal gardens*
The palace is surrounded by formal gardens that are subdivided into five sections that are decorated with allegoric sculptures of the continents, the seasons and the elements:

The *northern part* is characterized by a cascade of thirty marble steps. The bottom end of the cascade is formed by the Neptune fountain and at the top there is a Music Pavilion.

The centre of the *western parterre* is formed by basin with the gilt figure of "Fama". In the west there is a pavilion with the bust of Louis XIV. In front of it you see a fountain with the gilt sculpture "Amor with dolphins". The garden is decorated with four majolica vases.

The crowning of the *eastern parterre* is a wooden pavilion containing the bust of Louis XVI. Twenty-four steps below it there is a fountain basin with a gilt sculpture "Amor shooting an arrow". A sculpture of "Venus and Adonis" is placed between the basin and the palace.

The *water parterre* in front of the palace is dominated by a large basin with the gilt fountain group "Flora and puttos". The fountain's water jet itself is nearly 25 meters high.

The *terrace gardens* form the southern part of the park and correspond to the cascade in the north. On the landing of the first flight there is the "Naiad fountain" consisting of three basins and the sculptures of water nymphs. In the middle arch of the niche you see the bust of Marie Antoinette of France. These gardens are crowned by a round temple with a statue of Venus formed after a painting by Antoine Watteau (The Embarkation for Cythera).

*Landscape garden and structures in the park*
The landscape garden covers an area of about 50 hectares (125 acres) and is perfectly integrated in the surrounding natural alpine landscape. There are several buildings of different appearance located in the park.

Venus Grotto
The building is wholly artificial and was built for the king as an illustration of the First Act of Wagner's "Tannhäuser". Ludwig liked to be rowed over the lake in his golden swan-boat but at the same time he wanted his own blue grotto of Capri. Therefore, 24 dynamos had been installed and so already in the time of Ludwig II it was possible to illuminate the grotto in changing colours.

Hunding's Hut
This hut was inspired by Richard Wagner's directions for the First Act of the "Valkyrie". Ludwig used to celebrate Germanic feasts in this house.

Gurnemanz Hermitage
Ludwig came here for contemplation every year on Good Friday. For this day he wanted a flowering meadow. If there was no such meadow because there was still snow lying, the garden director had to plant one for the king.

_These three structures, the "Venus Grotto", "Hunding's Hut" and "Gurnemanz Hermitage" remind us another time of the operas of Richard Wagner. But besides that and the baroque architecture Ludwig was also interested in the oriental world._

Moorish Kiosk
This building was designed by the Berliner architect Karl von Diebitsch for the International Exhibition in Paris 1867. Ludwig II wanted to buy it but was forestalled by the railroad king Bethel Henry Strousberg. Ludwig bought the pavilion after the bankruptcy of Strousberg. The most notable piece of furniture of this building is the peacock throne.

Moroccan House
This house was actually built in Morocco for the International Exhibition in Vienna 1873. The king bought it in 1878 and redecorated it in a more royal way.






Linderhof Palace - Wikipedia


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## mudwhistle

*Heisdorf Castle, Luxembourg*

*



*


*Heisdorf Castle* (French: _Château de Heisdorf_) located in the village of Heisdorf in central Luxembourg was built by Baron Lippmann in the late 19th century. Surrounded by a large park, it was designed by the Belgian architect Charles Thirion. In 1916, the Sisters of the Christian Doctrine acquired the property as a convalescent home for their community. In 1982, it was opened as an old people's home under the name of _Maison de retraite Marie-Consolatrice_.[1] In 2007, a new wing was added to the building by the architecture firm Hermann, Valentiny and Partners providing improved facilities for its senior citizens.[2]

*History*
In 940, Heisdorf was first mentioned in a document, when King Otto I confirmed the Trier St. Maximin's Abbey's property in _Hehchichesdorf_. It was probably around that time, the 10th or 11th century, that a castle was built here, with a fortified tower, whose ruins existed until 2006.

In 1314, _Heinrich von Stein_, or _de Lapide_, was first mentioned in records as Lord of Heisdorf and owner of the castle.

In 1639, Baron Jean de Beck bought the castle from the descendants of the medieval owners, in order to build a new castle, which was completed by 1645. Jean de Beck, who had acquired a large fortune as well as a noble title while in the service of the Austrian army, also built a castle in Beaufort.

The castle was square, with a fortified wall around it and a tower at each corner. On the side of the Alzette, there was still the large medieval tower.

Beck's building was built along the main road, where the main entrance was also, and consisted of three wings.

The castle was destroyed in 1681 by invading French troops, but was rebuilt in 1685.

In 1711, the descendants of Jean de Beck sold the castle to Guillaume-François and Philippe de Marchant, who owned the forge in Dommeldange.

By 1766, when a cadaster was established under Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the castle had fallen into disrepair and was only inhabited by a caretaker.

In 1778, the castle came under the ownership of two Alsatian families one after another, first the _Mohr de Waldt_ and then the _de Reinach_ family.

In 1878, their descendants sold the property to the banker, Léon Lippmann, and his wife Lina Nathan. After Léon Lippmann's death in 1883, his widow had Jean de Beck's building torn down, in order to build a new construction.

*Appearance*
The castle consists of two wings at a right angle to one another. The main entrance is in the middle of the building, in the square tower which connects the two wings. The end of the wing on the Alzette side consists of a round tower with a roof in form of a cupola, with a spire above it. This tower contains the knights' hall. From the outside, a monumental stairway leads to the first floor of the tower. Above the main entrance, one can see the years 1645 and 1888. The present castle was built in 1888, on the location where Jean de Beck had built a previous castle in 1645. The castle includes a chapel, which was built by the Sisters in 1924, on the side of the main street, where the two wings are connected.

*Chapel*
The chapel was built in 1924 and renovated in 2005-2006. The following are of cultural significance:


A wooden sculpture of Jesus on the cross. This was presumably made in a workshop in Lorraine. In 1983 the Sisters brought it to from Nancy to Heisdorf
Stations of the Cross made of enamel, by the Schwarzmann firm in Trier
Leaded windows by Gust Zanter.
*Attached buildings*
Two other buildings are linked to the Castle: one is the Regina-Pacis House, which is connected to the Castle via a bridge. The house was opened in 1992, and was designed by the architect Michel Mousel.

The castle also has a modern wing, on the Walferdange side; this was completed in 2007, to a design by the architectural firm Hermann & Valentiny.

Along the Mullendorf road is a service building from the early 19th century, which incorporates three portal entrances from the castle of Jean de Beck. One portal has the coat of arms of Jean de Beck and of his wife Catherine de Capelle, as well as the date 1645 (the year in which Jean de Beck's castle was completed).

*Park*
The castle grounds include a large park, along the main road, from which it is separated by a high wall. The park was renovated after 1910, which left the old trees standing. Two of these, a black pine and an oak tree, are counted among the "notable trees" of Luxembourg.

In the park grounds, there are three separate buildings, which are used for social purposes:


the _Haus Marie-Consolatrice_ (opened in 1982), on the Mullendorf side: an old people's home
the _Haus Nico-Kremer_, alsos called the _Foyer du Tricentenaire_ (1996), a home for the handicapped
the _Chalet Ginkgo_ (the former laundry building); used since 1980 by youth groups


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## mudwhistle

*Larochette Castle, Luxembourg*






*Larochette Castle* (Luxembourgish: _Buerg Fiels_, German: _Burg Fels_, French: _Château de Larochette_) stands high above the town of Larochette in central Luxembourg. Dating from the 11th century, the castle was destroyed by fire at the end of the 16th century. Since its acquisition by the State of Luxembourg in 1979, some restoration work has been undertaken.[1]

*Location*
The castle ruins are located on a promontory some 150 metres above the White Ernz which runs through the small town of Larochette. The access road crosses a large farmyard with fortified earthworks. The main building is surrounded by a wall, now partly destroyed. A deep ditch divides the castle into two parts. At the far end of the promontory, the remains of several manor houses attest to the high quality of the architecture and its rather pompous style.[1]





Larochette Castle: main building
*History*
The earliest references to the castle are from the end of the 11th century and during the 12th century when the lords of Larochette (Van der Feltz) were flag bearers for the counts of Luxembourg. The family proliferated leading to the construction of the five stately houses which are separate from the main structure. They include the Homburg Manor (1350) and the Créhange Manor (1385) both of which have now been restored.[2] The _Verlorenkost_ (literally Lost Food) watchtower also stands alone on the south side. The legend goes that the cook was carrying pots full of food when she stumbled, breaking everything.[3]

The Créhange manor now contains period artwork. There is a well inside which also has its legend, telling how the lady of the castle jumped into the well with her child while the castle was under attack. After rescuing the brave woman, the invaders accused the steward of the castle of treason and threw him into the well. It is said that he reappears every Good Friday in the form of a dragon.[4]

*Visiting times*
The castle is open to the public from Easter until the end of October, every day from 10 am to 6 pm.[5]


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## mudwhistle

*Château de Chambord, Chambord, France*
*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/France*
*

*
*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/France*
*The Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King Francis I of France.


Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley; it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I, who maintained his royal residences at the Château de Blois and Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed, though with some doubt, to Domenico da Cortona; Leonardo da Vinci may also have been involved.


Chambord was altered considerably during the twenty-eight years of its construction (1519–1547), during which it was overseen on-site by Pierre Nepveu. With the château nearing completion, Francis showed off his enormous symbol of wealth and power by hosting his old archrival, Emperor Charles V, at Chambord.


In 1792, in the wake of the French Revolution, some of the furnishings were sold and timber removed. For a time the building was left abandoned, though in the 19th century some attempts were made at restoration. During the Second World War, art works from the collections of the Louvre and the Château de Compiègne were moved to the Château de Chambord. The château is now open to the public, receiving 700,000 visitors in 2007. Flooding in June 2016 damaged the grounds but not the château itself.

Architecture




Plan of the château as engraved by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (1576)




The château and decorative moat, viewed from the North-West (2015)
Châteaux in the 16th-century departed from castle architecture;[nb 1] while they were off-shoots of castles, with features commonly associated with them, they did not have serious defences. Extensive gardens and water features, such as a moat, were common amongst châteaux from this period. Chambord is no exception to this pattern. The layout is reminiscent of a typical castle with a keep, corner towers, and defended by a moat.[3] Built in Renaissance style, the internal layout is an early example of the French and Italian style of grouping rooms into self-contained suites, a departure from the medieval style of corridor rooms.[4][nb 2] The massive château is composed of a central keep with four immense bastion towers at the corners. The keep also forms part of the front wall of a larger compound with two more large towers. Bases for a possible further two towers are found at the rear, but these were never developed, and remain the same height as the wall. The château features 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases. Four rectangular vaulted hallways on each floor form a cross-shape.

The château was never intended to provide any form of defence from enemies; consequently the walls, towers and partial moat are decorative, and even at the time were an anachronism. Some elements of the architecture – open windows, loggia, and a vast outdoor area at the top – borrowed from the Italian Renaissance architecture – are less practical in cold and damp northern France.





The elaborately developed roof line. It should be noted that the keep's façade is asymmetrical, with the exception of the Northwest façade, latterly revised, when the two wings were added to the château.
The roofscape of Chambord contrasts with the masses of its masonry and has often been compared with the skyline of a town:[6] it shows eleven kinds of towers and three types of chimneys, without symmetry, framed at the corners by the massive towers. The design parallels are north Italian and Leonardesque. Writer Henry James remarked "the towers, cupolas, the gables, the lanterns, the chimneys, look more like the spires of a city than the salient points of a single building."[7][8]





The double-spiral staircase
One of the architectural highlights is the spectacular open double spiral staircase that is the centrepiece of the château. The two spirals ascend the three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by a sort of light house at the highest point of the château. There are suggestions that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed the staircase, but this has not been confirmed. Writer John Evelyn said of the staircase "it is devised with four (sic) entries or ascents, which cross one another, so that though four persons meet, they never come in sight, but by small loopholes, till they land. It consists of 274 steps (as I remember), and is an extraordinary work, but of far greater expense than use or beauty."[8]

The château also features 128 meters of façade, more than 800 sculpted columns and an elaborately decorated roof. When Francis I commissioned the construction of Chambord, he wanted it to look like the skyline of Constantinople.

The château is surrounded by a 52.5‑km² (13,000‑acre) wooded park and game reserve maintained with red deer, enclosed by a 31‑kilometer (20‑mile) wall. The king's plan to divert the Loire to surround the château came about only in a novel; Amadis of Gaul, which Francis had translated. In the novel the château is referred to as the Palace of Firm Isle.

Chambord's towers are atypical of French contemporary design in that they lack turrets and spires. In the opinion of author Tanaka, who suggests Leonardo da Vinci influenced the château's design, they are closer in design to minarets of 15th-century Milan.[6]

The design and architecture of the château inspired William Henry Crossland for his design of what is known as the Founder's building at Royal Holloway, University of London. The Founder's Building features very similar towers and layout but was built using red bricks.




*


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## mudwhistle

Watch this in full screen.....it's very clear....


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## mudwhistle

*Château de Vitré, France*

*



*
*The Château de Vitré is a medieval castle in the town of Vitré, in the Ille-et-Vilaine département of France.

The first castle in Vitré was built of wood on a feudal motte around the year 1000 on the Sainte-Croix hill. The castle was burned down on several occasions, and eventually was bequeathed to the Benedictine monks of Marmoutier Abbey.

The first stone castle was built by the baron Robert I of Vitré at the end of the 11th century. The defensive site chosen, a rocky promontory, dominated the valley of the Vilaine. A Romanesque style doorway still survives from this building. During the first half of the 13th century, baron André III, rebuilt it in its present triangular form, following the contours of the rocks, surrounded with dry moats.

At his death, the land fell to the family of the Counts of Laval. Guy XII de Laval enlarged the castle in the 15th century. During this period, the final defensive works were realised, notably the gatehouse with double drawbridge, tour Saint-Laurent (St Laurent Tower, the main keep later pierced with cannon apertures) and tour de la Madeleine (Magdalene Tower). Nevertheless, in 1487, Guy XV de Laval opened the castle to French troops without a fight.





South façade and Place Saint-Yves
From the end of the 15th century, alterations concentrated on improving the comfort of the castle, including the construction of galleries and a renaissance style oratory(1530). The Parlement of Brittany took refuge in the castle three times (in 1564, 1582 and 1583), while plague raged in Rennes.

Under the Rieux and Cologny families, owners of the castle between 1547 and 1605, Vitré sheltered Protestants and became for some years a Huguenot stronghold. In 1589, the castle resisted a five-month siege by the Duc de Mercœur. In 1605, the castle became the property of the Trémoille family, originally from Poitou. The castle was abandoned in the 17th century and began to decline, notably with the partial collapse of the St Laurent Tower and the accidental fire which destroyed the feudal residence at the end of the 18th century.

A départemental prison was built in place of the residence and occupied the northern part of the castle, including the Magdalene Tower. The prison became a barracks with the arrival of the 70th infantry regiment between 1876 and 1877.





East façade and Place du Château
The castle was bought by the town in the 1820 for 8500 francs.[1] In 1872, it was one of the first castles in France to be classified as a monument historique (historic monument) and restored from 1875 under the direction of the architect Darcy. Placed in the public domain, the castle was furnished with a small museum, in 1876, inspired by Arthur de la Borderie. Paradoxically, he destroyed the collégiale de la Madeleine (collegiate church of the Madeleine) in the castle courtyard while he was in charge of conservation for the town. A boys' school was built in its place.

Today, the Vitré town hall stands inside the curtain wall, in a building reconstructed in 1912 following the plans of the medieval residence. The Place du Château, outside the castle, used to be the castle forecourt where stables and outbuildings were. It is now a car park that will be revamped in 2007 to properly show off one of the most imposing castles in France.





East façade





Detail of gatehouse entrance





Fortified gatehouse from inside of the courtyard





West façade

*


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## mudwhistle

*Doorwerth Castle, Netherlands*

*



*


*Doorwerth Castle* (Dutch: _Kasteel Doorwerth_) is a medieval castle situated on the river Rhine near the city of Arnhem, Netherlands.

*Contents*

1 History
2 Modern times
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
*History*
The original castle, probably wooden, is first mentioned in 1260 when it was besieged and burned to the ground, after which it was rebuilt in stone. In 1280 this second castle was again besieged and this time the bailey was burned down. This castle probably consisted of a simple hall-keep, two stories high with 1.20 meter thick walls, and featured a surrounding moat which was fed by the nearby river Rhine.

During the 14th century the castle was continually enlarged. Doorwerth Castle was originally the property of the Van Dorenweerd family. In 1402 Robert van Dorenweerd dedicated the castle to the Count of Gelre, Reinald IV. In return Robert was granted the castle and its land in fief. Around the middle of the 15th century the castle was enlarged again, this time by knight Reinald van Homoet, the 10th Lord of Dorenweerd, who was also the owner of Doornenburg Castle.

Doorwerth Castle reached its largest form just after the middle of the 16th century under Daem Schellart van Obbendorf, the 15th Lord of Dorenweerd. He made the castle and the group of buildings on the bailey into a unity and adjusted them for more space and comfort. By 1560 Doorwerth Castle had almost reached its present appearance. Around 1637 the bailey was rebuilt to its present appearance and a dike was built around the castle to protect it from flooding of the river Rhine.

