Located among the Green Baden-Württemberg Hills and the old Medieval city of Heidelberg, Heidelberg medieval castle is One of the most remarkable romantic sights of Germany. The first mention of the castle dated 1225 year. Ruins of the castle are one of the most important Renaissance structures tonorth of the Alps. Long years Heidelberg castle wasresidence graphsPalatin, which were accountable only to the emperor.

2. Castle Hohensalzburg (Austria)

One of the largest medieval castles in Europe is located on Mount Festung, at an altitude of 120 meters, which is near Salzburg. During its existence, the Hohensalzburg castle was repeatedly rebuilt and strengthened, gradually turning into a powerful, impregnable fortress. In the XIX century, the castle was used as a warehouse, a military barracks and prison. The first mention of the castle dated to the 10th century.

3. Castle Bran (Romania)

Located almost in the center of Romania, this medieval castle received its worldwide fame due to Hollywood, it is believed that it was in this castle a count of Dracula. Lock is a national monument and main attractionRomania. The first mention of the castle is dated to the 13th century.

4. Castle Segovia (Spain)

This majestic stone fortress is located near the city of Segovia in Spain and is one of the most famous castles of the Pyrenean Peninsula. It was his special form inspired Walt Disney to recreate Cinderella's castle in his cartoon. Alcazar (Castle) was originally built as a fortress,but served B. as the Royal Palace, Prison, the Royal Artillery School and the Military Academy.Currently used asmuseum and the storage locations of the military archives of Spain. The first mention of the castle dated 1120 year, it was built during the reign of the Berber dynasty.

5. Dunstoreboro Castle (England)

The castle was built by the columnThomas Lancaster between 1313 and 1322 At the time when the relationship between King Edward II and his vassal, Baron Thomas Lancaster, became frankly hostile. In 1362. Danstreboro moved to the propertyJohn Ghentsky , the fourth son of the kingEduard III which significantly rebuilt the castle. DuringWars scarlet and white rose Lancaster citadel was sheproof, as a result of which the castle was destroyed.

6. Cardiff Castle (Wales)

Located in the heart of Cardiff, it is a medieval castle is one of the most defining monuments of the capital of Wales. The castle was built by Wilhelm the conqueror in the 11th century on the site of the former Fort of the Roman Empire of the 3rd century.

This medieval castle dominates the horizonEdinburgh, the capital of Scotland.The historical origin of the Terrible Edinburgh Castle on the rock was shrouded in a mystery, he is mentioned in the episas of the 6th century, appear in the annals before, finally goes to the foreground in Scottish history, when Edinburgh has established itself as a place of monarchical power in the 12th century.

One of the most visited places in Southern Ireland is also one of the most untouched examples of medieval fortification in the world. Blarney's castle is the third fortress built in this place. The first building was wooden and dated X century. About 1210, instead of her, built a stone fortress. Subsequently, it was destroyed and in 1446 Dermot McCarthy, the ruler of the manster, built the third castle on this place, which was preserved to the present day.

Medieval castle Castel Nuovo was built The first king of Naples, Karl I Anzhuy, Castel Nuovo It is one of the most famous sights of the city.With its thick walls, majestic towers and an impressive triumphal arch make it quintesening medieval castle.

10. Konui Castle (England)

The castle is a magnificent sample of the architecture of the XIII century, it was built on the orders of King Eduard I English. Surrounded by a stone wall with eight round towers. Only the castle walls are preserved until our time, but they look very impressive. For the castle heating, many huge fireplaces were used.

You write about the baron in the castle - pleased to simply see how the castle was heated, as was ventilated than illuminated ...
From an interview with G. L. Oldi

With the word "castle" in our imagination, there is an image of a majestic fortress - a business card of the genre of fantasy. Hardly there is another architectural constructionswhich would attract so much attention from historians, commercial workers, tourists, writers and lovers of "fabulous" fiction.

We play computer, desktop and role-playing games where we have to explore, build or capture inaccessible castles. But do we know that in fact represent these fortifications? What kind interesting stories Are they related to them? What are the stone walls hide behind them - witnesses of whole epochs, grandiose battles, knightly nobility and grade betrayal?

Surprisingly, the fact - the fortified dwellings of the feudalists in different parts of the world (Japan, Asia, Europe) were built on very similar principles and had many common structural features. But in this article we will discuss primarily about medieval European feudal fortresses, since they served as the basis for creating a mass artistic image of the medieval castle as a whole.

Birth of a fortress

Middle Ages in Europe was a hectic time. Feudals for any reason were arranged between themselves small wars - rather speaking, not even war, but, expressing modern tongue, armed "disassembly". If the neighbor started money - they had to be selected. Many land and peasants? It's just indecent, because God ordered to share. And if the knightly honor will be bored - then here without a small victorious war it was easy to do.

Under such circumstances, the large aristocrats-landowners did not have anything else, except to strengthen their homes with the calculation that one day the neighbors who do not eat bread - let someone be slaughtered to visit.

Initially, these fortifications were made from the tree and did not resemble the locks known to us - except that the ditch before the entrance was died and wooden frequencies around the house was supplied.

