1.
Doorwerth Castle
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Doorwerth Castle is a medieval castle situated on the river Rhine near the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. The original castle, probably wooden, is first mentioned in 1260 when it was besieged and burned to the ground, 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 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, 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 and 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 problems and was granted in fief to a German Count. 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. As a result, the castle was in a state when it was bought, in 1837. He carried out a restoration and a complete modernization of the castle. This revival of the castle only lasted for a short time and it remained neglected until 1910, when it was bought by retired artillery officer Frederic Adolph Hoefer. Again the castle was 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 in the restaurant Beaulieu, Dutch film director Stephan Brenninkmeijer was born at Doorwerth castle in 1964 and lived there until 1970. In 2004, the Castle was investigated for the ghosts allegedly haunting it by the British paranormal television show Most Haunted
2.
Bodiam Castle
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Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II. Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the defensive walls. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations and its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castles design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam, possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of Dalyngrigges, until their line became extinct, when the castle passed by marriage to the Lewknor family. During the Wars of the Roses, Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the House of Lancaster, and when Richard III of the House of York became king in 1483 and it is unrecorded whether the siege went ahead, but it is thought that Bodiam was surrendered without much resistance. The castle was confiscated, but returned to the Lewknors when Henry VII of the House of Lancaster became king in 1485, descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century. By the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was in the possession of Lord Thanet and he supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was restored before being sold to George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe. The castle is protected as a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument and it has been owned by The National Trust since 1925, donated by Lord Curzon on his death, and is open to the public. Edward Dalyngrigge was a son and thus deprived of his fathers estates through the practice of primogeniture. By 1378, he owned the manor of Bodiam by marrying into a land-owning family, from 1379 to 1388, Dalyngrigge was a Knight of the Shire for Sussex and one of the most influential people in the county. By the time he applied to the king for a licence to crenellate, Edward III of England pressed his claim for the French throne and secured the territories of Aquitaine and Calais. Dalyngrigge was one of many Englishmen who travelled to France to seek their fortune as members of Free Companies – groups of mercenaries who fought for the highest bidder and he left for France in 1367 and journeyed with Lionel, Duke of Clarence and son of Edward III. It was as a member of the Free Companies that Dalyngrigge raised the money to build Bodiam Castle, the Treaty of Bruges ensured peace for two years, but after it expired, fighting resumed between England and France. In 1377 Edward III was succeeded by Richard II, during the war, England and France struggled for control of the English Channel, with raids on both coasts. With the renewed hostilities, Parliament voted that money should be spent on defending and fortifying Englands south coast, there was internal unrest as well as external threats, and Dalyngrigge was involved in suppressing the Peasants Revolt of 1381
3.
Mespelbrunn Castle
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It is a popular tourist attraction and has become a famous Spessart landmark. The first precursor of Mespelbrunn Castle was a simple house, 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 Echters services against the Czechs, the Echter family 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 fathers house to a castle with walls, towers. Only the Bergfried, the tower, remains from the 15th century. The following generations changed the defense structures to a typical manor-house, todays 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. Due to its location in a side valley of the Elsava, surrounded by forests. In 1665, the last male member of the Echter family died, in 1648, Maria Ottilia, Echterin of Mespelbrunn, had married Philipp Ludwig of Ingelheim, a member of a family of barons, later made Grafen of Ingelheim. By permission of the emperor, the name of the Echter family was preserved, in 1875, a Romanesque Revival chapel was built as a burial place for the Ingelheim family overlooking the Elsava valley. The main building of Mespelbrunn Castle is built on an almost square base on the 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 tower in center, which surmounts the castle. In the 1930s, economic pressures forced the Ingelheim family 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. In 1957, Mespelbrunn Castle was one of the locations of the German film Das Wirtshaus im Spessart, based on the novella by Wilhelm Hauff
4.
Castle
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A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. Usage of the term has varied over time and has applied to structures as diverse as hill forts. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with different features, although some, such as curtain walls. A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures served as centres of administration. Many castles were built from earth and timber, but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire, many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castles firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape, while castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no role in civil administration, and country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of castles, part of a romantic revival of Gothic architecture. The word castle is derived from the Latin word castellum, which is a diminutive of the word castrum, meaning fortified place. The Old English castel, Old French castel or chastel, French château, Spanish castillo, Italian castello, the word castle was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to denote this type of building, which was then new to England. In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is a fortified residence. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for service and the expectation of loyalty. Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, as well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as a base of operations in enemy territory
5.
Moat
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A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams. In older fortifications, such as hillforts, they are referred to simply as ditches. In later periods, moats or water defences may be largely ornamental and they could also act as sewerage. Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been uncovered around ancient Egyptian castles, one example is at Buhen, a castle excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient moats is found in the ruins of Babylon, and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures in the region. Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered in archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia, including Noen U-Loke, Ban Non Khrua Chut, Ban Makham Thae. The use of the moats could have been either for defensive or agriculture purposes, moats were excavated around castles and other fortifications as part of the defensive system as an obstacle immediately outside the walls. In suitable locations they might be filled with water, a moat made access to the walls difficult for siege weapons, such as siege towers and battering rams, which needed to be brought up against a wall to be effective. A water-filled moat made the practice of mining, digging tunnels under the castles in order to effect a collapse of the defences, segmented moats have one dry section and one section filled with water. Dry moats cut across the part of a spur or peninsula are called neck ditches. Moats separating different elements of a castle, such as the inner and outer wards are cross ditches, the shared derivation implies that the two features were closely related and possibly constructed at the same time. The term moat is also applied to natural formations reminiscent of the artificial structure, the walls were further protected from infantry attack by wet or dry moats, sometimes in elaborate systems. When this style of fortification was superseded by lines of forts in the mid-19th century. The Walls of Benin were a combination of ramparts and moats, called Iya and it was considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise, second only to the Great Wall of China and the largest earthwork in the world. With more recent work by Patrick Darling, it has established as the largest man-made structure in the world. It enclosed 6,500 km² of community lands and its length was over 16,000 km of earth boundaries. It was estimated that earliest construction began in 800 and continued into the mid-15th century, the walls are built of a ditch and dike structure, the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart
6.
Island castle
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The island castle is a variation of the water castle. It is distinguished by its location on an artificial or natural island and it is a typical lowland castle. Such castles could therefore be easily and cheaply built. Many island castles in lakes were, however, relatively easily captured in winter if there was an ice sheet thick enough to support attacking troops, the best-known island castle in Germany is Pfalzgrafenstein Castle near Kaub. The only Gothic water castle in Europe is Trakai Castle in Lithuania, crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights, The Red-brick Castles of Prussia, Osprey, Oxford
7.
Lowland castle
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The term lowland castle or plains castle describes a type of castle based that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The classification is used in Germany where about 34 percent of all castles are of the lowland type. Where such natural obstacles do not exist, artificially similar obstacles take on added significance and these include water-filled or dry moats, ramparts, palisades and curtain walls. In order to increase the height of the castle above the terrain, artificial earth mounds may be built. Castles of the Early Middle Ages often had a narrow, deep ditch and high, lowland castles are naturally found on plains such as the North German Plain or in the Netherlands. But they may also be encountered occasionally in highlands, for example in a valley as an island castle on an island in a river. Water castle, Overarching term for all types that use water as a defensive obstacle. Depending on their topographic situation these castles may be subdivided into, River castles, as a rule, they are also surrounded by moats filled with water supplied by the river. Shore castle, castle by a lake or the sea, like river castles, shore castles usually have artificial ditches with a link to the waterbody. Island castle, castle on a natural, more rarely on an artificial, marsh castle, castle in marshy or boggy terrain. It uses the natural inaccessibility of the terrain to its defensive advantage, valley castle, Castle on a valley bottom. An example are the Castles of Bellinzona, sub-types according to function, Bridge castle, a castle built to watch over and protect a river crossing. Harbour castle, a castle that is built to protect a harbour, wörterbuch der Burgen, Schlösser und Festungen. Reclam, Stuttgart, p.156, ISBN 3-15-010547-1 Krahe, Burgen und Wohntürme des deutschen Mittelalters. Vol.1, Thorbecke, Stuttgart,2002, pp. 21–23, ISBN 3-7995-0104-5
8.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
9.