Shortly after, the castle changed ownership due to financial problems and was granted in fief to a German Count, Anton I van Aldenburg. His successors did not alter the castle or bailey but did acquire more land. At the end of the 18th century the castle was no longer inhabited, but was looked after by a steward for its owners who now lived in England.

*Modern times*
As a result, the castle was in a neglected state when it was bought, in 1837, by the baron JAP. van Brakell. He carried out a thorough restoration and a complete modernization of the castle. This revival of the castle only lasted for a short time; after the baron's death in 1844 the castle again fell into neglect. It remained neglected until 1910, when it was bought by retired artillery officer Frederic Adolph Hoefer. Again the castle was thoroughly restored, undoing some of the 19th century alterations and additions. After 1913 it was used as a Dutch Artillery Museum.

The castle suffered heavily in 1944 as a result of German destructiveness and Allied shelling during World War II. Directly after WW II a lengthy restoration began that lasted until 1983. By then the castle was back into its 18th-century state and was owned by the "Friends of the Castles of Gelderland" foundation who now maintain the castle as a museum.

In 1969-1970, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema wrote his famous book _Soldaat van Oranje_ (Soldier of Orange) in the restaurant Beaulieu.[1]

Dutch film director Stephan Brenninkmeijer was born at Doorwerth castle in 1964 and lived there until 1970.[2]

In 2004, the Castle was investigated for the ghosts allegedly haunting it by the British paranormal television show Most Haunted.





Translation: "To G.H. Brenninkmeijer - in memory of the hospitality and leisure enjoyed in "Beaulieu", during the writing of this book in Doorwerth, 1969-1970. Sincerely Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. May 1971")





Doorwerth, castle: kasteel Doorwerth





Main tower





Main gate





Castle tower





Inside the castle





450-year-old _Robinia pseudoacacia_


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## mudwhistle

*Charlottenlund Palace, Denmark*

*



*


*Charlottenlund Palace* (Danish: _Charlottenlund Slot_) is a former royal summer residence in Charlottenlund, some 10 km north of central Copenhagen, Denmark. The palace was named after Princess Charlotte Amalie, who was responsible for the construction of the original palace. It was later extended and adapted for Crown Prince Frederick VIII to a design by Ferdinand Meldahl in the early 1880s.

From 1935 to 2017, the building has housed the Danish Biological Station (_Dansk Biologisk Station_),[1] later renamed Danish Fishery Survey and in the final years called DTU Aqua. It is now a cultural event venue.[2] The Great Hall is occasionally used for classical concerts.[_citation needed_]

*Contents*

1 History
1.1 Origins
1.2 Gyldenlund
1.3 Charlottenlund
1.4 Later history

2 Architecture
3 Park and surroundings
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
*History*
*Origins*
In 1622, King Christian IV established a new deer park at the site, which was to replace Rosenborg Deer Park at Rosenborg Castle just outside Copenhagen. It was referred to variously as "Kongens nye dyrehave ved Skovshoved" ("The King's new deer park at Skovshoved"), "Gentofte dyrehave ved stranden" ("Gentofte deer park by the beach"), "Den lille dyrehave ved Ibstrub" ("The small deer park at Ibstrub") and "Freudendahl".

In 1663, King Frederick III ceded the deer park to one of his courtiers, Jacob Petersen (_Jammertjener_, later _rigsbaron_).[3] With Henrik Ruse, he opened an inn at the site.

*Gyldenlund*




Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve.
Due to a dispute at the court, Jacob Petersen had to leave the country. After his property was then taken over by Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, an acknowledged illegitimate son of King Frederick III, it became known as Gyldenlund after its new owner. He renovated the buildings as well as the fishing ponds and constructed a new summer residence in the grounds. The exact location of the new house is not known but it is assumed that it was located at the site of the current palace.

Gyldenløve had owned Gyldenlund for some ten years when Frederick III claimed it back in exchange for Skjoldenæsholm at Ringsted. The king used the house as a summer retreat and for hunting. Christian V constructed Jægersborg Allé in 1706, originally as a private road, connecting the two royal residences in Charlottenlund and Jægersborg.[4]

*Charlottenlund*




Charlottenlund in 1744
In 1730, Crown Prince Christian (VI) gave Gyldenlund to his sister, Princess Charlotte Amalie. She replaced the house with a new building in the Baroque style. The construction took place under supervision of Engineer Officer H. H. Scheel, probably to a design by Johan Cornelius Krieger.[5] Many of the building materials came from Copenhagen Castle which was under demolition.





Charlottenlund Palace, drawing by H.G.F. Holm, c. 1830
In the middle of the 19th century, Charlottenlund Palace was for many years the home of Louise Charlotte and Prince William of Hesse-Kassel.[5] Quite atypically for a royal residence, the park remained open to the public. Throughout the century, on and off, it was a favourite excursion spot for Copenhageners on Sundays.

In 1869, Crown Prince Frederick and his wife Lovisa of Sweden took over the palace. Both Christian X of Denmark and Haakon VII of Norway were born in the building. In 1880–81, Ferdinand Meldahl undertook a major rebuilding of the palace. The queen dowager Louise lived there until her death in 1926.[5]

*Later history*




Charlottenlund Palace after the extension, c. 1890
The royal family discontinued using the palace in 1935 and made it available to the Danish Biological Station (_Dansk Biologisk Station_),[1] later renamed to Danish Fishery Survey (_Danmarks Fiskeriundersøgelser_). The Danish National Aquarium opened in a corner of the park in 1939 where it remained until 2013 when The Blue Planet was inaugurated in Kastrup. The Danish Fishery Survey, now called DTU Aqua, became a department under the Technical University of Denmark (_DTU_) in 2001. The department planned to move to a new building at DTU's main campus in Lyngby in 2015.[_needs update_] The future use of Charlottenlund Palace had not yet been decided as of January 2016.[6][_needs update_]





Charlottenlund Palace as seen from the garden
*Architecture*
Meldahl's extension of the palace in the 1880s adapted the original Baroque palace to reflect the French Renaissance style that characterizes its architecture today. Meldahl extended the building with two bays and the two corner risalits on the front side. The central hall with dome and lantern were also added.[5] On the garden side there is a three bay central projection. The building was listed in 1918.[7]

*Park and surroundings*
The park has an area of 14.2 hectares. The original Baroque park was redesigned into an English-style Romantic garden in the 1880s. It contains several small buildings, including an ice house and a thatched, yellow building with timber framing that has been used both as a wash house and a guard house for the Royal Life Guards.[8]

The park adjoins Charlottenlund Beach Park and Charlottenlund Forest.[9]


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## mudwhistle

Fredensborg Palace, Denmark







*Fredensborg Palace* (Danish: _Fredensborg Slot_; pronounced [ˈfʁæðˀn̩sbɒːˀ]) is a palace located on the eastern shore of Lake Esrum (Danish, _Esrum Sø_) in Fredensborg on the island of Zealand (_Sjælland_) in Denmark. It is the Danish Royal Family’s spring and autumn residence, and is often the site of important state visits and events in the Royal Family. It is the most used of the Royal Family’s residences.

*Contents*

1 History
2 The park and gardens
3 Surrounding forests
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
*History*




Fredensborg in 1728
At the end of the Great Northern War King Frederick IV asked architect Johan Cornelius Krieger, royal gardener to the court at Rosenborg Castle, to build him a small pleasure palace on the site of a farmyard named Østrup. Krieger built the French-inspired baroque palace 1720–1726, and the King himself took an active part in the planning of the building and grounds, and followed construction closely. The man responsible for the actual construction was General Building Master Johan Conrad Ernst, who was also responsible for the construction of Frederiksberg Palace.[1]

While the building was still under construction Denmark–Norway and Sweden negotiated a peace treaty, which was signed July 3, 1720 on the site of the unfinished palace The treaty determined the fate of Skåne, which since that time has been a part of Sweden, and ended Denmark’s eleven-year participation in the Great Northern War.[1] To commemorate the signing of the peace accord the palace was named _Fredens Borg_ (lit. "Peace's Castle").

The palace complex consisted of a small, almost square,  1 1⁄2-storey-high main palace with dome and lanterns. It is positioned exactly at the centre of what is known as a "hunting star" (Danish, _jagtstjerne_), a number of straight intersecting paths in a game hunting reserve. During a hunt it was permissible to shoot freely straight down the long paths, which radiated out from the centre. The dome hall measured 15 x 15 m, and had a height of 27 m. The sumptuous room featured stucco by C.E. Brenno and a plafond by Hendrick Krock.

In front of the main building was placed an octagonal courtyard encircled by the single-storey servants' wings, called Red Wing. It is the only red building at Fredensborg Palace, and it has open half-timbers under a red tile roof.

