Medieval Castles where you live?

[ElHadji]

Thought it might be cool to share pictures of medieval castles from the in-game time period. I mean, Europe is littered with them so chances are that there are some close to where you live.

I’ll get this thread started by sharing some info and pictures about Bohus Fästning (Fortress of Bohus if I translate it to English) located just north of Gothenburg on the Swedish westcoast. If you travel north from Gothenburg on E45 you can’t miss it.

Bohus Fästning

Background
The build of the castle started in 1308 and the purpose was to protect the southern borders of Norway. In 1308 this was border country between Sweden and Norway. The Scandinavian countries looked very different in the 14th century than what the do today. Here is a map that shows the outlines of the countries in the mid-1300’s. (Note that Gothenburg didn’t exist until 1621 eventhough there had been fortifications and dwellings there since the 1400’s. The very first Gothenburg was burnt to the ground by Danish troops in 1611.)

If we look at the area where the castle was built in more detail we immediatly notice the strategic position:

On the above map yellow is Norway, green is Sweden and brown is Denmark. As you can see at the arrow marked “Bohus” on the map, the castle was built on an island where the Nordre and Göta rivers meet. Göta älv had been a important trade route since the Vikings and if you could control the shipping up and down the river you had a lot of influence over the area. Even today the ruins totally dominate the landscape:

The earliest construction was made of wood but over the years a stone castle made of granite emerged. In the beginning of the 1400’s the castle affected the Swedish economy in the region immensly. During the centurys to follow the castle ownership changed between Norway, Sweden and Denmark because of war, feuds, civil war, marriages between royal children and politics. All in all, Bohus Fästning was laid under siege 14 times without ever surrendering.

The castle was extended over the years and the shape we see today is from the 1600’s. Below are plans from the extensions made in 1697:

By the mid 1700’s the fortress had lost it’s importance. Gothenburg, which at the time was a walled and fortified city, had existed for more than 100 years and the borders had moved placing Bohus within Sweden. Both Marstrands and Älvsborgs fortresses was also fully operational closer to the outer borders. You have to keep the expansion in mind that Sweden made through military power during several hundred years until we got our current borders in 1905 (yellow in the maps represents Sweden).

Left to decay
The last garrison of Bohus Fästning left the castle in 1786 and parts of it was demolished to make use of the building materials elsewhere and it was left to decay. In 1935 it became a national building monument and parts of it was restored to be able to accomodate visitors. Today the castle is open for visitors between April and September and there are a lot of concerts, weddings, and other venues taking place within the castle walls. If you happen to be in the area I really recommend a visit. For more info about the castle visit: http://www.bohusfastning.com/en/

Last but not least some pictures of the castle as it looks today:

[Juhnimus]

Cant miss this if you come Turku by sea.

Turku Castle

[ProkyBrambora]

beatuful Karlštejn castle in Czech republic
http://middleczech.kr-stredocesky.cz/wp-content/uploads/Karlštejn.jpg

And also a glorious Český Šternberk

[Gryphonheart]

There’s plenty of castles around here, but they were mostly ‘upgraded’ during renaissance/baroque periods, so they are more chateaus and less castles nowadays: While Reichenberg itself has no castle, since it was founded by Johannites from nearby town of Dub (Aicha), it was ruled from Hammerstein castle in medieval times. During hussite era, it served as an ‘behind the lines’ outpost for catholic lusatian forces until finally fell to hussites in 1434. It was left to ruin after disputed by rival Biberstein and Donin families (almost hundred years of war… 1450-1545):

Center of the region (until Catherine von Redern changed her seat to Reichenberg due to conflict with the local burghers) was castle Friedland on the ancient trade road from the romans to the baltic sea:

The ‘Indica’ tower is originally from 1014, the castle proper was established around 1241. One of many places in the North never conquered by hussite raiding parties. After 1621, short-lived Friedlander Duchy (aka Terra Felix) with seat in Jicin (Jitschin) was established by catholic generalissimus Albrecht von Wallenstein (Waldstein), who sought to rebuild the independent kingdom of Bohemia, but was killed by opposition of his austrian generals in Eger in 1634. In 1801, the castle was opened to the public, becoming first medieval castle in central Europe that served as a museum.