Pond
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A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or artificial, that is usually smaller than a lake. They may arise naturally in floodplains as part of a river system, usually they contain shallow water with marsh and aquatic plants and animals. In the countryside farmers and villagers dig a pond in their backyard or increase the depth of a pond by removing layers of mud during summer season. A wide variety of bodies of water are classified as ponds. Some ponds are created specifically for restoration, including water treatment. Others, like gardens, water features and koi ponds are designed for aesthetic ornamentation as landscape or architectural features. Fish ponds are designed for commercial breeding, and solar ponds designed to store thermal energy. Standing bodies of such as puddles, ponds, and lakes are often categorized separately from flowing water courses, such as brooks, creeks. Nutrient levels and water quality in ponds can be controlled through natural process such as growth, or through artificial filtration. The technical distinction between a pond and a lake has not been universally standardized, each of these definitions has met with resistance or disapproval, as the defining characteristics are each difficult to measure or verify. Accordingly, some organizations and researchers have settled on technical definitions of pond, even among organizations and researchers who distinguish lakes from ponds by size alone, there is no universally recognised standard for the maximum size of a pond. The international Ramsar wetland convention sets the limit for pond size as 8 hectares. Other European biologists have set the size limit at 5 ha. In practice, a body of water is called a pond or a lake on a basis, as conventions change from place to place. There are numerous examples in other states of bodies of water less than 10 acres being called lakes, as the case with Crystal Lake shows, marketing purposes may be the driving factor behind some names. Ponds can result from a range of natural processes. Rivers often leave behind ponds in natural flood plains after spring flooding, retreating glaciers can leave behind landscapes filled with small depressions, each developing its own pond, an example is the Prairie Pothole Region of North America. Some ponds are created by animals, beaver ponds are the best known example, but alligators also excavate ponds as well
10.
Siege
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A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. This derives from sedere, Latin for to sit, Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy, a siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by direct assault and refuses to surrender. Failing a military outcome, sieges can often be decided by starvation, thirst, or disease and this form of siege, though, can take many months or even years, depending upon the size of the stores of food the fortified position holds. During the process of circumvallation, the force can be set upon by another force of enemies due to the lengthy amount of time required to starve a position. During the Warring States era of ancient China, there is textual and archaeological evidence of prolonged sieges and siege machinery used against the defenders of city walls. Siege machinery was also a tradition of the ancient Greco-Roman world, during the Renaissance and the early modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork, Medieval campaigns were generally designed around a succession of sieges. In the Napoleonic era, increasing use of more powerful cannon reduced the value of fortifications. In the 20th century, the significance of the classical siege declined, with the advent of mobile warfare, a single fortified stronghold is no longer as decisive as it once was. Modern sieges are more commonly the result of smaller hostage, militant, the Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, and defensive walls. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified, by about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus River floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets, mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun-dried bricks. City walls and fortifications were essential for the defence of the first cities in the ancient Near East, the walls were built of mudbricks, stone, wood, or a combination of these materials, depending on local availability. They may also have served the purpose of showing presumptive enemies the might of the kingdom. The great walls surrounding the Sumerian city of Uruk gained a widespread reputation, the walls were 9.5 km in length, and up to 12 m in height. Later, the walls of Babylon, reinforced by towers, moats, in Anatolia, the Hittites built massive stone walls around their cities atop hillsides, taking advantage of the terrain. In Shang Dynasty China, at the site of Ao, large walls were erected in the 15th century BC that had dimensions of 20 m in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards squared
11.
Drawbridge
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A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle and a number of towers, surrounded by a moat. Medieval castles were usually defended by a ditch or moat, crossed by wooden bridge, in early castles the bridge might be designed to be destroyed or removed in the event of an attack, but drawbridges became very common. It would be backed by one or more portcullises and gates, access to the bridge could be resisted with missiles from machicolations above or arrow slits in flanking towers. The bridge would be raised or lowered using ropes or chains attached to a windlass in a chamber in the gatehouse above the gate-passage, only a very light bridge could be raised in this way without any form of counterweight, so some form of bascule arrangement is normally found. The raising chains could themselves be attached to counterweights, in some cases, a portcullis provides the weight, as at Alnwick. In France, working drawbridges survive at a number of châteaux, in England, two working drawbridges remain in regular use at Helmingham Hall, which dates from the early sixteenth century. A bridge pivoted on central trunnions is called a turning bridge, the inner end carried counterweights enabling it to sink into a pit in the gate-passage, and when horizontal the bridge would often be supported by stout pegs inserted through the side walls. This was an arrangement, and many turning bridges were replaced with more advanced drawbridges. Bascule bridge Drawbridge mentality Portcullis Linkspan
12.
Central Europe
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Central Europe lies between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The concept of Central Europe is based on a historical, social and cultural identity. Central Europe is going through a phase of strategic awakening, with such as the CEI, Centrope. While the regions economy shows high disparities with regard to income, elements of unity for Western and Central Europe were Roman Catholicism and Latin. According to Hungarian historian Jenő Szűcs, foundations of Central European history at the first millennium were in connection with Western European development. The keyword of Western social development after millennium was the spread of liberties and autonomies in Western Europe and these phenomena appeared in the middle of the 13th century in Central European countries. There were self-governments of towns, counties and parliaments, in 1335 under the rule of the King Charles I of Hungary, the castle of Visegrád, the seat of the Hungarian monarchs was the scene of the royal summit of the Kings of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. They agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, in the Middle Ages, countries in Central Europe adopted Magdeburg rights. Before 1870, the industrialization that had developed in Western and Central Europe, even in Eastern Europe, industrialization lagged far behind. Russia, for example, remained rural and agricultural. The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century, an example of that-time vision of Central Europe may be seen in J. Partsch’s book of 1903. On 21 January 1904, Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein was established in Berlin with economic integration of Germany, another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic and cultural domination. The bible of the concept was Friedrich Naumann’s book Mitteleuropa in which he called for a federation to be established after the war. The concept failed after the German defeat in World War I, the revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era. According to Emmanuel de Martonne, in 1927 the Central European countries included, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, italy and Yugoslavia are not considered by the author to be Central European because they are located mostly outside Central Europe. The author use both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, the interwar period brought new geopolitical system and economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – the countries that have appeared on the map of Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, however, the conflict of interests was too big and neither Little Entente nor Intermarium ideas succeeded. The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe, after the war, the Eastern part of Central Europe was placed at the centre of the concept
13.