Merzic courts of Hasterknaup and Elmendorv - the ancestors of the castles.

However, progress did not stand still - with the development of military affairs, feudalities had to modernize their strengthening so that they could withstand the massive storm with the use of stone nuclei and Taranians.

The European castle goes to its roots in the era of antiquity. The earliest structures of this kind copied the Roman military camps (tents surrounded by Palokol). It is believed that the tradition of building the Giant (by the standards of the time) of stone structures began with Normanov, and the classic castles appeared in the 12th century.

The deposited castle Morthan (kept the siege for 6 months).

Very simple requirements were presented to the castle - it should be inflicted for the enemy, to ensure the observation of the area (including the nearest villages owned by the owner of the castle), have its own source of water (in case of siege) and perform representative functions - that is, to show the power, the wealth of feudal.

Bolomari castle, belonging to Eduard I.

Welcome

We keep the way to the castle standing on the protrusion of the mountain slope, with the edge of the fertile valley. The road goes through a small settlement - one of those that usually grown near the fortress wall. Here lives a simple people - mostly artisans, and warriors guarding the external perimeter of protection (in particular - the energies of our road). This is the so-called "Castle Lud".

Scheme of castle structures. Note - two short towers, the largest stands separately.

The road is laid in such a way that the aliens are always facing the castle with the right side, not covered with a shield. Directly in front of the serf wall there is a naked plateau, lying under a significant bias (the castle itself stands on the elevation - natural or bulk). Vegetation here is low, so that there is no shelter striker.

The first obstacle is deep moat, and in front of it - the shaft of the earth. Mocion can be transverse (separates the wall of the castle from the plateau), or the sickle, curved forward. If the landscape allows, the entire lock is swinging in a circle.

Sometimes separation rally discovered inside the castle, which makes the enemy movement on its territory.

The form of the bottom of the RVs could be the V-shaped and U-shaped (the last most common). If the soil under the castle is rocky, then the moons either did not do at all, or they were cut into a small depth, which only impossible to promote the infantry (in the rock, it is almost impossible to make a subpople under the wall of the lock - therefore the depth of the RVA did not have a decisive value).

The crest of the earthen shaft lying right in front of the moat (why he seems even deeper), often carried by a parisade - a fence from covered in the ground, pointed and tightly fitted wooden cooles.

To the outer wall of the castle leads the bridge, peroxided through ditch. Depending on the magnitude of the RVA and the bridge, the latter supports one or more supports (huge logs). The outer part of the bridge is fixed, but its last cut (right at the wall) is moving.

Castle entrance scheme: 2 - gallery on the wall, 3 - lifting bridge, 4 - lattice.

Counterweight on the gate lift.

Gate castle.

This lifting bridge is designed so that in the vertical position it closes the gate. The bridge is driven by mechanisms hidden in the building above them. From the bridge to the lifting machines in the wall holes, ropes or chains leave. To facilitate the work of people serving the mechanism of the bridge, the ropes were sometimes supplied with heavy counterweights that take part of the weight of this design on themselves.

Of particular interest is the bridge that worked on the principle of swing (it is called "tilting" or "swing"). One half of his half was inside - lying on the ground at the gate, and the other stretched through the ditch. When the inner part rose, closing the entrance to the castle, the external (on which he sometimes had already had time to run) went down, in the ditch, where the so-called "wolf pit" was arranged (sharp stakes, lined in the ground), invisible from the side, The bridge is omitted.

To enter the lock when closed gates, there was a side gate, to which a separate lifting ladder was usually laid.

The gate is the most vulnerable part of the castle, usually done not directly in its wall, but were arranged in the so-called "short-lived towers." Most often, the gate was bivalve, and the flaps were laid out of two layers of boards. To protect against arson outside, they were born with iron. At the same time, in one of the flaps there was a small narrow door, in which it was possible to go through, just bent. In addition to locks and iron bolsov, the gate closed the transverse beam, lying in the wall canal and bargaining into the opposite wall. The transverse beam could also start in the hook-shaped slits on the walls. Its main purpose was the protection of the gate from their planning by the attackers.

Behind the gate was usually a descending grille. Most often it was wooden, with cable glands. But Iron lattices made from steel four-pointed rods met. The lattice could drop out of the gap in the arch of the gate portal, or be behind them (from the inside of the short tower), dropping over the grooves in the walls.

The grille hung on the ropes or circuits, which in case of danger might be cut down so that it quickly fell down, blocking the path to the invaders.

Inside the short tower there were rooms for guards. They carried a watch on the top of the tower, learn from the guests of their visit, opened the gate, and, if necessary, could hit all those who passed under them from Luke. To do this, there were vertical loopholes, as well as "resin noses" - holes for pouring hot resins on the attackers.

Resin noses.

All on the wall!

The most important defensive element of the castle was the outer wall - high, thick, sometimes on the inclined basement. Processed stones or bricks accounted for its outer surface. Inside it consisted of a boob stone and hated lime. The walls were put on a deep foundation, which was very difficult to make a subpople.

