Castles
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A place to share cool castles!
Post images or any other content relating to castles, châteaux, palaces, towers, keeps, fortresses, and follies. The following content is encouraged but not required:
- Castle name in native language (English name) - location [include country and region, if not city/town]
- Best website (official or otherwise)
- Some sort of map link
- Visitation details: open/closed to public, closed but technically reachable, tours?, etc.
- History: Whatever can be briefly copy-pasted
More than just images are welcome. Only real rule is that content must refer to a real-life structure, so please no fantasy/fictional castles! Reasonable exceptions include media showcasing period life and technology that somehow relates to castles.
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The castle goes back to the 12th century when it protected a bridge over the river Loire. It modified to fit the tastes of the late Renaissance in the 15th and 16th century, though some parts of the original 12th century building are still visible.
The castle is part of the UNESCO world heritage site of the Loire valley.
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The Altenburg ("old castle") goes back to the early 12th century. It suffered heavy damages in the peasant uprisings of the 16th century and was further damaged by a landslide in the 18th century. A charity took over the ruin in the early 19th century and restored the castle.
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The likely origin of the castle was in the 13th century, though its precise date of construction is unknown. It was renovated in the 17th century, though another renovation in 1901 aimed to restore its medieval appearance. It serves as a hotel today.
It is sometimes referred to as one of the most beautiful moated castles in France.
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The castle was originally build in the 12th century in order to protect a bridge over the river Loue. After it got damaged during wars in the 17th century, the buildings were rebuilt and modified in the 18th century, though the medieval layout remained mostly intact.
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Photo by Doume Piazzolli on Flickr.
The castle goes back to the 11th century, but today's buildings are mostly from the 15-17th century.
Fun fact: The castle was the ancestral seat of the Estaing family, but the family lost it in the early 19th century. The former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing bought the castle back in 2005.
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This keep are the last remains of a 11th century castle in the small town of Auneau-Bleury-Saint-Symphorien. It stands adjacent to (but is not connected to) residential quarters from 16th century.
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Most of the building dates from the 14th and 15th century, with some renovations from the 19th century. The mill was operating until the early 20th century.
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The fortified facade of the church Saint-Barthélemy in Le Fossat (Ariège, France)
(live.staticflickr.com)
The photo is by Serge Imbert on Flickr
The church was built in the 14th century.
French Wikipedia article with a few more details about the church
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Taken from @Archaeo-Histories:
Hrad Bouzov Castle, a medieval fortress situated in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic, approximately 35km northwest of Olomouc.
The castle dates back to the early 14th Century CE, and was originally built by the noble Búz family, who were prominent in the region. The castle features a dominant central tower, surrounded by a complex of defensive walls, turrets and bastions. It includes richly decorated interiors, such as grand halls, a chapel and knight’s rooms.
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The fortress was built in the place of a Byzantine fortress from the sixth century. It served as an important centre during the Second Bulgarian empire, second only to the capital of Turnovo. It minted coins and in 1235 it became the seat of the Bishopric of Cherven.
The fortress was burned by the invading ottomans in 1388, with most people fleeing to what is today Ruse.
There is also a 3D reconstruction of the town during the 14th century
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Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Tower%2C_Worcestershire
Strictly a "folly" but you may like it.
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The ruined castle of Castelbouc, above the tiny village of the same name and the river Tarn (Lozère, France)
(upload.wikimedia.org)
Description: The ruins of a castle on a steep cliff, against the backdrop of a cloudy sky and lush green forests. Up against the cliffside are a few stone houses, overlooking a river and a stony beach on the opposite shore.
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Made famous by the Harry Potter films. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the 1066 Norman conquest.
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The castle is open for visits (entry fee 70 Lei which is about 15€)
Commonly known outside Transylvania as Dracula's Castle, it is marketed as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker's Dracula. There is no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle, which has only tangential associations with Vlad the Impaler, voivode of Wallachia, who shares his name with Dracula. 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 Marie. 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 exhibiting traditional Romanian peasant structures (cottages, barns, water-driven machinery, etc.) from the Bran region.
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The construction of the castle began in the 10th century at the place of the Ancient Roman castell Bononia. The building of Baba Vida is tied to a legend, according to which a Danubian Bulgarian king who ruled at Vidin had three daughters: Vida, Kula and Gamza. Prior to his death, he divided his realm among the three. Vida, the eldest, was given Vidin and the lands north to the Carpathians, Kula was awarded Zaječar and the Timok Valley, and Gamza was to rule the lands west up to the Morava. Although Gamza and Kula married to drunkard and warlike nobles, Vida remained unmarried and built the castle in her city. The name of the castle means "Granny Vida".
Due to wars and castles being torn down as to prevent rebellions or just for the materials during ottoman times Baba Vida remains the only fully intact castle in Bulgaria.
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It served as the primary stronghold in the capital of the Second Bulgarian empire. It’s situated on the Yantra river, on a hill of the same name, across it is the other main hill in the medieval city - Trapezitsa.
It was conquered on 17 July 1393 by the ottomans after a three month siege, during which the tsar was at Nikopol, leaving the Bulgarian patriarch to defend the city.
On 22 September 1908, at the foot of Tsarevets, in the Holy Forty martyrs church, tsar Ferdinand declares Bulgaria’s independence from the Ottoman Empire.
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