Landscape architecture
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Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor public areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the investigation of existing social, ecological, and soil conditions and processes in the landscape. A practitioner in the profession of architecture is called a landscape architect. The most valuable contribution can be made at the first stage of a project to generate ideas with technical understanding and creative flair for the design, organization, and use of spaces. The landscape architect can conceive the concept and prepare the master plan, from which detailed design drawings. They can also review proposals to authorize and supervise contracts for the construction work, other skills include preparing design impact assessments, conducting environmental assessments and audits, and serving as an expert witness at inquiries on land use issues. e. They often work in forestry, nature conservation and agriculture, Landscape scientists have specialist skills such as soil science, hydrology, geomorphology or botany that they relate to the practical problems of landscape work. Their projects can range from surveys to the ecological assessment of broad areas for planning or management purposes. They may also report on the impact of development or the importance of species in a given area. Landscape planners are concerned with planning for the location, scenic, ecological and recreational aspects of urban. Some may also apply an additional specialism such as landscape archaeology or law to the process of landscape planning, green roof designers design extensive and intensive roof gardens for storm water management, evapo-transpirative cooling, sustainable architecture, aesthetics, and habitat creation. An example is the work by André Le Nôtre at Vaux-le-Vicomte for King Louis XIV of France at the Palace of Versailles. The first person to write of making a landscape was Joseph Addison in 1712, the term landscape architecture was invented by Gilbert Laing Meason in 1828, and John Claudius Loudon was instrumental in the adoption of the term landscape architecture by the modern profession. He took up the term from Meason and gave it publicity in his Encyclopedias and in his 1840 book on the Landscape Gardening, the practice of landscape architecture spread from the Old to the New World. IFLA was founded at Cambridge, England, in 1948 with Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe as its first president, representing 15 countries from Europe, later, in 1978, IFLAs Headquarters were established in Versailles. Through the 19th century, urban planning became a focal point, the combination of the tradition of landscape gardening and the emerging field of urban planning offered Landscape Architecture an opportunity to serve these needs. In the second half of the century, Frederick Law Olmsted completed a series of parks which continue to have an influence on the practices of Landscape Architecture today. Among these were Central Park in New York City, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, jens Jensen designed sophisticated and naturalistic urban and regional parks for Chicago, Illinois, and private estates for the Ford family including Fair Lane and Gaukler Point
14.
Trakai Island Castle
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Trakai Island Castle is an island castle located in Trakai, Lithuania on an island in Lake Galvė. The construction of the castle was begun in the 14th century by Kęstutis, and around 1409 major works were completed by his son Vytautas the Great. Trakai was one of the centres of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Trakai Island Castle was built in several phases, during the first phase, in the second half of the 14th century, the castle was constructed on the largest of three lake islands by the order of Grand Duke Kęstutis. The construction of Trakai Island Castle was related to the expansion, Kęstutis moved his main residence and his treasury to the Island Castle. The castle suffered major devastation during an attack by the Teutonic Knights in 1377, after the assassination of Kęstutis, a power struggle between Jogaila and Vytautas the Great for the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania began. The castle was besieged by both sides, soon after the reconciliation between Jogaila and Vytautas, the second phase of construction started and continued until 1409. This phase is regarded as the development in the history of the castle. Apparently, during the truce with the Teutonic Order, the works were supervised by the Orders stonemason Radike. During the second phase, two wings were added, and on the side a 6-storey donjon was built. The donjon had movable gates which separated the palace from the forecastle, the donjon was used for several functions, besides serving as another defensive structure, it had a chapel and living quarters. It was linked to the multi-storey Ducal Palace, which had an inner yard, the inner yard had wooden galleries, which ran around the inner wall, these galleries were used to access various support facilities without going inside the palace itself. The entire southern wing of the palace was used for the Ducal Hall. This hall was around 10 by 21 metres in size, the Ducal Hall has preserved some of its original alabar. The principal construction material was so-called red Gothic bricks, stone blocks were used only in the foundations and the upper parts of buildings, towers and walls. The castle was decorated in a variety of ways, including glazed roof tiling, burned bricks and its overall style after the second construction phase could be described as Gothic with some Romanesque features. The expansion of the forecastle in the early 15th century marked the third phase of Trakais development, the walls of the forecastle were strengthened to a thickness of 2.5 metres and raised with additional firing galleries. Three major defensive towers were constructed on the corners, the southwestern tower was also used as a prison
15.
Wijnendale Castle
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Wijnendale Castle is an historically important castle near the village of Wijnendale, now in the municipality of Torhout, in West Flanders, Belgium. The present castle is largely a 19th-century reconstruction, but a part of the wing is still 15th century. One wing is inhabited by the present owners, another wing is a museum, the first castle was built by Robert I, Count of Flanders, at the end of the 11th century and used as a base for military operations. In the 12th and 13th century, Wijnendale became a place of residence for the Counts of Flanders and for Philip, Count of Flanders. In 1297 Guy of Dampierre signed a treaty here with the English King Edward I, in 1298 Wijnendale was inherited by the Counts of Namur, and besieged and damaged in 1302 and 1325. It is probable that Blanche of Namur grew up here and that it was here that she met her future husband Magnus IV of Sweden in 1334, in 1463 the castle passed to the Lords of Ravenstein, a junior branch of the House of Cleves. Adolph of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein, and his son Philip of Cleves-Ravenstein transformed the castle into a beautiful mansion, in 1528, after the death of Philip of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein, Wijnendale returned to the main branch of the Dukes of Cleves. Their relatives Charles V and Mary of Habsburg stayed more than once at the castle, in the second half of the 16th century, the Dukes lost interest in their Flemish possessions and in 1578 part of the castle was burned down by Protestants. During the many attacks by Louis XIV on Flanders, Wijnendale was occupied many times by passing troops and severely damaged in 1690, in 1699–1700 Duke Johann Wilhelm had the castle rebuilt. On 28 September 1708, during the War of Spanish Succession, in the 17th and 18th century it was inhabited by a governor, as the Dukes of Pfalz-Neuburg resided in Germany. In the middle of the 18th century, Duke Charles Theodore constructed roads in West Flanders to improve trade, in 1792 the French Revolutionary armies invaded the Austrian Netherlands and ended the feudal system. Charles Theodore moved the contents of the castle to his residences in Düsseldorf, Mannheim, the castle became the property of the French state. In 1811 the French troops damaged it so badly that only ruins remained, in 1825, during the Dutch period the estate was sold to a Walloon industrial group, which had all the trees cut down, before going bankrupt. In 1833 the domain was bought by a banker from Brussels, Josse-Pierre Matthieu and his son Joseph Louis Matthieu modified it in 1877 and gave it its present romanticized, mediaeval form. In May 1940 Wijnendale made history again, on 25 May, just before the Battle of Dunkirk, there was a last meeting between King Leopold III of Belgium and four cabinet ministers. With the country surrounded by German troops, capitulation was inevitable, the King however refused to follow his ministers to Britain to continue the struggle from there. He chose as commander-in-chief to remain with his troops and follow them into captivity and this decision led to strong controversy after the war, and to Leopolds abdication in 1951. The Matthieu family still owns the castle today, the present owner is Jean-Jacques Matthieu de Wynendaele
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Egeskov Castle
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Egeskov Castle is located in the south of the island of Funen, Denmark. The castle is Europes best preserved Renaissance water castle, Egeskov was first mentioned in 1405. The castle structure was erected by Frands Brockenhuus in 1554, the castle is constructed on oaken piles and located in a small lake with a maximum depth of 5 metres. Originally, the access was by means of a drawbridge. According to legend, it took an entire forest of oak trees to build the foundation, outside, the castle is a Late Gothic building. Inside the original elements already show Renaissance design, the castle consists of two long buildings connected by a thick double wall, allowing defenders to abandon one house and continue fighting from the other. The double wall is one meter thick and contains secret staircases. Defenders were able to attack an enemys flanks from the two corner towers. Other medieval defences include artillery ports, scalding holes and arrow slits, the bricks composing the castle are of an oversized medieval type sometimes called monks bricks. The conical towers are constructed in a series of separate panels, the architecture includes depressed and round-arched windows, round-arched blank arcading within the gables, and a double string course between the high cellar and the ground floor. The structure contains some of the indoor plumbing design first used in Europe with vertical shafts for waste. The thick double wall also contains a well which is accessed from the servants kitchen in the east house. Several of the rooms have massive parallel exposed beams with some end carving. Other buildings belonging to Egeskov include Ladegården, a thatched half-timbered building which is now part of the museum, other buildings are used by the museum and for farming. Surrounding the castle is an old park, covering 20 hectares of land, the park is divided into a number of gardens. The renaissance garden features fountains, a path and topiary figures. The fuchsia garden, one of the largest in Europe, contains 104 different species, other gardens near the castle include an English garden, a water garden, an herb garden, a vegetable garden, and a peasants garden. The gardens also feature four hedge mazes, the oldest is a beech maze several hundreds of years old
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Kajaani Castle
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The Kajaani castle was built on the Ämmäkoski island of the Kajaani river in the centre of Kajaani, Finland, in the 17th century. Today, only ruins remain of the castle. The castle functioned as a centre, a prison. The most famous prisoner in the castle was the historian Johannes Messenius, construction of the Kajaani castle began in 1604 and was completed in 1619. At first the castle consisted of a stone wall, two round towers, and wooden buildings at the yard inside the castle. Count Peter Brahe ordered a second stage of the castle. During this construction stage, many structures of the castle were replaced with stone structures to form a fortress. During the Great Northern War, Russian forces sieged the castle for months, until it was finally forced to surrender because of lack of food, firewood. Shortly after this, the Russians exploded the castle and its inhabitants were transported to Russia to be imprisoned, in 1917 a hydro-electric plant was built at Ämmäkoski. The first wooden bridge on top of the ruins was built in 1845, by 1937 the castle-island became a fundament for a new road-bridge made of concrete. The bridge called Linnansilta was originally the only bridge across the Kajaani river, the Kajaani castle is considered to be the smallest stone-castle in Europe and the northernmost castle in the world. The castle figures in the novel The Czars Spy, by William Le Queux, where it is a terrifying prison held by the Russians who occupy Finland
18.