Often, double walls were built in the castles - high outer and small inner. Between them there was an empty place, which received the German name "Zwinger". Attackers, overcoming outdoor wallThey could not take additional assault tools with them (bulky stairs, poles and other things that could not be transferred inside the fortress). Once in Zwinger before another wall, they became a light target (for archers in the walls of Zwinger there were small loopholes).

Zwinger in Lanek Castle.

The gallery for a soldier of defense took place on the wall. From the outside of the castle, they were protected by a durable brusher in half of human growth, on which stone teeth were regularly located. Behind them could be in full growth and, for example, to charge the crossbow. The shape of the teeth was extremely diverse - rectangular, rounded, in the form of a swallow tail, decoratively decorated. In some castles of the gallery were covered (wooden canopy) to protect the soldiers from bad weather.

In addition to the teeth, behind which it was convenient to hide, the walls of the castle were equipped with braces. Through them was the shelling of the attackers. Due to the peculiarities of the use of throwing weapons (motion freedom and a certain position of shooting), the loopholes for archers were long and narrow, and for crossbars - short, with expansion on the sides.

Special view of the loophole - ball. It was pinned in a wall, freely turning a wooden ball with a slot for making shooting.

Pedestrian gallery on the wall.

Balconies (the so-called "machine") were arranged in the walls very rarely - for example, in the case when the wall was too narrow for the free passage of several soldiers, and carried out, as a rule, only decorative functions.

In the corners of the castle on the walls, small towers were built, most often flanking (that is, protruding), which allowed defenders to fire along the walls in two directions. In later, the Middle Ages they began to adapt to the repository. The inner side of such towers (addressed to the castle's courtyard) was usually left open to the enemy, bursting onto the wall, could not fix it within them.

Flanging angular tower.

Castle from within

The inner device of the locks was different than the manifold. In addition to the mentioned Zwingers, a small rectangular courtyard with braces in the walls could be located at the main goal - a peculiar "trap" for attackers. Sometimes the locks consisted of several "sections" separated by the inner walls. But the indispensable attribute of the castle was a big courtyard (economic buildings, well, chelladi premises) and the central tower, she also "Donjon" (Donjon).

Donjon in Vincenne castle.

The life of all the inhabitants of the castle was directly depended on the presence and location of the well. There were often problems with him - after all, as already mentioned above, the castles were built on elevations. Durable rock soil also did not make it easier for the water supply task of the fortress. There are cases of laying of castle wells to a depth of more than 100 meters (for example, the Cuffhi Castle in Thuringias or Kenigstin Fortress in Saxony had wells of a depth of more than 140 meters). The well, the well occupied from one year to five years. In some cases, this was absorbed as much money as all the inner buildings of the castle were worth.

Due to the fact that the water had difficulty getting out of deep wells, questions of personal hygiene and sanitation went into the background. Instead of shifting themselves, people preferred to care for animals - first of all, for expensive horses. There is nothing surprising in the fact that the townspeople and rural residents wrinkled noses in the presence of the inhabitants of the castles.

The location of the water source depended, first of all, from natural reasons. But if there was a choice, then the well dug out not on the square, but in a fortified room to provide it with water in case of shelter during the siege. If, due to the peculiarities of the groundwater, the well dug out behind the wall of the castle, the stone tower was built above it (if possible, with wooden transitions to the castle).

When there was no way to dig a well, a tank harvested in the castle, collecting rainwater from the roofs. Such water needed cleaning - it was filtered through gravel.

Battle garrison locks in peaceful time was minimal. So in 1425, two co-owners of the Castle of Rehelsberg in the Nizhne Drkonsky Aube concluded an agreement that each of them exhibits one armed servant, and two gatekeepers and two guards are paid together.

The castle also had a number of buildings that provide autonomous life of its inhabitants in full insulation (blockades): bakery, steam bath, kitchen, etc.

Kitchen in the castle Marxburg.

The tower was the highest structure in the entire castle. It provided the possibility of observing the surroundings and served as the functions of the last refuge. When the enemies broke out through all the lines of defense, the population of the castle was hidden in Dunzon and withstood a long siege.

The exceptional thickness of the walls of this tower did its destruction almost impossible (in any case, it would take a huge amount of time). The entrance to the tower was very narrow. It was located in the courtyard at a significant (6-12 meters) height. The wooden staircase, leading inside, could be easily destroyed and thereby block the path of the attacker.

Entrance to Donta.

Inside the tower sometimes had a very high mine, running down. She served either a prison or a warehouse. The entrance to it was possible only through the hole in the top floor arch - "angstloch" (it is a frightening hole). Depending on the purpose of the mine, the winch lowered the prisoners or provisions.

If there were no prison premises in the castle, the captives were placed in large wooden boxes of thick boards, too small to get in full growth. These boxes could be installed in any room of the castle.

Of course, captured, first of all, to obtain a ransom or to use the prisoner in a political game. Therefore, VIP persons were provided on the highest class - for their content, protected quarters were highlighted in the tower. It is so "Motal" by the Friedrich is beautiful in the castle of Thyusnitz on Pfaimda and Richard Lion's Heart in Trifelse.