East of the octagon were the riding ring and the long stables building;

To the east and adjacent to the main palace was an Orangery and the one-storey building called Margrave House. The Orangery, which was equipped with huge glasshouse windows, was connected to the main building by a small secret passage, so that the Royal Family and the courtiers could walk to the chapel without getting their feet wet.

The palace chapel stood in the middle of the two buildings, and has an exaggerated copper spire, a pilaster-decorated façade facing the riding ring, and a heavily carved gable featuring a bust of Frederik IV in relief carved by Didrick Gercken.

On the other side of the church was the Courtiers Wing ("_Kavalerfløj_"), residences for the court’s clerks and members of the Royal Household. This section of the palace was built from 1724–1726, and introduces elements of the Dutch Baroque style and Rococo.

The palace was extended throughout the early 18th century, however the main structure of the palace has remained unchanged since its inauguration on October 11, 1722, the King’s 51st birthday.[1]

Krieger completed his work on the palace with the erection of the “new Court Chancery building” in 1731. The black-glazed tile, half-hipped roof building is now known as The Chancellery House. It butted up to the riding-ring on the southern edge. Until her death, the late Queen Mother, Queen Ingrid used this house as her private residence. The part of palace Chancellery House is the spring and autumn home of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.

A major alteration of Krieger’s original building was made in 1741–1744 when Lauritz de Thurah, the King’s favorite architect, elevated the roof of the palace’s main building. The slanted roof was replaced by a flat one, and a characteristically de Thurah sandstone balustrade was erected. In 1751 he also transformed the Orangery into a residential building for the ladies-in-waiting.

In 1753 Nicolai Eigtved extended the palace by adding four symmetrically-positioned corner pavilions with copper pyramid-shaped roofs to the main building.

In the 19th century, King Christian IX and Queen Louise, who counted England's Queen Alexandra, King George I of Greece and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia amongst their children used Fredensborg to host annual family reunions. There, their grandchildren, including the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kings George V of the United Kingdom, Haakon VII of Norway, and Constantine I of Greece, as well as the future Queen Maud of Norway, would play games in the park.

*The park and gardens*
The palace gardens are among Denmark's largest historical gardens, and are Denmark’s finest example of a baroque garden. These too was designed by Krieger, and were extended and altered during the 18th century.[1] The long, straight avenues which extend from the castle in a star-shaped pattern were recreated in the 1970s to 1990s. Between these avenues lies large wooded areas with winding paths. Most of the statues in the gardens were sculptured by Johannes Wiedewelt.[2]

Of special interest is the "Valley of the Norsemen (Danish: _Nordmandsdalen_) with approximately 70 sculptures of Norwegian and Faroese farmers and fishermen, originally carved by J.G. Grund.[2] The garden is open all year round.

The area of the gardens closest to the palace is reserved for the Royal Family, but is usually open to the public in July.[3] Here are the kitchen gardens, which supply fresh vegetables for the household, and a modern orangery, which was opened in 1995.





A soldier marching in front of the palace





A view of the palace from the garden





Sculptures in the _Valley of the Norsemen_

*Surrounding forests*
Two of the forests in the surrounding area, Gribskov and Store Dyrehave were developed in the 1680s under King Christian V for par force hunting with a mathematically designed system of access roads. They have now been included in the UNESCO World Heritage


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## mudwhistle

*Seville Barocco Palace, Spain*

*



*

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## mudwhistle

*Wartburg* *Castle, FRG*

*



*
*The Wartburg is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a 410 meters (1,350 ft) precipice to the southwest of, and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. In 1999, UNESCO added Wartburg Castle to the World Heritage List. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament of the Bible into German, the site of the Wartburg festival of 1817 and the supposed setting for the possibly legendary Sängerkrieg. It was an important inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build Neuschwanstein Castle. Wartburg is the most-visited tourist attraction in Thuringia after Weimar. Although the castle today still contains substantial original structures from the 12th through 15th centuries, much of the interior dates back only to the 19th century.

Contents

1 Etymology
2 Location
3 History
4 Architecture
4.1 Palas
4.2 Other structures

5 Today
6 Legacy
7 Notes
8 External links
Etymology
The name of the castle is probably derived from German: Warte, a watchtower, in spite of a tradition which holds that the castle's founder, on first laying eyes on the site, exclaimed, "Warte, Berg -- du sollst mir eine Burg tragen!" ("Wait, mountain -- you shall bear my castle!").[1] It is a German play on words for mountain (Berg) and fortress (Burg). In addition, Louis the Springer is said to have had clay from his lands transported to the top of the hill, which was not quite within his lands, so he might swear that the castle was built on his soil.

Location




View of Wartburg from the east
Wartburg is located on a 410 meters (1,350 ft) precipice to the southwest of, and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. The hill is an extension of Thuringian Forest, overlooking Mariental to the south-east and the valley of the Hörsel to the north, through which passed the historical Via Regia.[2]:149 The Rennsteig passes not far to the south of the castle.

History




The Luther Room




Wartburg, monk and nun, drawing by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1807)




Students marching to the Wartburg in 1817




Wartburg c. 1890-1900, seen from the south-west




The South Tower




Main gate seen from the first courtyard




Panorama view from the redoubt to the east
The castle's foundation was laid about 1067 by the Thuringian count of Schauenburg, Louis the Springer ( Ludwig der Springer ), a relative of the Counts of Rieneck in Franconia. Together with its larger sister castle Neuenburg in the present-day town of Freyburg, the Wartburg secured the extreme borders of his traditional territories.[3]

The castle was first mentioned in a written document in 1080 by Bruno, Bishop of Merseburg, in his De Bello Saxonico ("The Saxon War") as Wartberg.[4]

During the Investiture Controversy, Louis's henchmen attacked a military contingent of King Henry IV of Germany. The count remained a fierce opponent of the Salian rulers, and upon the extinction of the line, his son Louis I was elevated to the rank of a Landgrave in Thuringia by the new German king Lothair of Supplinburg in 1131.

From 1172 to 1211, the Wartburg was one of the most important princes' courts in the German Reich. Hermann I supported poets like Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach who wrote part of his Parzival here in 1203.[2]:149

The castle thus became the setting for the legendary Sängerkrieg, or Minstrels' Contest[4] in which such Minnesänger as Walther von der Vogelweide,[5] Wolfram von Eschenbach,[6] Albrecht von Halberstadt (the translator of Ovid) and many others supposedly took part in 1206/1207. The legend of this event was later used by Richard Wagner in his opera Tannhäuser.

At the age of four, St. Elisabeth of Hungary was sent by her mother to the Wartburg to be raised to become consort of Landgrave Ludwig IV of Thuringia. From 1211 to 1228, she lived in the castle and was renowned for her charitable work. In 1221, Elisabeth married Ludwig. In 1227, Ludwig died on the Crusade and she followed her confessor Father Konrad to Marburg. Elisabeth died there in 1231 at the age of 24 and was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church just five years after her death.[4][7][8]:4

In 1247, Heinrich Raspe, the last landgrave of Thuringia of his line and an anti-king of Germany, died at the Wartburg.[4] He was succeeded by Henry III, Margrave of Meissen.

In 1320, substantial reconstruction work was done after the castle had been damaged in a fire caused by lightning in 1317 or 1318. A chapel was added to the Palas.[8]:15,18

The Wartburg remained the seat of the Thuringian landgraves until 1440.

From May 1521 to March 1522, Martin Luther stayed at the castle under the name of Junker Jörg (the Knight George), after he had been taken there for his safety at the request of Frederick the Wise following his excommunication by Pope Leo X and his refusal to recant at the Diet of Worms. It was during this period that Luther translated the New Testament from ancient Greek into German in just ten weeks.[4] Luther's was not the first German translation of the Bible but it quickly became the most well known and most widely circulated.

From 1540 until his death in 1548, Fritz Erbe (de), an Anabaptist farmer from Herda, was held captive in the dungeon of the south tower, because he refused to abjure anabaptism. After his death, he was buried in the Wartburg near the chapel of St. Elisabeth.[9] In 1925, a handwritten signature of Fritz Erbe was found on the prison wall.

Over the next centuries, the castle fell increasingly into disuse and disrepair, especially after the end of the Thirty Years' War when it had served as a refuge for the ruling family.[8]:7

In 1777, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stayed at the Wartburg for five weeks, making various drawings of the buildings.[4]

On 18 October 1817, the first Wartburg festival took place. About 500 students, members of the newly founded German Burschenschaften ("fraternities"), came together at the castle to celebrate the German victory over Napoleon four years before and the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, condemn conservatism and call for German unity under the motto "Honour - Freedom - Fatherland".[4] Speakers at the event included Heinrich Hermann Riemann, a veteran of the Lützow Free Corps, the philosophy student Ludwig Rödiger, and Hans Ferdinand Massmann.