Olavinlinna
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Olavinlinna is a 15th-century three-tower castle located in Savonlinna, Finland. It is the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing, the castle is built on an island in the Kyrönsalmi strait that connects the lakes Haukivesi and Pihlajavesi. The fortress was founded by Erik Axelsson Tott in 1475 under the name Sankt Olofsborg in an effort to profit from the turmoil following Ivan IIIs conquest of the Novgorod Republic. It was sited in Savonia so as to lay claim to the Russian side of the established by the Treaty of Nöteborg. One of Totts letters from 1477 includes a mention of foreign builders invited to Olofsborg, probably from Reval. It was the first Swedish castle provided with a set of circular towers that could withstand cannon fire. It is not by accident that a network of lakes and waterways forms the setting for the castle, the three-towered keep was completed 1485, and the construction of the outer curtain walls with two towers was initiated immediately. The castle is roughly a truncated rhomboid with keep on the side of the island. One of the towers of the keep, St. Eriks Tower, has bad foundation and has since collapsed, one of the towers of bailey, the Thick Tower, exploded in the 18th century. A bastion has been built on its place, the castle was converted into a Vaubanesque fort in the late 19th century with bastions. A brisk trade developed under the umbrella of the castle towards the end of the 16th century, giving birth to the town of Savonlinna, the castle forms a spectacular stage for the Savonlinna Opera Festival, held annually in the summer since 1912. Olavinlinna is the model for Kropow Castle in the comic book King Ottokars Sceptre. St. Olafs Castle at the Finnish National Board of Antiquities Savonlinna Opera Festival – Official website Medieval castles in Finland
19.
Brennhausen
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Brennhausen is a castle in the municipality of Sulzdorf a. d. Lederhecke in the district of Rhön-Grabfeld in Bavaria in Germany. It is located the Haßberge Nature Park, josef Braun explains the name Brennhausen in his place-names book as the houses by a water source, meaning, in this case, a spring. Braun bases his statement on the fact that immediately next to the settlement, Braun discovered that the form Brenn- is a written form, changed from the spoken dialect, which is based on the old form Brünn. Dr. Heinrich Wagner presents a different view in his Historischen Atlas von Neustadt/Saale. Wagner believes that the origination of the name had nothing to do with the houses by a water source, under this scenario, the founder of Brennhausen used his own name, as was the custom of that time, for the naming of Brunechenhusen. The first known mention of Brennhausen in a document was in the year 1182. In this document, Graf Poppo von Henneberg, leased to his faithful Wolfram, among others, the Truchseß von Brennhausen is a genealogical branch of the Truchessen von Wetzhausen which descends from a Hans Truchseß. He had holdings in Wetzhausen, Brennhausen, Sternberg and Essfeld. ”In 1343 and it was written, “Notation regarding Mr. Hansen Truchseß, soul of a knight of Brünnhausen and his wedded wife. Owned Wetzhausen, Brünnhausen, Eßfeld and part of zu Sternberg. ”His four Sons inherited these four places after his death, diez, the actual founder of the Wetzhausen line, was given by his father, Hans, all of Wetzhausen and one third of Brennhausen. Hans Truchseß the Younger received two thirds of the Brennhausen holdings and part of Sternberg, hanns had his residence in Brennhausen. Brennhausen remained in the Truchseß family until 1542 when Georg Truchseß died with a brief intermission around 1500, Anna, daughter of Philipp Truchseß took Brennhausen into a marriage with Hans von Berlichingen, a vassal of Wilhelm Count von Henneberg. After Hans von Berlichingen death, Anna sold Brennhausen to pay her husband’s debts, both documentation and physical evidence strongly suggest that Brennhausen burned in 1525 during the Bauernkrieg or Peasants Revolt. The beams of the roof and the entrance to one of the date from right after 1525. Stone work also suggests that the levels changed at some point. Höhn in his 1747 Lexicon Topographicum states that the set fire to it in 1525. In 1587 Brennhausen was occupied by Georg Wilhelm von Kotzau, by 1593, the Truchseß family were back at Brennhausen. In 1619, the brothers Otto, Heinrich and Adam von und zu Bastheim along with Georg Wilhelm, in 1642, a Franz Günther, a simple farmers son from Kützberg by Schweinfurt, was ennobled “Günther von Brennhausen” and given the fief of Brennhausen from the Bishopric of Würzburg. From 1635 to 1647, Franz was the Commandant of the fortress at Königshofen, franz’ son Hans, also a distinguished military man, received Brennhausen
20.
