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пятница, 18 апреля 2025 г.

The most beautiful castles on Earth. Part 3

 



41. Kreuzenstein Castle, Leobendorf in Lower Austria

Burg Kreuzenstein is a castle near Leobendorf in Lower Austria, Austria. Burg Kreuzenstein is 265 metres (869 ft) above sea level. It was constructed on the remains of a medieval castle that had fallen into disrepair and was then demolished during the Thirty Years' War. Intended to be a family vault for the Wilczek family, it was rebuilt in the 19th century by Count Nepomuk Wilczek with money from the family's large Silesian coal mines.




42. Schwerin Castle, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

Schwerin Castle also known as Schwerin Palace, is a 19th-century Schloss built in the historicist style 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, Lake Schwerin. For centuries, the castle on the present site was the home of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg and later Mecklenburg-Schwerin, although few parts of the pre-19th-century castle have survived.



43. Vufflens Castle, Switzerland

Vufflens Castle is a medieval castle in the Swiss municipality of Vufflens-le-Château in the canton of Vaud. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The castle was built between 1420 and 1430 by Henri de Colombier, an advisor to Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy, on the site of a previous medieval castle mentioned as early as 1108. In 1530, it was set on fire by Bernese troops. After the death of Philibert de Colombier in 1544, it passed through various owners, and in 1641 it was acquired by the de Senarclens family. The castle is privately owned.




44. Schloss Drachenburg, Königswinter, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Schloss Drachenburg or Drachenburg Castle is a private villa styled as a palace and constructed in the late 19th century. It was completed in only two years (1882–84) on the Drachenfels hill in Königswinter, a German town on the east bank of the Rhine, south of the city of Bonn. Baron Stephan von Sarter (1833–1902), a broker and banker, planned to live there, but never did. The villa is owned by the State Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is served by an intermediate station on the Drachenfels Railway.




45. Reichsburg Cochem, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

The Reichsburg Cochem had its first documentary mention in 1130. In 1151, it was occupied by King Konrad III, who declared it an Imperial castle. In 1688, the castle was overrun by French King Louis XIV's troops in the course of the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession), and the following year, they destroyed it. The castle complex long lay in ruins before in 1868 it was bought by the Berlin businessman Louis Fréderic Jacques Ravené for 300 Goldmark and then reconstructed in the Gothic Revival style. Since 1978 it has been owned by the town of Cochem and is administered by a company named Reichsburg GmbH.



46. Nuremberg Castle, Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany

Nuremberg Castle is a group of medieval fortified buildings on a sandstone ridge dominating the historical center of Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany. The castle, together with the city walls, is considered to be one of Europe's most formidable medieval fortifications. It represented the power and importance of the Holy Roman Empire and the outstanding role of the Imperial City of Nuremberg.




47. The Castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte, France

The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte or simply Vaux-le-Vicomte is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km (34 mi) southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne department of Île-de-France. Built between 1658 and 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.




48. Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Arundel Castle is a restored and remodelled medieval castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England. It was established by Roger de Montgomery in the 11th century. The castle was damaged in the English Civil War and then restored in the 18th and early 19th centuries by Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk. Further restoration and embellishment was undertaken from the 1890s by Charles Alban Buckler for the 15th Duke. Since the 11th century, the castle has been the seat of the Earls of Arundel and the Dukes of Norfolk. It is a Grade I listed building.



49. Mareta Castle. Vipiteno, Italy

Wolfsthurn Castle ( Italian: Castel Wolfsthurn or Castel Mareta ) is a Baroque castle complex on a hill above Mareit, a fraction of the municipality of Ratschings in South Tyrol . It was designed by Daniel Christoph Dietrich , but the person responsible for its construction is unknown. The origins of the complex are obscure. Shortly after 1200, a fortified tower stood there , which the Counts of Tyrol acquired in 1242. They then granted it and the surrounding small lordship to Rudolfus Lupus ( Rudolf the Wolf ) as a fief . The ministeriale gave the tower its name. In 1464, with the death of Burkhart, the line of the Wolves of Mareit died out. In 1574, the castle at that time came into the possession of the Grebmer family. About 200 years later, it passed to the Sternbach family , who still own it today. Between 1727 and 1741, Franz Andreas von Sternbach rebuilt it into the only Baroque castle in South Tyrol, after having the entire castle complex demolished, with the exception of the keep.