With the permission of the absent chaplain Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, the Code Napoléon and other books were burned 'in effigy': instead of the costly volumes, scraps of parchment with the titles of conservative books (including August von Kotzebue's History of the German Empires) were placed on the bonfire. Karl Ludwig Sand, who would assassinate Kotzebue two years later, was among the participants.

This event and a similar gathering at Wartburg during the Revolutions of 1848 are considered seminal moments in the movement for German unification.

During the rule of the House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Grand Duke Karl Alexander ordered the reconstruction of Wartburg in 1838. The lead architect was Hugo von Ritgen (de), for whom it became a life's work. In fact, it was finished only a year after his death in 1889.[4]

Drawing on a suggestion by Goethe that the Wartburg would serve well as a museum, Maria Pavlovna and her son Karl Alexander also founded the art collection ( Kunstkammer ) that became the nucleus of today's museum.[8]:24–28

The reign of the House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach ended in the German Revolution in 1918. In 1922, the Wartburg Stiftung (Wartburg Foundation) was established to ensure the castle's maintenance.[4]

After the end of World War II, Soviet occupation forces took the renowned collection of weapons and armour. Its whereabouts still remain unknown.[8]:10 The Rüstkammer (de) (the armoury) of the Wartburg used to contain a notable collection of about 800 pieces, from the splendid armour of King Henry II of France, to the items of Frederick the Wise, Pope Julius II and Bernhard von Weimar. All these objects were taken by the Soviet Occupation Army in 1946 and have disappeared in the Soviet Union. Two helmets, two swords, a prince's and a boy's armour, however, were found in a temporary store at the time and a few pieces were given back by the USSR in the 1960s. The new Russian Government has been petitioned to help locate the missing treasures.

Under communist rule during the time of the GDR extensive reconstruction took place in 1952-54. In particular, much of the palas was restored to its original Romanesque style.[4] A new stairway was erected next to the palas.[8]:24

In 1967, the castle was the site of celebrations of the GDR's national jubilee, the 900th anniversary of the Wartburg's foundation, the 450th anniversary of the beginning of Luther's Reformation and the 150th anniversary of the Wartburg Festival.[8]:29

On June 13, 1980, Devo performed at the castle during their Freedom of Choice tour.

In 1983, it was the central point of the celebrations on account of the 500th birthday of Martin Luther.[8]:29

Architecture




Map of the Wartburg: (1) access ramp, (2) redoubt, (3) drawbridge, (4) Torhaus (barbican), (5) Ritterhaus, (6) Vogtei and first courtyard, (7) Margarethengang, (8) Dirnitzlaube, (9) inner gatehouse, (10) Neue Kemenate, (11) stairs, (12) Bergfried, (13) Palas, (14) Ritterbad,(15) Gadem, (16) second courtyard with cistern (17) Südturm, (18) southern curtain wall, (19) kitchen garden, (20) Commandant’s garden, (21) Elisabethengang, (22) Hotel auf der Wartburg
Palas




Schwind's Sängerkrieg fresco in the Sängersaal (1854)
The largest structure of the Wartburg is the Palas, originally built in late Romanesque style between 1157 and 1170.[2]:150 It is considered the best-preserved non-ecclesial Romanesque building north of the Alps.[8]:11

The Palas features rooms like the Rittersaal and the Speisesaal which have been reconstructed as closely as possible to the original Romanesque style and which contain original structures (pillars or roof elements). However, many of the rooms mostly reflect the tastes of the 19th and 20th centuries and the image of the Middle Ages prevalent at the time: the Elisabeth-Kemenate was fitted with mosaics showing the life of St. Elisabeth (created in 1902-06) on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Sängersaal (with frescoes of the Sängerkrieg by Moritz von Schwind) and the Festssaal on the top floor. The latter also features frescoes by Schwind (on the triumph of Christianity) and served as the inspiration for the Sängerhalle at Neuschwanstein Castle.[2]:150[8]:24 The Wartburg's Sängersaal is the setting for Act II of Tannhäuser. None of the wallpaintings, including those in the Landgrafenzimmer or the Elisabethengalerie, are actually medieval in origin, but were created in the 19th century.[8]:19–24

Other structures
The drawbridge and barbican offer the only access to the castle and have been largely unchanged since medieval times.[2]:150

Vorburg is the area immediately inside the first gate. It dates to the 14th/15th century and is made up of several half-timbered buildings: the Elisabethengang (covered walkway), the Vogtei (Bailiff's lodge), the Margarethengang (covered walkway) and the Ritterhaus (Knights' House).[2]:150

The Lutherstube in the Vogtei, where Martin Luther stayed when he was in the castle, also features paintings by Lucas Cranach.[2]:150

The Bergfried (donjon) was completed in 1859 and sits on the foundations of a medieval keep. It is topped by a landmark 3-metre-tall cross (de).[2]:150

The Neue Kemenate (New Bower, 1853-1860) today exhibits the art treasures of the Wartburgsammlung, like paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder and sculptures from the workshop of Tilman Riemenschneider.[2]:150

The Romanesque Südturm or South Tower was built in 1318. Together with the Palas it is the oldest part of the castle. A dungeon is located below.[2]:150

In 1999, UNESCO added Wartburg Castle to the World Heritage List as an "Outstanding Monument of the Feudal Period in Central Europe", citing its "Cultural Values of Universal Significance".[10]

For a while, the status of Wartburg as a World Heritage site was endangered by plans to build very tall wind turbines on Milmesberg near Marksuhl. However, in November 2013, the investor agreed not to build the turbines and a regional planning update has banned such structures within sight of Wartburg in the future.[11]

Today
Wartburg is a popular tourist destination, the most-visited site in Thuringia after Weimar.[2]:148 It is accessible to visitors and guided tours offer access to the interior of the buildings. In addition, there is a museum in the castle. Children can ride donkeys up the hill. The Festssal is used regularly for staging the opera Tannhäuser, as well as concerts and other events. There is also a hotel, located right next to the castle, originally built during the castle's reconstruction in the 19th century.[12]

Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States of America, visited the Wartburg castle (as well as the Bach House, May 14, 1998 during his state visit to Germany. "On this beautiful Thuringian day in the spring, we are bathed in the light and the warmth of freedom."

Legacy
For centuries, the Wartburg has been a place of pilgrimage for many people from within and outside Germany, for its significance in German history and in the development of Christianity. Several places (especially US towns founded by Lutherans) and a local brand of automobile have been named after the Wartburg. Wartburg College in Iowa, United States, is named in commemoration of Martin Luther's receiving refuge at the castle and because of the college's forest location and its Thuringian heritage.[13] Wartburg Theological Seminary, also located in Iowa was named in commemoration of Wartburg Castle.

The Wartburgkreis is named after the castle, although Wartburg is located outside the district. Eisenach, originally part of the district, became kreisfrei ("district-free") in 1998.
*


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## mudwhistle

*Schwerin Palace, FRG*

*



*


*Schwerin Palace*, or *Schwerin Castle* (German: Schweriner Schloss, German pronunciation: [ʃvɛ ʁiːn']), is a palatial schloss located in the city of Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state, Germany. It is situated on an island in the city's main lake, the Schweriner See.

For centuries the palace was the home of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg and later Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Today it serves as the residence of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliament (German: Landtag).

Major parts of the current palace were built between 1845 and 1857, as a cooperation of the renowned history architects Gottfried Semper, Friedrich August Stüler, Georg Adolf Demmler and Ernst Friedrich Zwirner. The castle is regarded as one of the most important works of romantic Historicism in Europe and is designated to become a World Heritage Site. It is nicknamed "Neuschwanstein of the North".[1]


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## mudwhistle

*Hohenschwangau Castle, Germany*







*Hohenschwangau Castle* or *Schloss Hohenschwangau* (lit: _Upper Swan County Palace_) is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. It is located in the German village of Hohenschwangau near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria, Germany, very close to the border with Austria.

*History*
The fortress _Schwangau_, which was first mentioned in historical records dating from the 12th Century, stood high up on a rock on the site of the present 19th-century Neuschwanstein castle. The knights, later counts of Schwangau, were ministerialis of the Welfs. Hiltbolt von Schwangau (1195–1254) was a minnesinger. Margareta von Schwangau was the wife of minnesinger Oswald von Wolkenstein.