Schwerin Palace
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Schwerin Palace, or Schwerin Castle, 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 main lake. For centuries the palace was the home of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg, today it serves as the residence of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliament. It is regarded as one of the most important works of romantic Historicism in Europe and is designated to become a World Heritage Site and it is nicknamed Neuschwanstein of the North. The first records of a castle at this date from AD973. There was a fort of the Polabian Slav tribe of the Obotrites on an island in the large Lake of Schwerin, in 1160, the fort became a target of Germanic noblemen planning to expand their territory eastward under the leadership of Henry the Lion. The Obotrites under Niklot destroyed the fort but left because of the Germanic military dominance, however, the German conquerors recognized 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 1358, the County of Schwerin was purchased by the descendants of Niklot and they soon relocated farther inland from Mikelenburg, near the city of Wismar, to Schwerin. During the late Gothic era, the prosperity and position of the dukes led to a growing need for a representative castle. The Bishops House from that period remains intact, under John Albert I, Duke of Mecklenburg, the building faced important changes. The fort became a palace, and the functionality of the fortress was replaced with ornamentation. The use of terracotta during the Renaissance was dominant in North German architecture, a few years after reworking the main building itself, from 1560 to 1563, John Albert rebuilt the palaces 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, windows on the northern face show biblical illustrations by well-known Dutch artist Willem van den Broecke. As the ducal residence needed additional defences, despite its island site and 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 standing today. Before the Thirty Years War, the architect Ghert Evert Piloot, in 1617, work began under his supervision, but soon had to cease because of the war
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Vischering Castle
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Vischering Castle in Lüdinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia is the most typical moated castle in the Münster region of Germany. This region has one of the highest German concentrations of castles, palaces and fortifications, the castle consists of outer defensive courtyard, defensive gateways, moat, drawbridge, main building and chapel. The sandstone walls, the red tile roofs as well as their reflection in the moat provide many views from the wooded surroundings. Vischering Castle was built by Bischop Gerhard von der Mark to counter the second built by the Von Lüdinghausen family. It became the seat of the Droste zu Vischering Family, Droste is the local title for the hereditary noble administrators serving the Bishops of Münster. The moat is constantly replenished by a side-arm of the River Stever, the outer defensive courtyard contains the business and farm buildings. The main building is a horseshoe-shaped three-story structure with outer wall. Its inner courtyard is closed off by the chapel and a defense wall. A castle keep is missing, having been removed during Renaissance renovations, fire destroyed the castle in 1521. Rebuilding took place on the existing foundation, windows and the addition of a large bay made the castle more liveable but diminished its defensive character. The whole site however retains the character of a feudal age moated castle, damage from air attack during World War II was minor. Vischering Castle houses the Münsterlandmuseum, an exhibit on knighthood for children and it serves as a cultural center for Kreis Coesfeld. Visiting hours are provided in the first link below, viewing the outside is possible at all times. The second link provides a detailed chronology of the castle in German. Official Website Burg Vischering auf burgenwelt. de in German
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Moritzburg Castle
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Moritzburg Castle or Moritzburg Palace is a Baroque palace in Moritzburg, in the German state of Saxony, about 13 kilometres northwest of the Saxon capital, Dresden. The castle has four towers and lies on a symmetrical artificial island. It is named after Duke Moritz of Saxony, who had a lodge built there between 1542 and 1546. The surrounding woodlands and lakes have been a hunting area of the electors. The original castle, built from 1542–1546, was a lodge for Moritz of Saxony. Elector John George II of Saxony had the extended, the chapel was added between 1661 and 1671. Designed by his architect, Wolf Caspar von Klengel, the chapel is an example of early Baroque architecture. Between 1723 and 1733, Augustus had the castle remodelled as a seat by architects Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann and Zacharias Longuelune, adding a formal park, several ponds. The surroundings of the castle were developed by Elector Frederick Augustus III of Saxony. The Little Pheasant Castle was built between 1770 and 1776, prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony, who lived in the castle between 1933 and 1945, was the last resident of the House of Wettin. He was dispossessed in 1945 by the postwar Soviet administration, the interior of the castle is furnished with examples of opulent baroque decor from the time of Augustus the Strong. The walls are covered in 17th century gold-gilded leather, many rooms furnishings are dedicated to courtly hunting. The collection of red deer antlers is one of the most important of its kind, the castles largest collection of antlers is shown in the Speisesaal. Most of its 71 trophies are between 270 and 400 years old, they were purchased or acquired as presents, among them is the heaviest red deer antler in the world, weighing 19.8 kilograms and spanning almost 2 metres. In the Monströsensaal, there are 39 contorted antlers, one specimen, a 66-point red deer antler is from an animal killed by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg in 1696. In 1723, Augustus the Strong acquired a four-poster bed for his Japanese palace and it had approximately a million peacock, pheasant, guinea hen and duck feathers woven into the canvas. Rather than gluing or tying the feathers onto the canvas, they were woven in as weft, upon acquisition, Augustus had the curtains removed and turned into wall hangings, inspiring the rooms name, Federzimmer, or feather room. This ensemble was moved to Schloss Moritzburg in 1830, following an extensive 19-year restoration, the bed and wall hangings have been on view again since 2003
23.
Inzlingen Castle
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Inzlingen Castle, also Reichenstein Castle is a medieval castle surrounded by a moat situated in the village of Inzlingen. Inzlingen is located in the district of Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg, in the very south-west of Germany just at the Swiss border line near Basel, the origins of the castle cannot be clearly dated. The first written evidence dated 1511 – at this already a possession of a relative of the barons Reich von Reichenstein. This noble family hold fiefdoms from the Prince-Bishopric of Basel, the Margraviate of Baden, a Prince-bishop of Basel, six mayors of Basel and a principal of Basel University came from this noble family. A first major conversion of the castle dated 1563 to 1566, a copper engraving published 1625 shows the buildings at this time. Later the buildings were converted to a Baroque style and at about 1750 a Baroque interior followed, since 1820 the castle was a domicile for a weaving mill producing silk ribbons and afterwards it was used for a century as a farm house. In 1969 Inzlingen Castle was purchased by the municipality of Inzlingen, since 1978 it functions as city hall of the municipality of Inzlingen. Furthermore, there is a restaurant within the castle. In 1980 the Deutsche Post issued a stamp showing an engraving of Inzlingen castle, emil A. Erdin, Das Wasserschloss Inzlingen. In, Nachrichten des Schweizerischen Burgenvereins, Band 51, Heft 5,1978 online, Retrieved Mai 1,2013 Website of EBIDAT - datebase of castles
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Irmelshausen
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Irmelshausen is a village in the municipality of Höchheim in the district of Rhön-Grabfeld in Bavaria in Germany. Irmelshausen is best known for its castle and related church, Irmelshausen, on the old border between East and West Germany, is one of the most appealing castles in this region of Germany. Irmelshausen is first mentioned in the year 800 when Emhild, the Abbess of Milz, in 1354, upon the marriage of Countess Elisabeth with the Count Eberhard of Württemberg, the village was sold to the Bishopric of Würzburg. Twenty-two years later the bishopric transferred it to Berthold von Bibra, since that time, it has been greatly enlarged and has been one of the main seats of the Bibra family. Parts of the castle were previously taller but during a remodeling in 1854 the half-timbered sections were lowered to the present height, until recently it was the site of the Bibra family archives which were fortunately moved to Irmelshausen from Bibra prior to the German Peasants War in 1524-25. It is said that the first enemy soldier to enter the castle during World War II did so on April 8,1945, the American Col. Vennard Wilson was served tea, noted the contents of the castle and ordered it off limits to troops. The castle itself, the two farms and the forest is owned by the Bibra family and the daughter of the Bibra family who is by birth a Guttenberg. Besides the five-sided castle, the late Gothic church with its numerous and beautiful Bibra gravestones from the 16th and 17th centuries is worth visiting
25.