Chamber in the castle Marxburg.

Abenberg castle tower (12th century) in the context.

At the base of the tower there were a basement, which could also be used as a dwarf, and a kitchen with pantry. The main hall (dining room, a common room) occupied a whole floor and heated with a huge fireplace (he spread the heat just a few meters, so that iron baskets with coals were put on the hall further). Above the chambers of the feudal family, heated with small stoves.

At the very top of the tower was open (less often - indoor, but if necessary, the roof could be reset) the playground, where it was possible to install a catapult or another throwing gun for the enemy shelling. There was also a ladder (banner) of the castle owner.

Sometimes the Donjon did not serve as a residential room. It could well be applied only in military-economic purposes (viewing posts on the tower, the dungeon, the provisions repository). In such cases, the feudal family lived in the "Palace" - a residential room of the castle, standing apart from the tower. Palaces were built from stone and had several floors in height.

It should be noted that the conditions of residence in the castles were far from the most pleasant. Only the largest palaces had a large knightly hall for celebrations. In the donjons and palaces it was very cold. The fireplace heating was cut off, but the walls are still covered with thick tapestries and carpets - not for the sake of decoration, but to preserve heat.

The windows have passed very little sunlight (the fortification character of the castle architecture has affected), not all of them were glazed. Toilets were arranged in the form of an erker in the wall. They were unheated, so the visit of the need for the winter was left by people just unique sensations.

Castle toilet.

Completing our "excursion" on the castle, it is impossible not to mention that it has necessarily attended a room for worship services (temple, chapel). The castle's indispensable inhabitants of the castle belonged to a chaplain or a priest who, in addition to his main responsibilities, performed the role of writing and teacher. In the most modest fortress, the role of the temple performed a wall niche, where there was a small altar.

Large temples had two floors. Simparishes prayed at the bottom, and the Lord gathered in warmth (sometimes glazed) choir on the second tier. The decoration of such premises was rather modest - altar, benches and wall paintings. Sometimes the temple performed the role of the tomb for the family living in the castle. Less often, it was used as a shelter (along with Danjon).

There are many non-residents about the underground strokes in the castles. The moves, of course, were. But only very few of them led from the castle somewhere in the next forest and could be used as a path to escape. Long moves, as a rule, was not at all. Most often there were short tunnels between individual buildings, or from Dongon to the Cave complex under the castle (additional shelter, warehouse or treasury).

War on Earth and underground

Contrary to common misconceptions, the average number of military garrison of an ordinary castle during the conduct of active hostilities rarely when exceeded 30 people. This was enough for defense, since the inhabitants of the fortress were in relative security for its walls and did not carry such losses as attackers.

To take the castle, it was necessary to isolate it - that is, overlapping all the ways of the food provision. That is why the attacking armies were much larger defendants - about 150 people (this is true for the war of the feudal of the average hand).

The issue with the provincial was the most painful. Without water, a person can live a few days, without food - about a month (at the same time, its low combat capability should be taken into account during the hunger strike). Therefore, the owners of the castle, who was preparing to the siege, often walked to extreme measures - they drove out of all commoners beyond its limits that could not benefit defense. As mentioned above, the garrison of the locks was small - to feed the whole army under the conditions of the siege was impossible.

The inhabitants of the castle were infrequently taken by counterattacks. In this simplicity there was no meaning - there were fewer them than attackers, and they felt much calmer in the walls. A special occasion are fragments for food. The latter were carried out, as a rule, at night, small groups that went through poorly protected paths to the nearest villages.

There were no less problems with attackers. The siege of the castles was sometimes stretched for the years (so, the German fuel was defended from 1245 to 1248), so the question of the rear supply of the army in several hundred people was especially acute.

In the case of the siege of the Turant, the chronicles argue that for all this time, the soldiers of the army drank 300 fades of the wine (Fudge - a huge barrel). This is about 2.8 million liters. Or the correspondence made an error or a constant number of deposited was more than 1000 people.

For the capture of the castle, the most preferable season was summer - rains dropping less than in the spring or autumn (in winter the inhabitants of the castle could get water, melting snow), the harvest has not yet matured, and the old stocks have already ended.

The attackers tried to deprive the castle of the water source (for example, built on the river dam). In the most extreme cases, "biological weapons" was used - corpses were thrown into the water, which could provoke outbreaks of epidemics throughout the district. Those inhabitants of the castle, who were captured, the attackers littered and let go. Those returned back, and became involuntary choppers. They could not accept them in the castle, but if it were wives or children besieged, then the voice of the heart turned the considerations of tactical expediency.

No less severely accepted with residents of surrounding villages, trying to deliver supplies to the castle. In 1161, during the siege of Milan, Friedrich Barbarossa ordered the hands of 25 citizens of Piacenses who tried to supply enemies to the provincial.