50. Bouzov Castle, Czech Republic

Bouzov Castle (Czech: Hrad Bouzov) is a castle in Bouzov in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It is located on a hill above the village of Bouzov, about 28 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of Olomouc. It was first mentioned in 1317. Bouzov was established in the second half of the 14th century with the purpose to watch over the trade route from Olomouc to Loštice. The minor aristocratic Bůz of Bludovec family were its first recorded owners from 1317 to 1339. The castle also takes its name from the family. Ownership of the castles was then changed, and the Lords of Kunštát were among the most important medieval owners.





51. The Château de Vigny castle, Val d'Oise, France

The Château de Vigny is a château in the commune of Vigny, Val d'Oise, France. It was built in 1504 on the site of a mediaeval structure for Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, with substantial alterations in the 1880s in the troubadour style for its then owner, Comte Philippe Vitali, Prince of Sant'Eusebio. It was listed ("inscrit") as a monument historique in 1984.


52. Dunrobin Castle, Golspie, Scotland

Dunrobin Castle is a stately home in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland, that serves as the family seat of the Earl of Sutherland, Chief of Clan Sutherland. It is located one mile (1.5 kilometres) north of Golspie and approximately five miles (eight kilometres) south of Brora, overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Dunrobin's origins lie in the Middle Ages, but most of the present building and the gardens were added by Sir Charles Barry between 1835 and 1850. Some of the original building is visible in the interior courtyard, despite a number of expansions and alterations that made it the largest house in the north of Scotland. After being used as a boarding school from 1965 to 1972, Dunrobin has been open to the public since 1973.



53. Drachenfels Castle, Königswinter, Germany

Schloss Drachenburg or Drachenburg Castle is a private villa styled as a palace and constructed in the late 19th century. It was completed in only two years (1882–84) on the Drachenfels hill in Königswinter, a German town on the east bank of the Rhine, south of the city of Bonn. Baron Stephan von Sarter (1833–1902), a broker and banker, planned to live there, but never did. The villa is owned by the State Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is served by an intermediate station on the Drachenfels Railway.



54. Fenis Castle, Aosta (Italy)

Fénis Castle is an Italian medieval castle located in the town of Fénis. It is one of the most famous castles in Aosta Valley, and for its architecture and its many towers and battlemented walls has become one of the major tourist attractions of the region. The castle first appears in a document in 1242 as a property of the Viscounts of Aosta, the Challant family. At that time it probably was a simple keep surrounded by walls. From 1320 to 1420, under the lordship of Aymon of Challant and of his son Boniface I of Challant, the castle was expanded to its actual appearance.




55. Akershus Fortress, Oslo, Norway

Akershus Fortress or Akershus Castle is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress has been the namesake and centre of the main fief and later main county of Akershus, which was originally one of Norway's four main regions and which included most of Eastern Norway. The fortress itself was located within the Akershus main county until 1919, and also within the smaller Akershus sub county until 1842. The castle has also been used as a military base, a prison and is currently the temporary office of the prime minister of Norway. It is not known exactly when the construction of the castle started but it is believed that it took place around the late 1290s, by King Haakon V, replacing Tønsberg as one of the two most important Norwegian castles of the period (the other being Båhus). It was constructed in response to the Norwegian nobleman, Earl Alv Erlingsson of Sarpsborg's earlier attack on Oslo that occurred in 1287.




56. Hochosterwitz Castle, Austria

Hochosterwitz Castle is considered one of Austria's most impressive medieval castles. It is on a 172-metre (564 ft) high dolomite rock near Sankt Georgen am Längsee, east of the town of Sankt Veit an der Glan in Carinthia. The rock castle is one of the state's landmarks and a major tourist attraction. It can be seen from a distance of up to 30 km (19 mi) on a clear day. A settlement site since the Bronze Age, the rock was first mentioned in an 860 deed issued by Louis the German, King of East Francia, donating several of his properties in the former principality of Carantania to the Archdiocese of Salzburg. It was then named ‘Astarwiza’ It remained a Salzburg possession, until in the 11th century Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg ceded the castle to the descendants of Count Siegfried of Sponheim in return for their support during the Investiture Controversy.