Spandau Citadel
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The Spandau Citadel is a fortress in Berlin, Germany, one of the best-preserved Renaissance military structures of Europe. Built from 1559–94 atop a medieval fort on an island created by the meeting of the Havel and the Spree, it was designed to protect the town of Spandau, in recent years it has been used as a museum and has become a popular tourist spot. Italian architect Francesco Chiaramella de Gandino started to plan the citadel in 1557 and was replaced by his compatriot Rochus Graf zu Lynar one year later, with four bastions, symmetrically arranged and connected by curtain walls, the Spandau citadel is an ideal example of a 16th-century fortress. Due to the formation, there is no blind spot for enemies to hide. In 1580, first troops were assigned to the Spandau Citadel which was completed only in 1594, swedish troops were the first to besiege the citadel in 1675 and Napoleon was the first to conquer it in 1806. During the French attack it was almost completely destroyed and had to be restored, in 1935, a gas laboratory was installed for military research on nerve gas. Close to the end of the Second World War, during the battle in Berlin, although several hundred years old, the Citadels tracé à litalienne design made the structure difficult to storm. So instead of bombarding and storming the Citadel, the Soviets invested it, after the Second World War, the Spandau Citadel was first occupied by Soviet troops. With the division of Berlin, Spandau and its Citadel was part of the British sector, the citadel was used as a prison for Prussian state prisoners such as German nationalist Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. It was not used as the prison for National Socialist war criminals, the citadel is composed of different buildings all related to defence or representative housing. The gate house with a bridge used to hinder attackers to enter the citadel. The Gothic hall building palace was used as residential building, in the bastion Königin,70 medieval gravestones were found bearing witness of Jewish life in the important trade town and the function of the citadel as a refuge. Julius tower is Spandaus most famous sight, originally built as a keep or watchtower, it was also used as a residence tower. Its castellated top was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1838 and is an example of Romantic architecture. After the Franco-Prussian War 1870/71, part of the war reparations paid by France,120 million marks in gold coin, was stored at Julius tower until its restitution to France in 1919, the word Juliusturm has since been used in Germany for governmental budget surpluses. From 1950 to 1986, the citadel housed vocational school Otto Bartning, subsequently, more and more buildings were redesigned for museums and exhibition. Today, Spandau Citadel is famous for its open-air concerts during the Citadel Music Festival, scenes from the 1985 action film Gotcha. were filmed at and around Spandau Citadel
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Plattenburg (castle)
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The Plattenburg is a water castle in the independent municipality of Plattenburg in the German district of Prignitz in northwestern Brandenburg. It was first documented in 1319, making it the oldest surviving water castle in northern Germany, the lowland castle is located in Prignitz. Due to its location in a region of forests and lakeland. The castle was first mentioned in 1319, Bishop Reiner of Havelberg having purchased it from Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg, in 1548 Plattenburg became the seventh Prignitz district. In 1552, the preacher Joachim Ellefeld burned the Wilsnacks holy blood hosts and was incarcerated at the Plattenburg, elector Joachim II pledged the castle to his chamberlain, Matthias of Saldern. In 1560 he was given the castle and estate as a heritable, around 1600 an expansion of the upper castle was carried out in the Late Renaissance style under Burchard von Saldern. In 1631, during the Thirty Years War, the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus issued a writ of protection for the lords of Plattenburg, some time later taught Burchard von Saldern built a new castle chapel in the bakehouse and brewery. In 1675, Swedish troops laid siege to the castle, in 1724 the construction of timber-framed wing was carried out. The architect was Johann Jakob Müller from Brunswick, in 1883 the brick tower burned down at temperatures of minus 15°C, but was rebuilt even higher by Siegfried von Saldern. Between 1925 and 1945 Sieghard von Saldern took over lordship of Plattenburg, in 1940 French prisoners of war were billeted in the chapel wing, part of the castle serving as a military hospital. After the estate was expropriated by the state from the von Salderns in 1945, in 1969, the keep was converted into a holiday home for the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn, and it was used as such until 1991. That same year, an association was founded to promote and preserve the Plattenburg, in 1995, a memorial stone was erected in front of the varlets house by the Federation of Expellees to the victims of forced displacement after the Second World War. Today the Plattenburg is home to museum rooms, the room of the municipality of Plattenburg and has overnight accommodation for around 30 people. The Plattenburg is the last station on the Pilgrim Way from Berlin to Wilsnack to the Church of the Holy Sacrament in Bad Wilsnack, in, Schlösser und Gärten der Mark, Berlin 1993 Torsten Foelsch, Adel, Schlösser und Herrenhäuser in der Prignitz
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Prignitz
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Prignitz is a Kreis in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. The term Prignitz originally meant the region north of the confluence of the Elbe and this region is larger than the district. It also includes the town of Havelberg in Saxony-Anhalt and large portions of the district of Ostprignitz-Ruppin. The Elbe river forms the border of the district. The present district of Prignitz was created in 1993 by merging the districts of Pritzwalk and Perleberg. The westernmost part of the district was part of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The earlier district of Prignitz was the buffer between Brandenburg and Mecklenburg and it was resettled by Germans, especially from the Bremen area, following the First Wendish Crusade of 1147. The rate of German settlement increased over the following decades, the eastern half was dominated by the pro-German counts von Plotho who brought their own vassals such as the von Blumenthal and von Grabow families with them. The western half was dominated by robber barons, especially the Gans zu Putlitz family and their vassals, when Frederick, Count of Zollern was appointed Margrave in 1411, he faced an uprising of the Wendish nobility, supported by the Wendish Duke of Mecklenburg. However, he was able to put down the revolt at the battle of the Cremmer Dam, families who had stayed loyal were rewarded. Otto von Blumenthal, for example, was made Captain of the Prignitz from 1415 to 1422, official website Portal site for Prignitz Prignitz images
28.
Friedewald, Hesse
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Friedewald is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germany, directly east of Bad Hersfeld. The community lies in the zone between the Kuppenrhön and the Seulingswald ranges. Friedewald lies on the watershed between the Fulda and the Werra, and at the foot of the Dreienberg, which is among the northernmost outliers of the Rhön, friedewald’s Ortsteile, besides the main centre, also called Friedewald, are Lautenhausen, Hillartshausen and Motzfeld. The Amt of Friedewald had its first documentary mention in 1392, an abbot’s castle stood here as early as 1312, which as a fief of the Hersfeld Abbey was given over to the Landgraves of Hesse. The castle is believed to have built to watch over the trade road called Kurze Hessen. In 1472, this castle was torn down and Landgrave Heinrich III had a castle built here by his building master Hans Jakob von Ettlingen. Friedewald Castle with its four towers was destroyed in 1762. On 5 October 1551, the treaty between France and the Princes of Schmalkalden that provided for Landgrave Philipp I’s freedom from his Imperial imprisonment was signed here, the castle is still the community’s middle point and landmark. The mayor Martin Gröll was elected on 2 February 2003 with 83. 6% of the vote, the community’s arms might be described thus, Gules a wall and tower embattled argent therein a three-tiered fountain sable, the chief four oakleaves each with an acorn argent. The German blazon refers to the wall and tower as a silhouette with crenellations”. The community lies on Autobahn A4, interchange 33, furthermore, Bundesstraße 62 runs through the community from Bad Hersfeld to Bad Salzungen. In early 2009, Hermes Logistik Gruppe will bring its newest main goods handling base into service, with an area of 100000 m² and a building with 18000 m². Moreover, Schenker Deutschland AG runs one of Europe’s most efficient such facilities, the “Fat Oak”, known as the Dicke Eiche, the Hammundeseiche or the Nadelöhr in German, had its first documentary mention in 1579 in which it was described as a hollow oak. Crawling through it was believed to have healing powers, the fallen tree was replaced, presumably in the late 16th century, with a gatelike stone. 10 December 1855, d.11 November 1887 in Chicago, hanged journalist
29.