The precipitating broke the permanent camp near the castle. He also had some simplest strengthening (palisades, earthy trees) in case of a sudden shooting of the defenders of the fortress. For the protracted ozia, the so-called "counter-" was built next to the lock. It was usually located above, which is precipitated, which made it possible to conduct effective monitoring of precipitated from its walls and, if the distance allowed to install them from throwing guns.

View of the castle of Elz from the control of Trutz-Elz.

War against the castles had its own specifics. After all, any little, high stone strengthening represented a serious obstacle for ordinary armies. The direct attacks of infantry on the fortress could well be crowned with success, which, however, was obtained by the price of large victims.

That is why, for the successful castle, a whole range of military measures was needed (about the siege and the capture of Izmor was already mentioned above). The most labor-intensive, but at the same time, the extremely successful ways to overcome the protection of the castle treated the subpople.

The subopes were made with two goals - to provide troops direct access to the courtyard of the castle or destroy the section of his wall.

So, during the siege of Altvindstein's castle in North Alsace in 1332 brigade of sappers from 80 (!) The man took advantage of the distracting maneuvers of his troops (periodic short attacks on the castle) and for 10 weeks, it was driving a long passage to the southeast of the fortress in a solid rock .

If the wall of the castle was not too large and had an unreliable foundation, then the tunnel was broken under its base, the walls of which were strengthened with wooden struts. Next, the struts were settled - just under the wall. The tunnel collapsed, the base of the foundation acted, and the wall above this place was crumbled into parts.

Storming the castle (thumbnail of the 14th century).

Later, with the appearance of powder weapons, bombs were laid under the walls under the walls of the castles. For the neutralization of the subpoint, the counter-platocopes are besieged sometimes. Enemy sappers poured boiling water, launched bees into the tunnel, lily there feces (and in ancient time Carthagean launched live crocodiles into Roman subcrops).

Curious fixtures were used to detect the subop. For example, large copper bowls with balls inside were separated throughout the castle. If the ball in some bowl began to tremble - it was a faithful sign that the subpople was conducted nearby.

But the main argument when attacking the castle was siege cars - catapults and tarana. The first few differed from those catapults that were still applied by the Romans. These adaptations were equipped with a counterweight that give the lever with the greatest effort. With due skill, the "instrument calculation" the catapults were quite accurate weapons. They are made of large, smoothly shedding stones, and the range of battle (on average, several hundred meters) was regulated by the weighing of shells.

A variety of catapults - requested.

Sometimes the barrels stuffed with combustible materials were charged to the catapult. To deliver a couple of pleasant minutes to defenders of the castle, the catapults crossed them into them the repeated heads of the prisoners (especially powerful cars could transfer even whole corpses through the wall).

Storming the castle with the help of a mobile tower.

In addition to the usual Taran, pendulum was used. They were fixed on high mobile frames with a canopy and were a log, suspended on the chain. The precipitating hid inside the tower and swayed the chain, causing a log to beat into the wall.

In response, the precipitated rope descended from the wall, at the end of which steel hooks were fixed. With this rope, they caught a ram and tried to toss it up, depriving mobility. Sometimes such a hooker could have a shared soldier.

Overcoming the shaft, breaking the panelies and falling asleep, the strikers or stormed the castle with the help of stairs, or used high wooden towers, the top platform of which was on the same level with the wall (or even above it). These gigantic structures were poured by water to avoid arson defenders and rolled up to the castle on the flooring from the boards. Heavy star dropped on the wall. The assault group climbed upstairs on the inner stairs, went on the platform and invaded the gallery of the fortress wall. This usually meant that in a couple of minutes the castle will be taken.

Quiet supa

Sapa (from Franz. Sape, literally - Moth, SAPER - to maintain a subpoint) - the method of passages of the RVA, trench or tunnel for approaching its fortifications used in 16-19 centuries. Famous (silent, secretive) and bats are known. The work of the cake was made from the bottom of the source RVA without the exit working on the surface, and the bat - from the surface of the earth under the cover of a predetermined protective embankment from the barrels and bags of the ground. In the 2nd half of the 17th century, specialists appeared in the armies of a number of countries.

The expression to act a "quiet sapoy" means: suffocating, slowly, imperceptibly go, penetrate somewhere.

Fights on the ladder of the castle

From one floor of the tower to get to another could only be on a narrow and steep screw staircase. The rise across it was carried out only after each other - she was so narrow. At the same time, the warrior who went first could only count on his own ability to fight, because the rotation of the turn was chosen in such a way that due to the back of the leader it was impossible to act a spear or a long sword. Therefore, battles on the stairs were reduced to the martial arts of the castle defenders and one of the attackers. It was the defenders, because they could easily replace each other, as a special expanded plot was located behind their back.

In all castles, the stairs are spinning clockwise. There is only one lock with a reverse twist - the fortress of valenonstein graphs. When studying the history of this kind, it was found that most men in it were left-handed. Thanks to this, historians realized that such designing stairs significantly facilitates the work of the defenders. The strongest blow to the sword can be applied towards her left shoulder, and the shield in his left hand is best covered by the body from this direction. All these advantages are only defending. Attacking can only strike on the right side, but his shock hand will be pressed against the wall. If he will put a shield forward, it almost loses the opportunity to act as a weapon.