The present day Hohenschwangau ("Upper Schwangau") castle was first mentioned in 1397, though under the name of _Schwanstein_. Only in the 19th century the names of the two castles have switched. It was built on a hill above lake Alpsee, below the older fortress. Between 1440 and 1521 the Lords had to sell their fief with Imperial immediacy to the Wittelsbach dukes of Bavaria, but continued to occupy the castle as Burgraves. In 1521 they became owners again but had to sell their land in 1535. The purchaser, Johann Paumgartner, a wealthy Augsburg merchant, had the lower castle reconstructed by Italian architect Lucio di Spazzi who already worked on the Hofburg, Innsbruck. He kept the exterior walls and the towers but rebuilt the inner parts until 1547, on a floor plan that still today exists. The older _Schwangau_ fortress however continued to fall into ruins. Paumgartner, after having been elevated to the rank of baron, died in 1549 and his sons sold their new castle to Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria.

The Wittelsbachs used the castle for bear hunting or as a retreat for agnatic princes. In 1743 it was plundered by Austrian troops. In the German mediatization the county of Schwangau became officially a part of the Electorate of Bavaria in 1803. King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria sold the castle in 1820. Only in 1832 his grandson Maximilian II of Bavaria, then crown prince, bought it back. In April 1829, he had discovered the historic site during a walking tour and reacted enthusiastically to the beauty of the surrounding area. He acquired the dilapidated building – then still known as Schwanstein – in 1832, abandoning his father's wish that he should move into the old castle (Hohes Schloss) in the nearby town of Füssen. In February 1833, the reconstruction of the castle began, continuing until 1837, with additions up to 1855. The architect in charge, Domenico Quaglio, was responsible for the neogothic style of the exterior design. He died in 1837 and the task was continued by Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller (died 1839) and Georg Friedrich Ziebland.[1] More than 90 wall paintings represent the history of Schwangau (literally translated _the Swan District_), as well as medieval German romances such as Parzival and the story of Lohengrin, the Knight of the Swan, on which Richard Wagner later based his operas Lohengrin of 1848 and Parsifal of 1882, sponsored by Ludwig II who had grown up with these stories at Hohenschwangau.

Hohenschwangau was the official summer and hunting residence of Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia, and their two sons Ludwig (the later King Ludwig II of Bavaria) and Otto (the later King Otto I of Bavaria). The young princes spent many years of their adolescence here. Queen Marie who loved to hike in the mountains created an alpine garden with plants gathered from all over the alps. The King and the Queen lived in the main building, and the boys in the annex. The Queen's cousin, Frederick William IV of Prussia, had Stolzenfels Castle on the Rhine rebuilt at the same time in the Gothic Revival style.





Hohenschwangau Village on left, Schloss Hohenschwangau on right, as seen from Neuschwanstein Castle.
King Maximilian died in 1864 and his son Ludwig succeeded to the throne, moving into his father's room in the castle. As Ludwig never married, his mother Marie was able to continue living on her floor during the summer months. King Ludwig enjoyed living in Hohenschwangau, however mostly in the absence of his disliked mother, especially after 1869 when the building of his own castle, Neuschwanstein, began on the site of the old Schwangau fortress, high above his parent's castle.





Schloss Hohenschwangau
After Ludwig's death in 1886, Queen Marie was the castle's only resident until she in turn died in 1889. Her brother-in-law, Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, lived on the 3rd floor of the main building. He was responsible for the electrification in 1905 and the installation of an electric elevator. Luitpold died in 1912 and the palace was opened as a museum during the following year.

During World War I and World War II, the castle suffered no damage. In 1923, the Bavarian State Parliament recognised the right of the former royal family to reside in the castle. From 1933 to 1939, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and his family used the castle as their summer residence, and it continues to be a favourite residence of his successors, currently his grandson Franz, Duke of Bavaria. In May 1941, Prince Adalbert of Bavaria was purged from the military under Hitler's _Prinzenerlass_ and withdrew to the family castle Hohenschwangau, where he lived for the rest of the war.

More than 300,000 visitors from all over the world visit the palace each year. The castle is open all through the year (except for Christmas). Opening hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (April through September) and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (October through March). Guided tours are provided in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Czech, Slovenian, and Japanese. Self-guided tours are not available.


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## mudwhistle

*Mespelbrunn Castle*






*Mespelbrunn Castle* is a late-medieval/early-Renaissance moated castle on the territory of the town of Mespelbrunn, between Frankfurt and Würzburg, built in a tributary valley of the Elsava valley, within the Spessart forest. It is a popular tourist attraction and has become a famous Spessart landmark.[1]


*History*
*Origins*
The first precursor of Mespelbrunn Castle was a simple house. The owner was Hamann Echter, vizedom of Aschaffenburg, a title which means that he was the representative of the ruling prince, the Archbishop of Mainz Johann von Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein (de) at the castle and town of Aschaffenburg. On 1 May 1412, Johann gave the site, a forest clearing next to a pond, to Echter, a knight, who constructed a house without fortifications. It was a reward for Echter's services against the Czechs.[2] The Echter family (de) originates from the Odenwald region. Their name presumably means "der die Acht vollstreckt", the executor of the ostracism. In the 15th century the Spessart was a wild and unexploited virgin forest, used as a hideout by bandits and Hussites, who despoiled the regions nearby. Therefore, in 1427 Hamann Echter, the son of the first owner, began to rebuild his father's house to a fortified castle with walls, towers, and a moat using the nearby lake.

*Rebuilding*
Only the _Bergfried_, the round tower, remains from the 15th century. The following generations changed the defense structures to a typical manor-house, mainly built in the Renaissance style. Today's fundamental appearance is the result of reconstruction done between 1551 and 1569 by Peter Echter of Mespelbrunn and his wife, Gertrud of Adelsheim.

The most famous member of the family was Julius Echter, Prince-bishop of Würzburg. A prominent proponent of the Counter-Reformation, he founded the Juliusspital, a hospital, in Würzburg, in 1576, and re-founded the University of Würzburg in 1583.[1]

Due to its remote location in a side valley of the Elsava, surrounded by forests, the castle was one of the few in Franconia spared destruction in the Thirty Years' War.[1]

In 1665, the last male member of the Echter family died.[1] In 1648, Maria Ottilia, Echterin of Mespelbrunn, had married Philipp Ludwig of Ingelheim, a member of a family of barons, later made _Grafen_ (Counts) of Ingelheim. By permission of the emperor, the name of the Echter family was preserved, because they were allowed to merge their names to Counts of Ingelheim called Echter von und zu Mespelbrunn.

In 1875, a Romanesque Revival chapel was built as a burial place for the Ingelheim family overlooking the Elsava valley.[1]

*Description*




The southern side of the court
The main building of Mespelbrunn Castle is built on an almost square base on the eastern side of a lake. On the whole northern, western and southern side, the court is surrounded by two storied houses. On the northeastern and southwestern corner, towers of similar height are added to the houses. These are decorated with stepped gables on the western side. The main entrance is on the left side of the southern building. On the western side, the court is limited by two framed transits to the water and the main tower in center, which surmounts the castle.





Plan view of the castle
*Today*
In the 1930s, economic pressures forced the Ingelheim family (de) to open the site to the public. Today, Mespelbrunn Castle is still owned by the family of the Counts of Ingelheim, who live in the southern wing of the castle, having moved out of the main rooms.[3]


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## Disir

That is one of the most beautiful castles I have ever seen. Except for the one above it.


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## mudwhistle

*Conwy Castle*, Wales UK











*Conwy Castle* (Welsh: _Castell Conwy_, English: Conway Castle) is a medieval fortification in Conwy, on the north coast of Wales. It was built by Edward I, during his conquest of Wales, between 1283 and 1289. Constructed as part of a wider project to create the walled town of Conwy, the combined defences cost around £15,000, a huge sum for the period. Over the next few centuries, the castle played an important part in several wars. It withstood the siege of Madog ap Llywelyn in the winter of 1294–95, acted as a temporary haven for Richard II in 1399 and was held for several months by forces loyal to Owain Glyndŵr in 1401.

Following the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, the castle was held by forces loyal to Charles I, holding out until 1646 when it surrendered to the Parliamentary armies. In the aftermath the castle was partially slighted by Parliament to prevent it being used in any further revolt, and was finally completely ruined in 1665 when its remaining iron and lead was stripped and sold off. Conwy Castle became an attractive destination for painters in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Visitor numbers grew and initial restoration work was carried out in the second half of the 19th century. In the 21st century the ruined castle is managed by Cadw as a tourist attraction.

UNESCO considers Conwy to be one of "the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe", and it is classed as a World Heritage site.[1] The rectangular castle is built from local and imported stone and occupies a coastal ridge, originally overlooking an important crossing point over the River Conwy. Divided into an Inner and an Outer Ward, it is defended by eight large towers and two barbicans, with a postern gate leading down to the river, allowing the castle to be resupplied from the sea. It retains the earliest surviving stone machicolations in Britain and what historian Jeremy Ashbee has described as the "best preserved suite of medieval private royal chambers in England and Wales".[2] In keeping with other Edwardian castles in North Wales, the architecture of Conwy has close links to that found in the kingdom of Savoy during the same period, an influence probably derived from the Savoy origins of the main architect, James of Saint George.