Fallersleben Castle
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Fallersleben Castle is located in Wolfsburg in the German state of Lower Saxony and, together with Neuhaus and Wolfsburg Castles, is one of the most important historic buildings in the town. It is in the district of Fallersleben and forms a setting along with the castle lake, St. Michaels Church. The castle was built from 1520–51, after its predecessor had been destroyed during the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud and it was originally laid out as a horseshoe with the courtyard open on its south side. By 1760 the castle was surrounded by a moat, about 12 metres wide and 5 metres deep, access was only possible over two bridges. One bridge and a section of moat was reconstructed in 1998 on the basis of archaeological excavations, before that its water castle character was scarcely recognisable because the moats had been filled in. Of the original three wings of the castle, only the west wing, with its spiral staircase tower and it is a timber-framed building about 40 metres long on a stone foundation. There is also a court, the Kavaliershaus. In the old buildings there were 16 living rooms as well as the rooms for officials, kitchen staff. Numerous outbuildings belonged to the castle, such as the Old Brewery, in 2001–03 Fallersleben Castle was renovated in line with its status as a listed building. Fallersleben Castle, like Gifhorn Castle, was owned by Duke Francis of Brunswick and he died whilst it was being built, however, when he was 41 years old. From 1539 he ruled the Duchy of Gifhorn, in which Fallersleben lay, Francis introduced the Reformation into the state. His wife was Clara of Saxe-Lauenburg, daughter of Duke Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg, after the death of her husband, Francis, she was given the castle as a dower and completed its construction in 1551. She lived for over 27 years in Fallersleben and generated a boom in the town of Fallersleben. She died in 1576 during a visit to Barth, Germany and was buried there, after her death a Drost lived at the castle. Renovations were carried out in 1616 by Duke Christian, in 1636 by Duke Augustus, in the mid-17th century the ducal residence was given up and the main building of the castle became the seat of an Amt in which, from 1855, civic authorities were accommodated. Since 1991 the basement of the castle has housed the Hoffmann von Fallersleben Museum and it portrays the life of the poets of the Deutschlandlied and the history of its Kinderlieder. On the upper floor is an art gallery with paintings by Franz Hoffmann-Fallersleben, also worth seeing there are the wood carvings and stuccoed ceilings. The castle also has a suite of rooms that may be hired for events, in 2001-03 archaeological investigations were carried out on the castle site
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Osterburg (Groothusen)
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The Osterburg is a castle from the High Middle Ages in the village of Groothusen in the municipality of Krummhörn, in the district of Aurich in Lower Saxony, Germany. The castles lies at the end of the East Frisian village next to a protected landscape. Today it houses a large quantity of historical memorabilia, at that time, like many other places in Krummhörn, it was on the edge of a bay and was accessible to shipping. There were, in days, three moated castles in the village, the Osterburg, Middelburg and Westerburg. Only the Osterburg - rebuilt in 1490 - has survived, the two were destroyed by Hamburg forces during feuds in 1400 and 1432. The Osterburg, is surrounded by a moat in the middle of a park with an old lime tree avenue, the oldest part is a long, two-story hall, which was built around 1490 by the chieftain family of Beninga. Around 1550 the castle was converted into a manor house. In 1700 the right wing was demolished to make way for a Gulf farmhouse, the last structural change to the Osterburg was carried out in 1900, when a hallway was built in front of the hall. So the form of the building cannot be easily seen from the front. From the rear of the building there is however a view of the stage of construction. The castle is now owned by the descendants of the family of Beninga. The left wing has been extended to create guest rooms, where bed, ISBN 3-925365-34-6 Official page of the Osterburg in Groothusen Osterburg Groothusen
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Schelenburg
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The Schelenburg is a water castle in Schledehausen, municipality of Bissendorf, Lower Saxony. Built in the Weser Renaissance style, it is one of the oldest castles of the Osnabrücker Land, eduard von Schele zu Schelenburg Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Führer zu vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Denkmälern - Das Osnabrücker Land III, vol. 44, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-8053-0313-0 Gabriele Brasse, munich/Zurich 1992 Ernst Andreas Friedrich, Die Schelenburg bei Osnabrück, pages 150-152, in, Wenn Steine reden könnten, vol. III, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1995, ISBN 3-7842-0515-1
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Wolfsburg Castle
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The Wolfsburg is medieval lowland and water castle in North Germany that was first mentioned in the records in 1302, but has since been turned into a Renaissance schloss or palace. It is located in eastern Lower Saxony in the town of Wolfsburg named after it, the Wolfsburg developed from a tower house on the River Aller into a water castle with the character of a fortification. In the 17th century it was turned into a representative, and its founder and builder was the noble family of von Bartensleben. After their line died out in 1742 the Wolfsburg was inherited by the counts of Schulenburg, the wolf that gave its name to the castle is a heraldic beast on the coat of arms of the von Bartensleben family who built the edifice. Their coat of arms comprises a leaping wolf above two sheaves of corn, the family brought the name wolf with them, because they can be traced back to 1188 when they were still living at Bartensleben Castle in the village of Bartensleben about 40 kilometres to the south. In the 20th century, the city here in 1938 was named after Wolfsburg Castle. Initially it was called the Stadt des KdF-Wagens because of the plant established to build the Volkswagen. After the end of the Second World War, the city decided to rename the city Wolfsburg on 25 May 1945. Since the 17th century the castle has been a four-sided, solid building surrounding an inner courtyard, the main body of the castle thus has four wings, which are named after the points of the compass. The upper outline of the castle with its finely decorated cross-gables, lucarnes, outsize stone figures on horseback decorate the palace entrance with its round arch. Above the portal there are shields with the coat of arms of the Bartenslebens, chimera. The portal architecture, like the terrace with its great perron on the side, is a 19th-century addition. The bergfried is integrated as an element of the west wing into the structure and is recognisable as such by its lack of decoration. The tower has an area of 9 x 9 metres, a height of around 23 metres and it is the oldest part of the whole site and its origins may go back to the 13th century. In the internal corners of the courtyard there are three towers with staircases that enable the individual floors to be accessed. These are the Watchmans Tower which at around 30 metres is the highest, the Owl Tower and they were built in the 16th century as the castle was converted into a palace. The north and south wings from the 16th century were used for residential purposes. The roughly 25 metre high east wing was completed at the beginning of the 17th century, with its splendid decorative shapes in the Weser Renaissance style, it was very much an ostentatious reception building
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Schloss Benrath
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Schloss Benrath is a Baroque-style maison de plaisance in Benrath, which is now a borough of Düsseldorf. It was erected for the Elector Palatine Charles Theodor and his wife, Countess Palatine Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach, by his garden, construction began in 1755 and was completed in 1770. The ensemble at Benrath has been proposed for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the main building, the central corps de logis, for the Elector Palatine and his wife is flanked by two arched symmetrical wings, the maisons de cavalière, which originally housed the servants. They partially surround a circular pond, the Schlossweiher, in the north, on the southside lies a long rectangular pond, the Spiegelweiher. From the predescant castle, which stood formerly in the mid of the long pond on the southside of the palace, is conserved only one of the servant wings. The main building corps de logis is a museum with guided tours, sometimes music concerts are also performed. The two wings house two museums since 2002, the Museum for European Garden Art in the east wing and the Museum of Natural History in the west wing and it is surrounded by a baroque square hunting park with two crossing diagonal alleys and a circular alley. Schloss Benrath official website Official website
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Gimborn Castle
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Gimborn Castle is a former moated castle situated in a remote valley of the upper Leppe in the municipality of Marienheide in the Oberbergischer Kreis of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Gimborn Castle is a castle in the Gimborn district of the municipality of Marienheide in Oberbergischer Kreis in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, districts neighbouring on Gimborn are Boinghausen in the north, Jedinghausen in the east, Erlinghagen in the south, and Unterlichtinghagen in the west. This former water castle lies in the upper Leppe valley and it was pledged in 1273 from the county of Berg to the county of Mark, and became the Residenz in the county of Gimborn Neustadt of the House of Schwarzenberg in 1631. Since 1874 the castle has belonged to the Barons von Fürstenberg zu Gimborn, since 1969 the Castle has served as a conference site and meeting place for the International Police Association. Once a year, the Castle opens its gates to the Schützenfest of the Gimborn Saint Sebastianus Schützenverein, history of the village of Gimborn and the Castle St. Sebastianus-shooting club Gimborn um 1610 e. V