[unwissend]

Just 30 minutes away from me.

[quote=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerin_Palace]
History

10th century
The first records of a castle at this location date from AD 973. There was a fort of the Polabian Slav tribe of the Obotrites on an island in the large Lake of Schwerin.

12th century
In 1160, the fort became a target of Germanic noblemen planning to expand their territory eastward under the leadership of Henry the Lion (1129–1195). The Obotrites under Niklot destroyed the fort but left because of the Germanic military dominance.

However, the German conquerors recognised the strategic and aesthetically interesting location of the island and started building a new fort. The foundation of the city of Schwerin took place in the same year. Schwerin became the seat of a bishopric.

In 1167, Henry gave the County of Schwerin to his vassal Gunzelin von Hagen, and the rest of the country around the city was returned to Niklot’s son Pribislav, forming a ducal hereditary line that lasted until 1918.

14th century
In 1358, the County of Schwerin was purchased by the descendants of Niklot, who had been elevated to Dukes of Mecklenburg in 1348. They soon relocated farther inland from Mikelenburg, near the city of Wismar, to Schwerin. During the late Gothic era, the growing prosperity and position of the dukes led to a growing need for a representative castle, and this meant architectural changes to the fortress settlement. The Bishop’s House (Bischofshaus) from that period remains intact.

16th century
The Grand Duke’s Throne
Under Duke Johann Albrecht I (1525–1576), the building faced important changes. The fort became a palace, and the defensive functionality of the fortress was replaced with ornamentation and concessions to comfort. The use of terracotta during the Renaissance was dominant in North German architecture, and Schwerin’s terracotta was supplied from Lübeck.

A few years after reworking the main building itself, from 1560 to 1563, Johann Albrecht rebuilt the palace’s chapel. It became the first new Protestant church of the state. The architecture was inspired by churches in Torgau and Dresden. The Venetian Renaissance gate, its gable showing the carrying of the cross, was made by Hans Walther (1526–1600), a sculptor from Dresden. Windows on the northern face show biblical illustrations by well-known Dutch artist Willem van den Broecke (“Paludanus”) (1530–1580).

As the ducal residence needed additional defences, despite its island site, some time in the middle of the 16th century bastions were established to the north-west, south-west and south-east. They were probably built by the same Italian architects who, under Francesco a Bornau, also designed the Dömitz Fortress. The bastions were later modified several times, and are still standing today.

17th and 18th centuries
The orangery
Before the Thirty Years’ War, the architect Ghert Evert Piloot, who had entered Mecklenburg’s service in 1612, made plans to completely rebuild the palace in the style of the Dutch Renaissance. In 1617, work began under his supervision, but soon had to cease because of the war. Piloot’s plans were partially realized between 1635 and 1643: the house above the palatial kitchen and that above the chapel were razed and given Dutch Renaissance style façades.

During this period, a half-timbered building was constructed near the chapel to house the archducal collection of paintings. Also, the Teepavillon (tea house) was built.

The court moved to Schloss Ludwigslust in 1756.

19th century
In 1837, the ducal residence moved back to Schwerin, but the building was in a relatively bad condition, and the Grand Duke disliked the individual buildings’ incongruent origins and architectural styles.

Grand Duke Friedrich (1800–1842) instructed his architect Georg Adolph Demmler (1804–1886) to remodel the palace. However a few months later, construction was halted by his successor, Friedrich Franz II (1823–1883), who wanted a complete reconstruction of the historic site. Only some parts of the building dating from the 16th and 17th century were retained.