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## mudwhistle

b


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## Dalia

File:Rural French chateau.jpg - Wikimedia Commons


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## mudwhistle

*Edinburgh Castle*
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
For other uses, see Edinburgh Castle (disambiguation).
*Edinburgh Castle*
Edinburgh, Scotland 
GB grid reference NT250734



Edinburgh Castle stands at the head of the Old Town







Edinburgh Castle
*Coordinates*



55°56′55″N 3°12′03″WCoordinates: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


55°56′55″N 3°12′03″W
*Site information
Owner* Scottish Government[1]
*Controlled by* Historic Environment Scotland
British Army[1]
*Open to
the public* Yes
*Site history
Built* Site occupied since the late Bronze Age; buildings of present castle date from the 12th to 21st centuries
*In use* Still in use today
*Battles/wars*

Sieges and occupations during the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296–1357)
Siege to free James III of Scotland in 1482
Lang Siege (1571–1573)
sieges in 1640, 1650, 1689, 1745
*Garrison information
Current
commander* Col. Douglas J. Mackay
*Past
commanders* List of Governors of Edinburgh Castle
*Edinburgh Castle* (Scottish Gaelic: _Caisteal Dhùn Éideann_) is a historic fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position on the Castle Rock. Archaeologists have established human occupation of the rock since at least the Iron Age (2nd century AD), although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half. As one of the most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite rising of 1745. Research undertaken in 2014 identified 26 sieges in its 1100-year-old history, giving it a claim to having been "the most besieged place in Great Britain and one of the most attacked in the world".[2]

Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The most notable exceptions are St Margaret's Chapel from the early 12th century, which is regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh,[3] the Royal Palace and the early-16th-century Great Hall, although the interiors have been much altered from the mid-Victorian period onwards. The castle also houses the Scottish regalia, known as the Honours of Scotland and is the site of the Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum of Scotland. The British Army is still responsible for some parts of the castle, although its presence is now largely ceremonial and administrative. Some of the castle buildings house regimental museums which contribute to its presentation as a tourist attraction.

The castle, in the care of Historic Scotland, is Scotland's most-visited paid tourist attraction, with over 2 million visitors in 2017[4] and over 70 percent of leisure visitors to Edinburgh visiting the castle.[5] As the backdrop to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo during the annual Edinburgh Festival the castle has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh and of Scotland.


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## mudwhistle

One of the Great Castles of the World.






*Osaka Castle* (大坂城 or 大阪城, _Ōsaka-jō_) is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.[1

The main tower of Osaka Castle is situated on a plot of land roughly one square kilometer. It is built on two raised platforms of landfill supported by sheer walls of cut rock, using a technique called Burdock piling, each overlooking a moat. The central castle building is five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and built atop a tall stone foundation to protect its occupants from attackers.

The castle grounds, which cover approximately 60,000 square meters (15 acres),[2] contain thirteen structures that have been designated as important cultural assets by the Japanese government,[3] including:


Ote-mon Gate
Sakura-mon Gate
Ichiban-yagura Turret
Inui-yagura Turret
Rokuban-yagura Turret
Sengan Turret
Tamon Turret
Kinmeisui Well
Kinzo Storehouse
Enshogura Gunpowder Magazine
Three sections of castle wall all located around Otemon Gate
*History*



Azuchi Castle



Ōte-mon Gate with moat in foreground



Osaka Castle rampart in 1865



Stone marking the place where Toyotomi Hideyori and his mother, Yodo-Dono, committed suicide after the fall of Osaka Castle
In 1583 Toyotomi Hideyoshi commenced construction on the site of the Ikkō-ikki temple of Ishiyama Hongan-ji.[4] The basic plan was modeled after Azuchi Castle, the headquarters of Oda Nobunaga. Toyotomi wanted to build a castle that mirrored Oda's, but surpassed it in every way: the plan featured a five-story main tower, with three extra stories underground, and gold leaf on the sides of the tower to impress visitors. In 1585 the Inner donjon was completed. Toyotomi continued to extend and expand the castle, making it more and more formidable to attackers. In 1597 construction was completed and Hideyoshi died the year after. Osaka Castle passed to his son, Toyotomi Hideyori.

In 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his opponents at the Battle of Sekigahara, and started his own bakufu (i.e., shogunate) in Edo. In 1614 Tokugawa attacked Toyotomi in the winter, starting the Siege of Osaka.[5] Although the Toyotomi forces were outnumbered approximately two to one, they managed to fight off Tokugawa's 200,000-man army and protect the castle's outer walls. Ieyasu had the castle's outer moat filled, negating one of the castle's main outer defenses.

During the summer of 1615, Hideyori began to restore the outer moat. Tokugawa, in outrage, sent his armies to Osaka Castle again, and routed the Toyotomi men inside the outer walls on June 4.

Osaka Castle fell to the Tokugawa clan, the Toyotomi clan perished, and the castle buildings burned to the ground.[4]:153

In 1620, the new heir to the shogunate, Tokugawa Hidetada, began to reconstruct and re-arm Osaka Castle. He built a new elevated main tower, five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and assigned the task of constructing new walls to individual samurai clans. The walls built in the 1620s still stand today, and are made out of interlocked granite boulders without mortar. Many of the stones were brought from rock quarries near the Seto Inland Sea, and bear inscribed crests of the various families who contributed them.

Construction of the 5 story _tenshu_ started in 1628 and was completed 2 years later, about the same time the rest of the reconstruction, and followed the general layout of the original Toyotomi structure.[4]:153-157

In 1660, lightning ignited the gunpowder warehouse and the resulting explosion set the castle on fire.

In 1665, lightning struck and burnt down the _tenshu_.[4]:157 In 1843, after decades of neglect, the castle got much-needed repairs when the bakufu collected money from the people of the region to rebuild several of the turrets.

In 1868, Osaka Castle fell and was surrendered to anti-bakufu imperial loyalists. Much of the castle was burned in the civil conflicts surrounding the Meiji Restoration.[4]:157

Under the Meiji government, Osaka Castle became part of the Osaka Army Arsenal (_Osaka Hohei Kosho_) manufacturing guns, ammunition, and explosives for Japan's rapidly expanding Western-style military.[6]

In 1931, the ferroconcrete _tenshu_ was built.[4]:157

During World War II, the arsenal became one of the largest military armories, employing 60,000 workers.[6] Bombing raids targeting the arsenal damaged the reconstructed main castle tower and, on August 14, 1945, destroyed 90% of the arsenal and killed 382 people working there.

In 1995, Osaka's government approved yet another restoration project, with the intent of restoring the main tower to its Edo-era splendor. In 1997, restoration was completed. The castle is a concrete reproduction (including elevators) of the original and the interior is intended as a modern, functioning museum.


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## mudwhistle

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## mudwhistle

*Château de Hautefort*
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search



Château de Hautefort
The *Château de Hautefort* is a French château and gardens located in the town of Hautefort in the Dordogne. The castle originally was a medieval fortress that was reconstructed in the 17th century, and embellished with a Garden à la française. In 1853, the landscape architect, Count of Choulot, redid the gardens, adding a landscape garden, geometric flower gardens, topiary gardens imitating the domes of the château, and a long tunnel of greenery. Next to the formal gardens is a hill with an Italian garden with winding shaded paths. Notable trees in the park include a _Magnolia grandiflora_ and a Cedar of Lebanon. The gardens are listed by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the Ministry of Culture of France as one of the Notable Gardens of France.


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## mudwhistle

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## mudwhistle

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## mudwhistle

*Glamis Castle*
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
*Glamis Castle*
Near Glamis, Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom



Glamis Castle







Glamis Castle
*Coordinates*



56.6203°N 3.0024°W
*Type* agcs
*Site information
Open to
the public* Yes
*Condition* Preserved
*Site history
Materials* Stone
*Glamis Castle* is situated beside the village of Glamis /ˈɡlɑːmz/ in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public.

Glamis Castle has been the home of the Lyon family since the 14th century, though the present building dates largely from the 17th century. Glamis was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, wife of King George VI. Their second daughter, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was born there.

The castle is protected as a category A listed building,[1] and the grounds are included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.[2]


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## mudwhistle

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## mudwhistle

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*

*Leeds Castle*
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
*Leeds Castle*
Near Maidstone










Leeds Castle
Show map of KentShow map of the United KingdomShow all
*Leeds Castle* is a castle in Kent, England, 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Maidstone. It is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds.