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Bochum
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Bochum is a city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and part of the Arnsberg region. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, with a population of nearly 365,000, it is the 16th most populous city in Germany. The city lies on the low rolling hills of Bochum land ridge, the highest point of the city is at Kemnader Straße in Stiepel at 196 metres above sea level, the lowest point is 43 metres at the Blumenkamp in Hordel. The terrain of Bochum is characterised by rolling hills that rarely have more than three per cent graduation, the city extends north to south 13 km and 17.1 km east to west. The circumference of the city limits is 67.2 km, There is sedimentary rock of carbon and chalk. The geological strata can be visited in the quarry of the Zeche Klosterbusch. The urban area is divided into the river Ruhr catchment in the south, the Ruhr tributaries are the Oelbach, Gerther Mühlenbach, Harpener Bach, Langendreer Bach, Lottenbach, Hörsterholzer Bach and the Knöselbach. The Ruhr in combination with upstream reservoirs is used for drinking water abstraction. The Emscher tributaries are Hüller Bach with Dorneburger Mühlenbach, Hofsteder Bach, Marbach, Ahbach, Kabeisemannsbach, the ecological restoration of the Emscher tributaries initiated by the Emschergenossenschaft started with the Internationale Bauausstellung Emscher Park in 1989. The citys south has woods, the best known of which are the Weitmarer Holz and these are generally mixed forests of oak and beech. The occurrence of holly gives evidence of Bochums temperate climate, Bochum is divided into six administrative districts with a total of 362,213 inhabitants living in an urban area of 145.4 km2. Bochum-Mitte includes Innenstadt, Hamme, Hordel, Hofstede, Riemke, Grumme, Wattenscheid includes Wattenscheid-Mitte, Leithe, Günnigfeld, Westenfeld, Sevinghausen, Höntrop, Munscheid and Eppendorf. There are 74,602 inhabitants living in an area of 23.87 km², North includes Bergen, Gerthe, Harpen, Kornharpen, Hiltrop and Voede-Abzweig. There are 37,004 inhabitants living in an area of 18.86 km², East includes Laer, Werne, and Langendreer. There are 55,193 inhabitants living in an area of 23.46 km², south includes Wiemelhausen, Stiepel and Querenburg. There are 50,866 inhabitants living in an area of 27.11 km², southwest includes Weitmar, Sundern, Linden and Dahlhausen. There are 56,510 inhabitants living in an area of 19.50 km², Bochum dates from the 9th century, when Charlemagne set up a royal court at the junction of two important trade routes. It was first officially mentioned in 1041 as Cofbuokheim in a document of the archbishops of Cologne, the population of Bochum increased from about 4,500 in 1850 to 100,000 in 1904
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Morsbroich Museum
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The Museum Morsbroich (German, Museum Morsbroich or Morsbroich Castle Municipal Museum, is a German museum of modern art situated in Leverkusen,20 km north of Cologne. Formerly a Baroque castle, it is now a museum for the exhibition of modern. It also provides the setting for productions and other cultural events under the title Morsbroich Summer. In 1948 the castle was leased to the city of Leverkusen, since 1951 it is used as an exhibition space. In 1974 it was sold to the city of Leverkusen and subsequently renovated in order to function as the citys museum of modern art. The Museum Morsbroich was the first museum in North Rhine-Westphalia explicitly exhibiting works by famous international post-war painters, sculptors and it presented artists such as Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Louise Nevelson, Andy Warhol and Robert Motherwell. During the last 50 years it collected 400 paintings and sculptures and 5000 prints by contemporary artists, in 2009, the Museum Morsbroich was named museum of the year by the German section of the International Association of Art Critics. A report by KPMG published in February 2016 suggested closing the museum to reduce costs, Museum Morsbroich Museum Morsbroich Museum Morsbroich, Overview
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Leverkusen
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Leverkusen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the South, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne and to the North is the state capital Düsseldorf, with about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is one of the states smaller cities. The city is known for the pharmaceutical company Bayer and its sports club Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The heart of what is now Leverkusen was a village called Wiesdorf, during the Cologne War, from 1583 to 1588 Leverkusen was ravaged by war. The chemist Carl Leverkus, looking for a place to build a dye factory and he built a factory for the production of artificial ultramarine blue at the Kahlberg in Wiesdorf in 1861, and called the emerging settlement Leverkusen after his family home in Lennep. The factory was taken over by the Bayer company in 1891, after asset confiscation at the end of the First World War, it became IG Farben. The city of Leverkusen proper was founded in 1930 by merging Wiesdorf, Schlebusch, Steinbüchel and Rheindorf, in 1975, Opladen, Hitdorf and Bergisch Neukirchen joined Leverkusen. The present city is made up of villages, originally called Wiesdorf, Opladen, Schlebusch, Manfort, Bürrig, Hitdorf, Quettingen, Lützenkirchen, Steinbüchel, Rheindorf. BayArena is the stadium of Bayer Leverkusen, and seats over 30,000 people. The Bayer Cross Leverkusen is one of the largest illuminated advertisements in the world, freudenthaler Sensenhammer is an industrial museum. Schloss Morsbroich - moated castle in the style, now a museum for contemporary art. As of 2017, the plays in the 3rd division ProB. The Smidt-Arena, previously known as Wilhelm Dopatka Halle, was one of the host arenas for the FIBA EuroBasket 1985, bielefeld, Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, ISBN 3-89534-575-X Franz Gruß, Geschichte und Porträt der Stadt Leverkusen. Leverkusen, Verlag Anna Gruß, ISBN 3-930478-03-X Leverkusen travel guide from Wikivoyage City of Leverkusen
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Moyland Castle
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Moyland Castle is a moated castle in Bedburg-Hau in the district of Kleve, one of the most important neo-Gothic buildings in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its name derives from the Dutch word Mooiland which means beautiful country, the name was probably coined by Dutch workers, which the former owner Jacob van den Eger of the Lower Rhine had brought to his property to drain the surrounding wetlands. The building is now primarily a museum devoted to exhibiting the worlds largest collection of work by artist Joseph Beuys and it is a popular destination on the Lower Rhine. The palace complex consists of a closed, four-towered main keep, the latter is home to a museum café, museum administration, the library and a space for changing exhibitions. The two-story main building of brick is presented in historicist Tudor style with battlements on corbels, the four floors of the former donjon on the southeast corner of the main keep were in 2008 crowned by a polygonal lantern roof. On the three corners of the castle are horseshoe-shaped towers with three floors. The southeast wall of the castle has a formed by two polygonal towers outside with Pointed roofs and flanked by two slender round towers. On the first floor of the wing is the so-called Zwirner Hall, used for concerts, the stair railing on the stairway to the portal of the main palace are decorated with various animal figures. At the upper end are two lions - they are older originals, at the lower ends of the railing, the original lions were replaced by a wolf on the right and a pug on the left. The wolf was to commemorate the visit of Voltaire, the figure was selected to record for posterity the ferocity of the French philosopher in discussion with Frederick II. The pug represents Sir Winston Churchill, during World War II, he attended Moyland Castle in the wake of observing Operation Plunder - the Rhine crossing of the British Army. He was one of the last to visit the intact 200-year-old fortress in which the King of Prussia, shortly after Churchills visit to the palace was looted and the interior largely destroyed. The architect of the designs is not known, but they were made in the 1830s/1840s by the family Steengracht. 1307 is the first time that a farm called Moyland is documented with ditches. In that year the priest and later Archdeacon of Liège, Jacob van den Eger accepted the investment of Count Otto von Kleve in annual lease, the teacher then later called the children of the count of Moyland. 15 years later the estate was purchased from Roland von Hagedorn by Dietrich VIII von Kleve who also renewed the fief in 1339, the relevant instrument is the first time that Castle Moyland is documented. Until the second half of the 17th Century there followed frequent changes of inheritance, which ended in 1662. His descendant Wilhelm von Spaen sold the now a rebuilt castle in 1695 to the then Brandenburg electors and he used Moyland primarily as a hunting lodge, and also as a love nest
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Bedburg-Hau
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Bedburg-Hau is a municipality in the district of Cleves in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 5 km south-east of Cleves, one of its main attractions is Moyland Castle, which belongs to a very well known family in Germany. The owners do not reside in the castle, and it contains a museum of modern art, people from all over the world were there to admire such an important moment in Moylands history
