10 Most Glamorous Castles in the World
October 8, 2009 by Heart , Category: World Travel
There are so many interesting ancient buildings to be visited in all around the world. One of the many is the castle. There are indeed many amazing castles that you can find world wide, such as Cinderella castle from 20th Century or Dracula castle. Below are The 10 Most Glamorous Castles in the World.
1. Neuschwanstein CastleThis castle was inspired by the Disneyland sleeping beauty fairy tale. In the 19th century, this castle was the place where the Bavarian people worked very hard. It is located on the hill near to Hohenschwangau at the south of Bavaria, Germany. This fabulous castle was built by Ludwig II from Bavaria.
Even though the visitors are not allowed to take the pictures of its interior, this castle is one of the main tourism destinations for foreign tourists. Ludwig prohibited any visitor to come to his castle before, but after his death in 1886, this castle has been opened for public. It was done in order to pay Ludwig’s debt in finishing the castle construction.
Every year, this castle is visited by more than 1.3 million people, with every visitor around 6000 people every day in the summer time. This castle has been also used for several movies’ shooting and is becoming an inspiration for the sleeping beauty castle in Disneyland park and in Hongkong Disneyland.
2. Malbork CastleThis castle was made by bricks and was discovered in 1274 during the Prusian government. This brick castle is located to the south of Nogat River and used to be the heard-quarter of San group. It has been broadened by the host for several times and is now becoming the broadest Gothic building in all Europe with 210,000 meter squares. It is 4 times bigger than Windsor castle.
Malbork castle consists of 3 separated parts: upper part, middle part and bottom part. These three are separated by dried ditch and tower. This building was once inhabited by 3000 soldiers.
The World War II in 1945 has made a great destruction to this castle. It was only half of the whole castle remained. A fire in 1959 caused another worse destruction that the remaining building was the main cathedral only. This castle was then re-built in 1962.
3. Lowenburg CastleIt is also known as the Cinderella castle or Lion castle in 20th century, It is located in Wilhemshole. This castle was built by Landgrave Wilhem IX from Hessen Kassel and was designed by Royalty architect named Heinrich Christoph Lussow whose expertise in building constructions in France, Italy and England. Henrich studied in England too to learn more about English Romantic building style. He was also the one who designed the Landgrave Park. The Lowenburg castle is the first Neo-Gothic building in Germany. There are many rooms at the back part of the castle, a bridge in front and a tower.
This castle was the private home of Landgrave Wilhem IX. The Landgrave park inside the castle looks like the one in Disney World, Tokyo. It is no wonder that it is considered as the Disneyland in its time. The building condition is still excellent and is the pioneer of the most famous castle in the world.
4. The Potala PalaceThe Potala Palace is located in Lhasa, Tibet and is named after the Potala Mountain. It has 200,000 statues collection. It used to be the home of Dalai Lama, until the 14th Dalai Lama who moved to Dharamsala, India in 1959, due to invasion and rebellion. Now, this castle is used as a museum by the Chinese.
This castle is 400 meters in length and 350 meters in width. The stones as wide as 3-5 meters are adhered on the walls. The foundation was made of copper to prevent any damage caused by earthquake. It has 1000 rooms, more than 10,000 temples and 200,000 statues. The peak of the castle is called as Marpo Ri that means Red Hill. This castle is surrounded by 3 hills in Lhasa representing 3 Tibetan Guardians, the Chokpori ( Potala’s southest gods), the Vajrapani (the mountain’s spirit) and the Marpori (representing Chenresig or Avalokiteshvara).
5. Mont Saint-MichelThe monastic building with Ghotic architecture was founded in 13th century in the middle of rocky island named Mont saint-Michel. It is located about 1 km away from France north shore at the Couesnon estuary, near to Avranches.
This island was first connected to the main land through a soil bridge that was only seen when it was not tide. Therefore, it is also called as a tide island. In 1879, this soil bridge was built into a causeway.
The whole island is possessed by the monastery. According to the legend, Michael angel made his appearance to St.Aubert, the Avranches bishop in year 708. The angel gave command for the bishop to build a church on the island.
6. Matsumoto castleMatsumoto castle is one of the finest castles and the most historical castle in Japan. It is located in Matsumoto city at the region of Nagano. It can be traveled by road trip from Tokyo. This castle was renovated at the end of 16th Century, but the original wooden interiors as well as the stones out side were kept the same. This castle is on the main land and was not build on the hill or in the middle of the river.
