Warwick Castle.
Dudley Castle.
I'd say, when talking about important and/or famous European castles outside of Germany, those two are amongst the first ones that come to mind. :thumbsup:
Neuschwanstein's problem, at least to me, is that it looks really nice, but it just has never looked like a castle to me. I look at it and the first thing that comes to mind is, "That's a really nice looking home." (Although one that's in a defensible location.) It just doesn't have that impenetrable fortress look a lot of other castles have.
Well, I'd say that's a problem of the English language.
In German, Neuschwanstein isn't a castle ("Burg"), it's a "Schloss", which implies it's (once) social/political status and it's geographical position inside a valley/town, but doesn't say anything about it's defendability.
Same thing goes for "
Schloss Schwerin" (Northern Germany) for example. Or Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin (
Pic1,
Pic2).
To describe the type of building, it's characteristics and it's use, there is a whole array of words in German:
- "Burg" (castle)
- "Kastell" (castle)
- "Wasserburg" (same thing, just built on water, e.g. an island in a river)
- "Bastion" (bastion)
- "Bastei" (bastion)
- "Bollwerk" (bastion/stronghold)
- "Trutzburg"/"Trotzburg" (stronghold/bastion)
- "Schloss" (castle/chateau)
- "Wasserschloss" (same thing, just built on water, e.g. an island in a river)
- "Chateau" (castle/chateau)
- "Festung" (fortress/stronghold)
- "Feste" (fortress/stronghold)
- "Palast" (palace)
- "Wehrkirche" (a fortified church)
- "Wehrfriedhof" (a fortified graveyard)
- etc.
Some examples:
Typical examples for "Festung", "Feste", "Trutzburg" etc. are for example Ehrenbreitstein in Western Germany (
Pic1,
Pic2) or Burg Pyrmont (
Pic1,
Pic2) or Rheinfels (
Pic1,
Pic2). Not meant to be pretty, just meant to withstand everything that comes.
A typical "Burg" is for example "Burg Eltz" (
Pic1,
Pic2) in Western Germany. Or the very famous Wartburg in the heart of Germany (
Pic1,
Pic2). Or the Marksburg in Midwestern Germany (
Pic1,
Pic2,
Pic3). Or Burg Hohenzollern in Southern Germany (
Pic1,
Pic2). Or
Burg Altena in Hesse.
A typical "Schloss", "Chateau" or "Palast" is for example Herrenchiemsee (
Pic1,
Pic2) in Southeastern Germany. Or the "Kurfürstliche Palast" (
Pic) in Western Germany. Or the
Welfenschloss, which is today part of the University of Hannover. Or the famous
Zwinger in Dresden, which was almost bombed into oblivion by the US in WWII.
A typical "Wehrkirche" or "Wehrfriedhof" is for example the Effeltricher Wehrkirche in Midsouthern Germany (
Pic1,
Pic2). Or the Wehrfriedhof Ingelheim mit Burgkirche (
Pic1,
Pic2)
Some "structures" may be called "castle" in English and are a "Burg" in German. Some may be called "castle" in English, but are actually a "Schloss". For example
Schloss Wernigerode is not a "Burg", but a "Schloss". Same goes for
Schloss Braunfels in Hesse.
The Bundesland (state) I live in has more than 100 castles/fortresses/... and it had a lot more a couple hundred years ago. Some like the Wittlicher Neuerburg or Mont Royal were razed. Others like the Grevenburg (
once,
now), the
Saarburg or the
Wolfsburg are in ruins. Some were partly restored like
Schloss Sayn or
Burg Kastellaun. The river running along here was a "conflict line" in the late middle ages, so there are castles left and right, so to speak. Like the Reichsburg Cochem (
Pic1,
Pic2), the Genovevaburg (
Pic1,
Pic2), the
Kasselburg, the
Vaitzburg (or Rheinstein),
Schloss Stolzenfels,
Schloss Arenfels or the beforementioned Burg Eltz.
Germany is very rich when it comes to castles etc. Some famous German castles aren't even in Germany anymore because the German borders are not the same as half a millenium ago (Germany was somewhat bigger then
). For example the famous gothic castle
Karlstein.
