. THE MEDIEVAL CASTLE .
Part 2
Germany
Here is a German castle that has been lived in by the same family since 1200- Burg Elitz
Wartburg Castle is where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German in the 16th century
Marksburg sits upon a tall hill
Built in the 1300s and added to in the Baroque style in the 1700s by German princes, Pfalzgrafenstein is on an island
Coburg Castle shows the German predillection to be at one with the environment
Kaiserburg in Nuremburg overlooks the city a century ago
The great univesity town of Heidelberg is overlooked by a castle
Reichburg Cochem castle sits on a hill
The Rhine River is the place where magical things happen- when people wonder how someone can
do something great for their nation, here it is
Rheinfels atop its hill
Wewelsburg in Germany is where Indiana Jones was filmed when he escaped from the Nazi guards
The real life fairy-tale castle of Neuschwanstein in Germany
This castle in south Germany is the one Walt Disney used as a model for Cinderella's castle at Disney World
Switzerland and Austria
Castle building was before palace building, as we can see, castles were no palaces in wintertime
Chillon in Switzerland sits on a spit of land on a lake for defense... and for scenery :)
Some castles like Schloss Thun in Switzerland are built into the townscape
Some castles were rounded like this in Austria, to fit the grading of the land and for utility. Notice
the criss-crossing medieval Germanic housing pattern at the left top
This castle in Austria has both round and squared towers, with a gothic style chapel at the center left
Austria's Festung Hohensalzburg Castle looks over the city
Hochosterwitz Castle almost seems as it if is flying
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Equally stunning is Castle Aggstein, who could ask for better topography?
Problem is there is no Home Depot nearby
When winter comes to Austria we see the brilliant way in which Aggstein was conceived
against the backdrop of the River Danube moving along in the background. This river starts in...
Poland
This castle of Ogrodzieniec in Poland was built in the 1300s as a defensive bastion by a duke,
and was destroyed twice by the Swedes in 1655 and 1702, then fell into ruin in the 19th century
The interior is a unoccupied and a person can even spend a night in a tent here without thinking twice about it
This outstanding Polish castle almost seems to float on the trees, while from tower a person can see for miles
The restaurant inside its former dining room for the dukes of southwestern Poland is called Brama (Gate)
Old soldiers never die, and in this case, neither do they fade away-
Castle Kwiedzyn overlooks the Vistula River and was built in the 1300s
Niedzica Castle is a symbold of 1,000 years of continuous Polish-Hungarian friendship
Reflections of the way life used to be: Torun Castle as it was, and today
Wawel Castle in Krakow was the royal residence of the Polish kings from 966 to 1693
This Polish castle in the middle of nowhere had a fishtank ceiling in its Great Hall and a courtyard with
a pond, bears and otters playing there- apparently somewhat domesticated
Krzystof Ossolinski built it as an example of what a szlachta nobleman could do
Krzystopor is its name- cross and axe- both of which are on the front gat
One of the greatest of all castles of the world is Malbork, built in the 13th century by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
and bombed during WWII by the USA in 1943, and suffering from a battle between the Soviets and Germans
Malbork was repaired over the last fifty years and is now in its original amazing condition
Belarus and Ukraina
Castle Mir in White Russia was a nobleman's home, the Radziwills-
and one can see how rivers are still favored as building sites
Lutsk Castle in Ukraine, built in the 14th century
Kamieniec Podolski is a Polish castle in Ukraine which withstood a Turkish seige in the 17th century
Chocim Castle is the epitome of a defensive fortification
Czech, Slovak and Hungary
Prague, capital of the Czech Republic sports Hradcany, an entire castle complex almost a mile long
Karlstein Castle outside Prague was built by the same Karl (Charles) IV who built the university and bridge in the city
Lining the great rivers in Europe, the Danube, the Thames, the Rhine, the Loire and the Vistula are plenty of
castles. This one, Bratislava Castle, dominates the capital city of Slovakia, a small country in Eastern Europe
The Hungarian castle of Visegrad was where the Hungarian kings of the old times
held feasts for nobles and kings from other countries
The city of Eger, Hungary grows around its old castle, which was once defended successfully by an all
woman force, who defeated a Turkish attack on it in the 1400's while the men were gone
This was Mr. Tamm's view for a whole half year- the Buda Castle
The center of Budapest is dominated by the ancient castle- turned palace later on- over the Danube
Balkans
Ljubljana castle dominates the capital city of Slovenia, a beautiful place that most Americans have not heard of
Bled Castle in Slovenia, started in 1011 by Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich II,
has one of the most spectacular views in the world.
Castles like Gradina Kamerlengo in Croatia often overlooked the Dalmatian coast
In Mostar, Bosnia, the castle overlooks the famous bridge that was destroyed in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s
Hunyadi Janos Castle in Transylvania, Romania is a Hungarian cultural treasure
This is Count Vlad the Impaler's castle in Transylvania, better known as _________
Castles in paradise? This fortress castle is on the island of Rhodes in Greece
The Greek castle of Meteora, high in the mountains near Olympus
Russia
In Russia castles took the form of kremlins, of which the most famous is the kremlin of Moscow
Smolensk Kremlin is not in the center of the city, making it more like what it looked like centuries ago
Kolomna is one of the jewels of Russia, a medieval castle-kremlin complex with a park inside
Novgorod is the second ancient city in Russia after Kiev- and its kremlin is one of the great sights
Pskov Kremlin encloses another city of the Golden Ring
The East
Krak de Chevalier is the greatest Crusader castle in the Middle East- it is in modern Syria
Saladin's Castle in Syria during the Crusades- taken from the Byzantines who built it 200 years earlier
Built during the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium in the 15th century, this is Rumilihisan
Site Design: David Tamm