Castles samurai

Castle Himedezi.

The least we know about exotic castles - for example, Japanese.

Originally samurai and their suster lived in their estates, where, except watchtower "Jagura" and a small RVA around the home, there were no other defensive structures. In the case of a protracted war, fortifications were erected on hard-to-reach areas of mountains, where it was possible to defend from the superior enemy forces.

Stone locks began to be built at the end of the 16th century, taking into account European achievements in fortification. The indispensable belonging of the Japanese castle is wide and deep artificial languages \u200b\u200bwith cool slopes surrounding it from all sides. They were usually filled with water, but sometimes this function was performed by a natural water barrier - river, lake, swamp.

Inside the castle was a complex system of protective structures, consisting of several rows of walls with internal courtyards and gates, underground corridors and labyrinths. All these facilities were located around the central square of Honmar, on which the Palace of Feodala and the High Central Tonxyukaku Tower were erected. The latter consisted of several, gradually decreasing the upward rectangular tiers with protruding tiled roofs and frontones.

Japanese castles, as a rule, were small - about 200 meters long and 500 wide. But among them there were also real giants. So, Odavar's castle occupied an area of \u200b\u200b170 hectares, and the total length of its fortress wall reached 5 kilometers, which twice the length of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin.

Charm of antiquity

Locks are built and understood. Those of them that were in state ownership are often returned to the descendants of the ancients. Castles - a symbol of the influence of their owners. They are a sample of an ideal composite solution in which the fusion combines (defense considerations did not allow picturesque structures on the territory), the multi-levelness of the buildings (main and secondary) and the limiting functionality of all components. The elements of the architecture of the castle have already become archetypes - for example, a cloth tower with teeth: its image is sitting in the subconscious of any little-old person.

French Castle Saumur (thumbnail 14th century).

And finally, we love the castles for being simply romantic. Knight's tournaments, solemn techniques, great conspiracies, secret moves, ghosts, treasures - with reference to castles, all this ceases to be a legend and turns into history. Here, as it is impossible, the expression "walls remember": it seems that every stone castle breathes and hides the mystery. I would like to believe that medieval castles will continue to keep the aura of mystery - after all, without it, they sooner or later turn into an old bunch of stones.

Have you ever been to medieval castles? They say that almost any fortress, preserved to the present day, has long become a pier of real ghosts. Of course, rational thinking tells us that it is not worth afraid of these baakeks - but what about the facts that prove the real existence of paranormal activity?

Medieval Europe was not the most pleasant place for life. The cult of Señora reigned, capable of sending peasants to death for the slightest guise. The times of the witch hunting left the broadest sequence in the female population of half the continent, and the bones of the so-called sorcerer still find medieval castles in the walls. You have a dozen such fortresses that even local residents are trying to bypass the party.

Germany

It is believed that here for five centuries live a whole horde of ghosts. At about the beginning of the XVI century, the owner of the castle hired a couple of farmers to deal with his wrong wife. Shortly after that, the man himself, and his sons died in their own beds. Since then, the castle is considered damned.

Lip Castle

Ireland

In the XII century, the castle built an influential clan O'Bannon. The family nest of the eminent Irish very soon turned into a scarecrow of the whole districts: they took place for fratricide feasts, permanent executions and even sacrifices. The local chapel got the nickname "Blood Chapel" after the jealous husband stabbed his wife and lover in it, and then led the children there and forced their seven days to pray for the gagging bodies of adulterers. Are there ghosts here? Still would!

Zvikov

Czech Republic

This is one of the most important and significant gothic castles of the Medieval Czech Republic. In the castle, by rumors, the local Zvikovsky feature lives, who does not like people very much. Jokes jokes, but there really occur strange, unpleasant things. Animals refuse to enter some lock rooms, sometimes the curtains sometimes light up in the main hall, and those who sleep in the main tower die during the year. So at least they say local.

Mosham

Austria

Built at the end of the XIIth century, Mosham Castle became a silent witness of the death of thousands of young girls. The times of the witch hunt turned Moosham into a real stronghold of the Inquisition, the blood flowed by the river into the fame of the papal throne and Christian virtues. Already much later, in the XIX century, near the castle began to find the remains of dead deer and livestock, which gave rise to a new wave of rumors. To this day it is believed that in the basements of Moosham lives a clan of ancient short, leaving for hunting at night.

Castle Bran

Romania

One of the most terrible castles in the world, Bran Castle was the residence of Vlad III - a cruel Romanian ruler, better known as Vlad Dracula or Vlad Chain. It was this man that inspired Bram Stoker on the famous Gothic Roman "Dracula": you can imagine how gloomy atmosphere in the generic nest of the Main Vampire of the World. A little more bump? Easily. In one of the main halls of Brand is a golden casket, where the heart of Queen Mary is hidden. Naturally, it is still beating - if you believe rumors.