57. Château Frontenac, Québec City, Canada

The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, commonly referred to as the Château Frontenac, is a historic hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The hotel is situated in Old Quebec, within the historic district's Upper Town, on the southern side of Place d'Armes. The Château Frontenac was designed by Bruce Price, and was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company. The hotel is managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Opened in 1893, the Châteauesque-styled building has 18 floors; its 79.9-metre (262-foot) height is augmented by its 54-metre (177-foot) ground elevation. It is one of the first completed grand railway hotels, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981. The hotel was expanded on three occasions, with the last major expansion taking place in 1993



58. Burghausen, Altötting, Bavaria, Germany

Burghausen Castle in Burghausen, Upper Bavaria, is the longest castle complex in the world (1051 m), confirmed by the Guinness World Record company, and the third largest. The castle is therefore also among the largest palaces in the world. The castle hill was settled as early as the Bronze Age. The castle (which was founded before 1025) was transferred to the Wittelsbachs after the death of the last count of Burghausen, Gebhard II, in 1168. In 1180 they were appointed dukes of Bavaria and the castle was extended under Duke Otto I of Wittelsbach.





59. Eltz Castle, Wierschem, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Eltz Castle is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of House of Eltz who have lived there since the 12th century. Eltz Castle has never been destroyed. The castle stands on a 70-metre-high (230 ft) rock spur that is bounded on three sides by the river Elzbach, a tributary on the north side of the Moselle. House of Eltz began work on castle on the Platteltz, a Romanesque keep, which was built on the site of the old manor hall. This remains the oldest part of the castle. By 1157 the fortress was an important part of the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick Barbarossa. It continued to protect the trade routes from the Moselle Valley and the Eifel region.




60. Stora Sundby Castle, Eskilstuna, Södermanland, Sweden

Stora Sundby Castle is a castle in Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The architectural features of the castle resemble those of a calendar, four large towers symbolizing the seasons, twelve small towers symbolizing the months of the year, 52 rooms symbolizing the weeks of the year, and a window for each day of the year (365). The architect was Peter Frederick Robinson. The castle was used as the filming location for The Royal Palace in the Swedish teen drama Young Royals.


(See previous - Part 2 - https://bit.ly/3ZT46Oh, Part 1 - https://bit.ly/41sVaBT)

вторник, 24 декабря 2024 г.

The most beautiful castles on Earth. Part 2

 



21. The Alcázar of Segovia, Spain This marvel dates back to at least the 12th century and it is among the world's most renowned medieval castles and a top tourist attraction in Spain.


22. Pena Palace, Portugal This breathtaking castle sits atop a hill in the Sintra Mountains, overlooking the town of Sintra. On clear days, it is visible from Lisbon and its surrounding areas.


23. Peles Castle, Romania During the construction phase, Queen Elisabeth of Wied wrote in her journal: "Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, Greeks worked in stone, Germans were carpenters. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech."




24. Rocca imperiale, Italy Included among I Borghi più belli d'Italia (the most beautiful villages of Italy), the village's highlight is a majestic 13th-century castle situated at the very top.


25. Hohenzollern Castle, Germany This majestic fortress, the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern, was constructed between 1846 and 1867 atop Mount Hohenzollern as a family memorial by King Frederick William IV of Prussia.


26. Castel Nuovo, Italy Also known as Maschio Angioino, its imposing size and scenic location, with Mount Vesuvius in the background, make this castle one of Naples's main architectural landmarks.


27. Bojnice Castle, Slovakia This magnificent 12th-century Romanesque castle, featuring Gothic and Renaissance elements, was owned by Hungarian kings and nobles until the Treaty of Trianon (1920) made the territory part of Czechoslovakia.


28. Karlštejn Castle, Czech Republic This Gothic castle, founded in 1348 by King Charles IV, served as a secure haven for the Imperial Regalia, the Bohemian Crown Jewels, holy relics, and other royal treasures.

29. Craigievar Castle,1626, Scotland

Craigievar Castle is a harled castle or fortified country house 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was the seat of Clan Sempill, and the Forbes family resided here for 350 years until 1963, when the property was sold to the National Trust for Scotland by the 19th Lord Sempill.