The Matsumoto castle was built as a fortress during the war time. In year 1550, the region of Matsumoto was ruled by Takeda clan and Tikugawa Leyasu. When Toyomo Hideyoshi re-located Leyasu into the region of Kanto, he gave order to Ishikawa Norimasa to govern Matsumoto. Norimasa and his son built the tower and some other parts of the castle. This castle is also known as a crow castle because its walls are black and the roof looks like the spreading crow’s wings.
7. Predjamski CastleThe Predjamski castle is located around 10 km away from Postojna cave in Slovenia. This castle belonged to the Erazem hijacker knights. It is smaller and located bellower to the other castles. It is named after the nearest village, Predjamski. This castle was gradually built since the 13th century. The left wing of the castle was founded in the 12th century, while the right wing in year 1570.
The Predjamski is already 700 years old, standing strong on the 123 meters high cliff. The most interesting parts of the building is the home, chapel, crypt as, the weapons, oil painting as well as the Pieta from year 1420.
8. Palacio Da PenaPalacio Da Pena is the oldest palace in Europe that inspired the European romantic style. It is located in Sao Paolo Penferrim, Portugal and was built on the top hill of Sintra city. When the day is bright, the palace can be clearly seen from Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It is considered as the National Monument and one of the main romantic expressions in the 19th century.
This palace was built after the appearance of the Virgin Mary in 1493. Sooner later, the King John II made this castle as the pilgrimage as a dedication to his promise to his beloved wife., Queen Leonor.
This palace is in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage and is one of the 7 Wonders in Portugal. Many official state ceremonies are held by the President of Portugal Republic here as well as other celebrations. The building is the blending of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Islamic and Neo-Renaissance styles with some exotic romantic taste.
9. Prague CatleThe Prague Castle was found in 19th century by Basilica of Saint George and Basilica of St.Vitus. According to the Guinness Book of Records, this castle is one of the most ancient and largest castles in the world. The height is up to 570 meters, the length and the width are 130 meters. It is representing almost all architecture styles at the end of millennium era.
Almost all areas in the Prague Castle are opened for public. Now, it becomes a museum, including a national Bohemian gallery and art performances dedicated to the Czech history.
The museum and the paintings in the gallery are the collections of King Rudolph II. The Shakespeare Festival in the summer was once held in the castle yard. The castle also keeps the diamond crown of the Czech.
10. Hunyad CastleThe Hunyad castle is located in Hungary and is believed by the locals to be the place where the Vlad III (known as the Dracula from the Wallachia) was imprisoned for 7 years. This building was actually the heritage of Hunyadi dynasty. In the 14th Century, the Hungarian King, Sigismund, gave the castle to Vlack as the severance. In year 1446 and 1453, this castle was renovated by Vlack’s grand son, John Hunyadi.
The Hunyad Castle that has Gothic style altogether with Baroque and Renaissance elements was firstly built as the fortress on the small river called Zlasti. As time goes by, the castle is now becoming the governmental center. This place was once used for TV reality show shooting called British Most Haunted Live.
The castle has been modified and added with a tower, hall and living room. In the wings part of the castle, there is a Matle (a painting about the legend of a crow named Cornivus) and at the back yard, there is a 30 meters depth well.
Are you interested to give a visit to these castles? If you love traveling to the historical places, you’d better not forget to visit the top 10 castles in the world that I mentioned above. If you have been there, you can share your experiences by leaving comments in the form below.
Thank you for visiting.
Related Posts:
- Top 10 Most Beautiful Places for Honeymoon
- Galactic is The First Hotel in Space
- Top 5 Greatest 7 Star Hotels in The World!
- The Most Desired Country to Live on Earth!
- The Largest Swimming Pool in The World
- Top 5 Underwater Hotels
Here are some resources for you:
- amazon com living in luxury inside the world's most glamorous homes
Amazon.com: Living in Luxury: Inside the World's Most Glamorous Homes (9780500514177): Alexander V to look for and what to avoid; the different types of property on offer—castle . - castles org quot;castles of the worldquot;
renting castles. Our 10 Most Popular Castles 1. Neuschwanstein 2. Versailles the World Network Copyright 1995 - 2008 Castles of the World .
- holiday chateaux and castle rentals france amp; belgium
for Rent on the internet. Castles and Chateaux throughout UK and France. Real time availability, map based castle search and online castle booking. . - top 10 beaches in the world
One of the most glamorous beaches in the world, Larvotto is renowned the world over for the world, I suppose it is quite difficult to name just 10, but .
Related Seearch: top 10 travel articles of 2009 bootsnall travel articles, las vegas hotels cheap hotel reservations accommodation and , funny world march 2009, travel guides and articles from hotels com, spotvision media,
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!