A castle has existed on the site since 1119, the first being a simple stone stronghold constructed by Robert de Crevecoeur which served as a military post in the time of Norman intrusions into England. In the 13th century it came into the hands of King Edward I, for whom it became a favourite residence; in the 16th century, Henry VIII used it as a dwelling for his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

The present castle dates mostly from the 19th century. It has been open to the public since 1976.


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## mudwhistle

Predjama Castle: The Castle in a Cave that Housed a Slovenian Robin Hood

5 February, 2018 - 14:02 dhwty
*Predjama Castle: The Castle in a Cave that Housed a Slovenian Robin Hood*

Read Later
Once home to the Slovenian Robin Hood, Predjama Castle is a site rich in history. It is built into the mouth of a cave high up on a cliff and has a commanding view over the landscape. That position would have certainly helped a famed Slovenian knight when the army of the Holy Roman Emperor came knocking.

Predjama Castle is a castle situated to the northwest of the town of Postojna, in the traditional Slovenian region of Inner Carniola. This castle, which is located in the southwestern part of the country, is notable, amongst other things, for its position at the mouth of a cave halfway up a 123 meter (403 ft.) high cliff. Predjama Castle’s best-known resident was Erazem Lueger, a knight and well-known robber baron who is sometimes compared to Robin Hood.



*Castle in Front of a Cave *
Predjama’s Slovenian name, _Predjamski grad _, may be translated into English as ‘Castle in front of the cave’, which is an apt description of this defensive structure. The construction of the original Predjama Castle began in either the 12th or 13th century. The castle was built in the Gothic style, which was flourishing in Europe during that time. The entire castle was not built in one go, but in phases during the years that followed. The earliest reference to Predjama Castle is dated to 1274, and was referred to by its German name, ‘Luegg’.


Modern Comfort and Traditional Opulence, The Perfect Combination in Peleș Castle 
Eilean Donan Castle: Idyllic Scottish Setting Carries a Dark History 
Female Phantoms of Stirling Castle: Ghostly Encounters with a Handmaiden and Her Queen


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## mudwhistle

*Château de Pierrefonds*


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia








Jump to navigation Jump to search 

Site historyChâteau de PierrefondsPart of Pierrefonds, OisePierrefonds, Oise, France 


Château de Pierrefonds in September 2004TypeMedieval castleBuiltc. 1393-1407Built byLouis I de Valois, Duke of OrléansEventsHundred Years War
The *Château de Pierrefonds* (French pronunciation: [ʃɑto də pjɛʁfɔ̃]) is a castle situated in the _commune_ of Pierrefonds in the Oise _département_ (Picardy) of France.[1] It is on the southeast edge of the Forest of Compiègne, northeast of Paris, between Villers-Cotterêts and Compiègne.
The Château de Pierrefonds includes most of the characteristics of defensive military architecture from the Middle Ages, though it underwent a major restoration in the 19th century.


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## Dalia

*CHÂTEAU DU PIN,Jura, France*





Garden of the Pine Castle
Historic monument garden and remarkable garden.

It is composed of 18 different levels: its set of basins, its topiary art UNIQUE IN EUROPE, its vegetable garden and its collection of old vegetables, a wide variety of roses of delphinium and of plants, more than a hundred yew in a garden of fairy tale,the orangery and its citrus collections...

-Classified site and historic monument

-Garden in the Loire Valley, UNESCO World Heritage Site

-Remarkable garden label

-1st prize of the French horticultural society 

Jardin du château du pin -  Beaux jardins et Potagers


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## Canon Shooter

Castel Sant' Angelo, Rome:


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## Mindful

mudwhistle said:


> Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, France
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The *Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte* is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 kilometres (34 mi) southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne _département_ of France.
> 
> Constructed from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the château was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the "Louis XIV style" combining architecture, interior design and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is an example of this style.[1]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once a small château between the royal residences of Vincennes and Fontainebleau, the estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte was purchased in 1641 by Nicolas Fouquet, an ambitious 26-year-old member of the Parlement of Paris. Fouquet was an avid patron of the arts, attracting many artists with his generosity.
> 
> When Fouquet became King Louis XIV's superintendant of finances in 1657, he commissioned Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Nôtre to renovate his estate and garden to match his grand ambition. Fouquet’s artistic and cultivated personality subsequently brought out the best in the three.[2]
> 
> To secure the necessary grounds for the elaborate plans for Vaux-le-Vicomte’s garden and castle, Fouquet purchased and demolished three villages. The displaced villagers were then employed in the upkeep and maintenance of the gardens. It was said to have employed 18 thousand workers and cost as much as 16 million livres.[3]
> 
> The château and its patron became for a short time a focus for fine feasts, literature and arts. The poet Jean de La Fontaine and the playwright Molière were among the artists close to Fouquet. At the inauguration of Vaux-le-Vicomte, a Molière play was performed, along with a dinner event organized by François Vatel and an impressive firework show.[4]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Links
> 
> Vaux-le-Vicomte - Wikipedia
> Day trip from Paris to Vaux le Vicomte
> Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte - Vaux le Vicomte



Many of those beautiful chateaux have fallen into neglect and disrepair.

Fortunately some of them are being bought up, and lovingly restored to their former glory.


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## mudwhistle

Mindful said:


> mudwhistle said:
> 
> 
> 
> Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, France
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The *Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte* is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 kilometres (34 mi) southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne _département_ of France.
> 
> Constructed from 1658 to 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the château was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André le Nôtre, and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the "Louis XIV style" combining architecture, interior design and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is an example of this style.[1]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once a small château between the royal residences of Vincennes and Fontainebleau, the estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte was purchased in 1641 by Nicolas Fouquet, an ambitious 26-year-old member of the Parlement of Paris. Fouquet was an avid patron of the arts, attracting many artists with his generosity.
> 
> When Fouquet became King Louis XIV's superintendant of finances in 1657, he commissioned Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Nôtre to renovate his estate and garden to match his grand ambition. Fouquet’s artistic and cultivated personality subsequently brought out the best in the three.[2]
> 
> To secure the necessary grounds for the elaborate plans for Vaux-le-Vicomte’s garden and castle, Fouquet purchased and demolished three villages. The displaced villagers were then employed in the upkeep and maintenance of the gardens. It was said to have employed 18 thousand workers and cost as much as 16 million livres.[3]
> 
> The château and its patron became for a short time a focus for fine feasts, literature and arts. The poet Jean de La Fontaine and the playwright Molière were among the artists close to Fouquet. At the inauguration of Vaux-le-Vicomte, a Molière play was performed, along with a dinner event organized by François Vatel and an impressive firework show.[4]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Links
> 
> Vaux-le-Vicomte - Wikipedia
> Day trip from Paris to Vaux le Vicomte
> Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte - Vaux le Vicomte
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Many of those beautiful chateaux have fallen into neglect and disrepair.
> 
> Fortunately some of them are being bought up, and lovingly restored to their former glory.
Click to expand...

Socialism has been the baine of any aristocracy. 
You wouldn't have these great buildings without the rich.


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## Mindful

Never fails to take one’s breath away.

Windsor Castle.


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## Canon Shooter

I think this is the greatest castle of them all.

I give you Doune Castle, as seen in Monty Python & The Holy Grail"


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## mudwhistle

*Trakai Island Castle* (Lithuanian: _Trakų salos pilis_) is an island castle located in Trakai, Lithuania, on an island in Lake Galvė. The construction of the stone castle was begun in the 14th century by Kęstutis, and around 1409 major works were completed by his son Vytautas the Great, who died in this castle in 1430. Trakai was one of the main centers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the castle held great strategic importance. The castle was rebuilt in the 1950s - 1960s by Lithuanian initiative, although, it had received resistance from soviet authorities. The Trakai History Museum was established after the reconstruction. [1]









						Trakai Island Castle - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## mudwhistle

*Hohenwerfen Castle* (German: _Festung Hohenwerfen_, lit. 'Hohenwerfen Fortress') is a medieval rock castle, situated on a 623-metre (2,044 ft)[1] precipice overlooking the Austrian market town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Salzburg. The fortress is surrounded by the Berchtesgaden Alps and the adjacent Tennen Mountains. Hohenwerfen is a "sister" of Hohensalzburg Fortress, both built by the Archbishops of Salzburg in the 11th century. 









						Hohenwerfen Castle - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## mudwhistle

__





						The Eagle’s Nest today – a legacy of recent history
					

The eagle's nest became a legend in the postwar period, and apparently its use as a visual motif in popular US war films and series.




					www.kehlsteinhaus.de


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## francoHFW

mudwhistle said:


>


Fantastic gardens and canals there. A chateau is a great place for a picnic exclamation point and we took a Citroen 2CV there lol. In 1971.


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## Canon Shooter

Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland:


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## Canon Shooter

The Vatican - Rome, Italy:


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