Chateau de Brissak

France

Built in the XI century, the Lock Brissak is considered to be a house for all ghosts and bringing the West central part of France. According to the legend, one of the first owners of the castle caught his wife with another man and killed them both. Today, new owners are arranged here for higher societies from among those who want to talk their nerves.

Fraser Castle

Scotland

Located in the eastern part of Scotland Castle Fraser is famous for the terrible story about the princess killed in a dream by demons. They say that the body of the unfortunate fiber on the stone steps of the tower down, and the servants could not wash the blood after that. The owners allegedly had to be sewed to the wooden panels, but in full moon the blood appears again and through them.

Horst

Belgium

The dilapidated castle of Horst inhabit and to this day. True, people live here, but the most real ghosts. At the very least, the locals are so assumed. They also say that the ghost of the former owner of the castle is returned to every full moon on the cart, harvested with a black six as a residence horse.

Primary castle

Slovenia

Here once lived the famous knight-pirate eraside, having arranged raids on the coast and passing ships. The castle is permeated with hundreds of underground strokes, caves and shelters, to explore which are not dried and certified "demons hunters".

Dragsholm

Denmark

One of the most terrible places Denmark. Here lives the famous white lady - the ghost of a young girl who fell in loved in the local vehicle. Father closed his native daughter in the room where she graduated from her days. It sounds like an ordinary legend, but there is a place here. At the beginning of this century, shocked builders who worked on the restoration of the walls of the walls discovered a secret room where the skeleton was sitting at the table in a white wedding dress.

The ancient castles of the world more than any other structures cause images of medieval knights, long bloody sieges, the gloss of royal life. What is it like to live in thick stone walls, warming up at a gigantic fireplace in a high tower?

Each Castle - from Romantic in France to a similar to the fabulous scenery of Leeds in England - its own story. In the Middle Ages, they served several goals - the symbol of power of the king or nobleman, the house for their kind and provided shelter during the attack of enemies. The earliest medieval castles were wooden, often stood on an elevation with a moat around him. After an IX century, wooden structures began to replace stone fortresses. Many of these beautiful samples of defensive structures have been well preserved to this day, as Kaire's castles in Ireland, Carricherthus in England, or Edinburgh in Scotland.

The castles of Ukraine demonstrate the original features of wooden architecture, as well as dome and crusades. To reflect the Tatar-Turkish raids, fortified structures of brick () or stone () were built. One of the most prominent monuments of defense architecture of Ukraine is.

When European states united and wipe wars, the castles stopped being just forces for survival during the siege. Kings and nobles started building luxury palacesTo show your power and wealth. Like other French Loire Valley castles were erected more for pleasure than for defense. In Ireland, Bantree and Tulilalli House are bright examples of a luxurious manor. The most recognizable castle of such a style - in Germany - the model of the Palace for Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in Walt Disney films.

Today, the fate of most of them was the transformation of them either in tourist objectsOr in the ruins, some are in a state of recovery, others are converted to hotels or rent.

There are, however, ancient locks that still remain a family residence. For example, in Scotland, in the homeland of the Mother's Queen, owned by one family for more than 600 years. The British royal family continues to use several ancient structures, one of them on the outskirts of London is today the largest residential castle of the world.

We were born not in the royal family, it is difficult to imagine that such a luxurious construction can be family home. But, visiting the most beautiful castles of the world, everyone can dream of royal life in one of these fabulous houses.

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The most terrible castles of the world - the door to the otherworldly reality

Vintage castles have always attracted the attention of people, because they are shrouded in the mystery of the Middle Ages, they have raw smells and dust from them, and amazing stories are indulging from generation to generation. In our old woman, Europe is most of all such mysterious places

and if you suddenly want to go on a trip by european countriesDo not forget to look into one of these castles, many of which, by giving, are the door to the otherworldly worlds.

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

Once by visiting this castle, even the one who all his life desperately denied this phenomenon will believe in the ghost. The Edinburgh Castle was built in the early 12th century, his visitors claim that they saw disembodied entities, both in the walls and outside the castle. According to the legend, the Ghost of the Volyshchik is still wandering along the castle, who lost in the underground labyrinths of the castle and died there. And when the castle threatened the danger, people living in it, heard the drum fraction. The drum fraction knocks off the ghost of the Headless Soldier, it is this soldier who are warning about the occurrence of Oliver Cromwell's troops, and the PSA ghost was seen on the local cemetery.

Castle Cellingham, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Chillingham Castle was erected specifically in order to reflect scootded plaid in the northern part of England. Blood batters often walked around the castle, and the captured enemies immediately tortured and killed. It is said that since then their robust souls roam around the castle. Here, more often than in other medieval castles, it is possible to remove ghosts in a photo or video. Guests who spent the night in the pink room, argue that they saw the shining boy, the researchers say that this ghost belongs to the boy who was alive in the walls of the castle, his remnants were found during the restoration of the castle. In the castle there is another amazing room - a gray room in which the portrait of Lady Mary Berkeley hangs, whose ghost comes with this portrait, she died, having learned about her husband's treason.