Dresden architect Gottfried Semper (1803–1879) and Berlin architect Friedrich August Stüler (1800–1865) could not convince the Grand Duke of their plans. Instead, Demmler included elements of both of them into his plan, but found inspiration in French Renaissance castles. The castle became the most admired masterpiece of the student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He also planned a government building in 1825-1826 located at Schlossstraße (today the State Chancellery).

Renaissance châteaux of the Loire Valley (such as Chambord) also inspired him and contributed to the construction from 1843 until 1851.

His successor Stüler again made a few alterations, and included an equestrian statue of Niklot and the cupola. Heinrich Strack (1805–1880) from Berlin was chosen for the interior design. Most of the work was carried out by craftsmen from Schwerin and Berlin.

20th century
A fire destroyed about a third of the palace in December 1913. Only the exterior reconstruction had been completed when the revolution in 1918 resulted in the abdication of the Grand Duke. The castle later became a museum and in 1948 the seat of the state parliament. The German Democratic Republic used the palace as a college for kindergarten teachers from 1952 to 1981. Then it was a museum again until 1993. The Orangerie had been a technical museum since 1961. From 1974 on, some renovated rooms were used as an art museum.

Since late 1990, it is once again a seat of government, as the seat of the Landtag (the state assembly of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Since then there have been massive preservation and renovation efforts. Most of these are finished by 2014.[/quote]

[snejdarek]

Pernštejn

And my own pic:
http://forum.kingdomcomerpg.com/uploads/default/optimized/2X/f/f9ff30dde171d6fb62844a617533f93780a15107_1_666x500.jpg

[pavelperina]

I think that problem with gothic castles at least in Czech republic is that they are mostly ruins since either Hussite wars around 1420 or 30 years war around 1630 and some of them were rebuild or heavily reconstructed later. Pernštejn is 40km from where I live, but hey … rectangular windows?
This one (Zubštejn) is perhaps from in game era 9km north of Pernštejn. At least season and vegetation looks like from the game - St John’s Wort and Thistle

It looks quite good. Other ones are mostly pile of rocks, sometimes at least with one or two parts of walls.

[ElHadji]

Thanx for sharing. I just love these old castles.

[ElHadji]

Been there since I am half-Finn. Really nice place.

[Salyan]

Many castles in my region (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) have been rebuilt in modern times, so they don´t look the same as in the 15th century. Others are just ruins and you can only guess, how they might have looked.

So here are some famous and in my opinion beautiful castles in my region, despite their modern alterations:

Hohenzollern

Hohenneuffen

Hohentwiel

Lichtenstein

Sigmaringen

Hohenurach

Reußenstein

[Prometheus]

As the U.S. is such a “new” nation, we really do not have any medieval castles here. About the closest we could come to that would be the Inca and Mayan structures in Central America.

This is not medieval, but it is close to being a castle at least:

Biltmore Estate is a large (8,000 acre) private estate and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House, the main house on the estate, is a Châteauesque-styled mansion built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 square feet (16,622.8 m2) of floor space (135,280 square feet (12,568 m2) of living area). Still owned by one of Vanderbilt’s descendants, it stands today as one of the most prominent remaining examples of the Gilded Age.

[Earl_Thorn]

Man, this is absolutely incredible. Neuschwanstein of the north indeed. Love it… on it’s own little island as well. Magnificent.

Closest thing Perth WA has of a castle is this run down little fort gateway in a place called ‘Dogswamp’ haha

On a somewhat more serious note, the Government House building is quite nice though, more a gentleman’s mansion than anything else. It was built from 1859 - 1864 mainly by convicts from the United Kingdom, in the early Jacobean Revival style. It’s the official residence of the Governor of Western Australia, and has been since 1863.

Another similar example is that of the Barracks Arch. Which like Government House, is located in the Perth CBD. It is the only surviving portion of the old Enrolled Pensioner Force barracks (colloquially known as The Pensioner Barracks) that used to occupy this location. It was originally built to house the guards who came to Perth aboard the convict ships. It was nearly fully demolished in 1966 to make way for our main North-South freeway / highway.