30. Hohenwerfen Castle, Werfen, Austria, 1075 & 1078 by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg

Hohenwerfen Castle is a medieval rock castle, situated at an altitude of 623 metres (2,044 ft), on a 155-metre (509 ft) rock pillar 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.



31. The Scaligero Castle of Sirmione, Brescia, Italy

This is a rare example of medieval port fortification (13th century), which was used by the Scaliger fleet. The building of this complex started in 1277 by Mastino della Scala. It presents the typical Ghibelline swallowtail merlons and the curtain-walls (with three corner towers) in pebbles alternating with two horizontal bands of brick courses


32. Castel Nuovo in Naples, Italy

Castel Nuovo, often called Maschio Angioino, is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall (Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples, Campania, Italy. Its scenic location and imposing size makes the castle, first erected in 1279, one of the main architectural landmarks of the city. It was a royal seat for kings of Naples, Aragon and Spain until 1815.


33. Castel Sant'Elmo, Naples, Italy

Castel Sant'Elmo is a medieval fortress located on Vomero Hill adjacent to the Certosa di San Martino, overlooking Naples, Italy. The name "Sant'Elmo" derives from a former 10th-century church dedicated to Sant'Erasmo. Documents date a structure at the site from 1275, from the era of Charles of Anjou. Known originally as Belforte, it was likely a fortified residence, surrounded by walls, its entrance gate marked by two turrets. In 1329, using designs by the Sienese architect Tino da Camaino, king Robert of Naples enlarged the fortress.



34. Castle Moszna, Poland

The Moszna Castle is a historic castle and palace located in the small village of Moszna, in southwestern Poland. Situated approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the regional capital Opole, between the towns of Prudnik and Krapkowice, the residence is an excellent example of romantic fairy-tale and eclectic architecture.




35. Malbork Castle, Poland

The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork, commonly known as Malbork Castle, is a brick gothic castle complex located in the town of Malbork, Poland, built in 13th and significantly expanded in 14th century. It is the largest castle in the world measured by land area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


36. Muiderslot, Muiden, Netherlands

Muiden Castle is a castle in the Netherlands, located at the mouth of the Vecht river, some 15 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam, in Muiden, where it flows into what used to be the Zuiderzee. It is one of the better known castles in the Netherlands and featured in many television shows set in the Middle Ages.


37. Kasteel (Kasteel de Haar), Haarzuilens, Utrecht, Netherlands

De Haar Castle (Dutch: Kasteel de Haar) is located outside Utrecht, Netherlands. It is the largest castle in The Netherlands. The oldest historical record of a building at the location of the current castle dates to 1391. In that year, the De Haar family received the castle and the surrounding lands as a fiefdom from Hendrik van Woerden. The castle remained in the ownership of the De Haar family until 1440, when the last male heir died childless.




38. Kasteel Hoensbroek, Limburg, Netherlands

Hoensbroek Castle (Dutch: Kasteel Hoensbroek) or Gebrook Castle (Dutch: Gebrookhoes) is one of the largest castles in the Netherlands. It is situated in Hoensbroek, a town in the province of Limburg. This imposing watercastle is known as 'the most lordly stronghold between Rhine and Meuse'. The oldest part of the castle, notably the tall round tower, dates from around 1360, when it was built by Herman Hoen.




39. Predjama castle, Slovenia

Predjama Castle is a Renaissance castle built within a cave mouth in south-central Slovenia, in the historical region of Inner Carniola. The castle was first mentioned in 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).


40. Kamyanets-Podilskyi Castle in Ukraine

Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle is a former Ruthenian-Lithuanian castle and a later three-part Polish fortress located in the historic city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine, in the historic region of Podilia in the western part of the country. Its name is attributed to the root word 'kamin', from the Slavic word for 'stone'.

Historical accounts date Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle to the early 14th century, although recent archaeological evidence has proved human existence in the area back to the 12th or 13th century. Initially built to protect the bridge connecting the city with the mainland, the castle sits on top of a peninsula carved out by the winding Smotrych River, forming a natural defense system for Kamianets-Podilskyi's historic Old Town neighborhood.