Dragsholm Castle, Hurve, Denmark

One of the most beloved ghosts of Castles of Denmark. Researchers of otherworldly phenomena say that this castle was chosen at least one hundred other entities. This inconspicuous castle has become a favorite tourist destination that is therefore. In the time of the knights, the castle performed various functions - he was a fortress, the palace of one bishop, prison. The most famous otherworldly "guests" of the castle is a white lady. Once the father closed his daughter into the wall because of his connection with the commoner, her lack of soul is still in the castle. They see here, as well, the ghost of the graph, which died in imprisonment. He scares tourists with horsepower.

Castle Elz, Vizhr, Germany

The castle is very beautiful, is in a picturesque place, it was built back in 1157. What is surprising - throughout the history, this castle belonged to only one family, at the moment they are already owned by the 33rd generation of the owners. Inside the castle the most gorgeous interiors, which can only be present in medieval castles, and, of course, ghosts. According to legends, the castle was never seized, because not only live people are guarded, but also the spirits of the dead knights who have ever been guarded by the castle, who are constantly on the guard of Elz.

Castle Mosham, Land Salzburg, Austria

Moosham was built by the bishop in 1208, since he had acquired very bad glory, since hundreds of witches and sorcerers were beheaded here, now their spirits roam the castle. Visitors feel how someone touches them, hear otherworldly voices, see something that can not explain. Once this castle was a roasure for a werewolf.

Castle Gusk, Czech Republic

Guska Castle is located in the deaf forests in the north of the country, and he still brings fear on local residents. By the way, quite close to Prague, some 50 kilometers!

The castle was built in the 13th century on very strange reasons, because they were built at all in order to defend against the enemies and not as a home for a rich family. This castle closes the gate to hell! According to the legend, in the place where the castle stands, there is a direct path to the abyss, from where the demons, witches and other evil spirits come to our world. All this thistle is tired of the ruler, who decided to seal the entrance to hell, building a durable castle on this place. In the early 1930s, the Nazis conducted their occult experiments here. The most frequently meeting ghosts in this castle is a black horse without heads and a bulldog man. From the upper floor window constantly shows a woman in a black dress. Only the most courageous tourists are descended to the dungeon of this castle, because the demons who have fallen from the otherworldly peace are still roaming there.

Castle Bran, Transylvania, Romania

The castle was built in the 14th century, he Osayan legends about the mysterious column of Dracula, and it is called "Dracula Castle". This castle was the same once he was the face of the famous Vlad Charechean, known as Vlad Krapaner, for the fact that he loved to plant his enemies very much. The castle is now a museum, visiting which visitors can contemplate old furniture, decoration and art objects.

Tamuar Castle, England

The most famous otherworldly inhabitants of Tamuar Castle are the black and white lady (sort of chess queens), which from time to time appear in the vicinity. The story of White Lady is that when she found out about the death of his beloved, she dropped with a high tower. And the Black Lady is the spirit of nuns named Edita, who has long aroused other nuns after the expulsion of them from the monastery.

Castle Berry Poomra, England

Sometime very and very long ago in this castle there was a sad story, the castle was built in the 12th century and there is also a white lady here. The name of the White Lady Margaret Inumra, she walked his hunger the older sister of Lady Eleonor, who always envied her sister and sharpened her in the tower for 20 days. The ghost Margaret is absolutely white and transparent, it is often seen over the Tower of St. Margaret. People who had the opportunity to see her feel malice, fear and depression.

Dlyus Castle, Ireland

Danlyus Castle is built on the edge of the rock of the coast of Antrim, he was rebuilt several times over the years. In 1586, due to the right of possession of this castle, civil workers began, which ended with the hanging of the castle's constable. Since then, his ghost in a purple raincoat and with a tail on his head, wanders around the castle tower, where he was killed. Visitors of the castle in some of its parts feel inexplicable chills, and employees of the souvenir shop say that sometimes someone shifts books and indulges from the radio.

Villa Whaley House, San Diego, California

This villa is one of the most populated ghosts of houses in the whole country. Previously, the court was located, and the criminals were executed right in the yard. In 1960, a museum was opened here, visitors to the museum often see a woman who passes through the walls and hanged man.

Hotel Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado

This hotel is familiar to everyone who is the admirer of the talent of Stephen King, because it was here that he wrote the plot for the "radiance" novel, they also passed the shooting based on the novel. Guests often see the ghost of the first owner of the house and his wife. Hotel employees say that strange sounds are distributed from the free rooms, and the piano in the hall is from time to time begins to play in itself.

Villa Crenshaw House, Illinois

Now this villa is the property of the state and the entrance to it is prohibited, but before everything was wrong. This villa was built in 1838 and called it "villa of old slaves." Her first owner needed a free workforce for doing business, and he with his subordinates captured entire families of the former slaves. People were kept in basements, in small camorks, chained to the floor. Slaves fed poorly, beat and mocked. After the villa was sold, the new owners witnessed many paranormal phenomena, ghosts inhabiting the house are the souls of tortured slaves. No one was able to spend the night on the attic. Without waiting for the morning, people ran away from there in horror.

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