Castles!- Large Photos

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Ujazdow Castle is in Warsaw, Poland.
map coordinates 52.219535, 21.030763
The first castle on the spot was erected by the Dukes of Masovia as early as the 13th century. The ruins of the castle of the Mazovian princes were then incorporated into a new fortified manor built by King Sigismund III Vasa for his son, future King W?adys?aw IV Vasa.[1] However, there is little evidence that the residence was ever used by the young prince, who spent much of his youth either at his father's court. Between 1659 and 1665, the building housed the mint of Titus Livius Boratini, who there struck his famous boratynka, a type of solidus coin.

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Castelo de Paderne is in Algarve, Portugal.
map coordinates 37.157325, -8.200006
This hill fort was built by the Moors in the second half of the 12th Century. The castle is one of seven on the national flag of Portugal. Its location on a rocky peninsular bend was of strategic importance as it controlled the ancient Roman road "Via Lusitanorum" crossing the Quarteira River on the south. The Roman bridge still stands at the crossing point below.

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Checiny Castle was built in the late 13th or early 14th century in Poland.
map coordinates 50.797222, 20.460278
It fell into ruin in the 18th century and remains in that state to this day.

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Neamt is a medieval castle located near Targu Neamt, Romania.
map coordinates 47.21429, 26.3433
The Castle was built in the 14th century by Voivode Petru I (possibly on the ruins of a smaller Teutonic castle), and is located on the north bank of the Neamt river.

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Porkhov is a medieval fortress in Pskov Oblast, Russia.
Map coordinates 57.765066, 29.563021
The fortress of Porkhov is believed to have been founded in 1239 by Alexander Nevsky. The timber fortress was sacked by Algirdas (Olgierd) in 1356 and fell in flames in 1387. The Novgorod Republic immediately rebuilt its fortifications in limestone 1300 metres downstream. In 1428.

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Fetteresso Castle is a 14th century towerhouse, rebuilt in 1761 as a Scottish gothic style Palladian manor, with clear evidence of prehistoric use of the site.
Map coordinates 56.9604, -2.2604
The property is recorded to have been owned by the Strachans, but passed by marriage in the 14th century to the Clan Keith Earls of Marischal, who built the towerhouse.

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Château de Chillon is located on the shore of Lake Geneva in the municipality of Veytaux, at the eastern end of the lake, 3 km from Montreux, Switzerland.
map coordinates 46.414167, 6.9275
The oldest parts of the castle have not been definitively dated, but the first written record of the castle is in 1160 or 1005.

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Golubac Fortress was a medieval fortified town on the right side of the Danube River, 4 kilometers downstream from the modern-day town of Golubac, Serbia.
Map coordinates 44.661032, 21.678782
The fortress, which was most likely built during the 14th century, is split into three compounds which were built in stages. It has ten towers, most of which started square, and several of which received many-sided reinforcements with the advent of firearms.

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The Diana Fortress is a Roman castrum built in 100-101 AD near Kladovo, Serbia.
(coordinates witheld for protection of the site)
It is located on cliffs (Djerdap) above the Danube in the Karatas archaeological site. The main buildings were built on a strategic location overlooking the Danube frontier with stone in 100 AD during the reign of Roman Emperor Trajan, who had a military camp located at the vicinity.

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Devin Castle is a castle in Devín, which is a part of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.
Map coordinates 48.173611, 16.978333
Owing to its strategic position, the cliff (altitude of 212 meters) at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers was an ideal place for a fort. Its owner could control the important trade route along the Danube as well as one branch of the Amber Road. That is why the site has been settled since the Neolithic and fortified since the Bronze and Iron Age. Later, both the Celts and the Romans built strong fortresses there. A Slavic castle, founded in the 8th century, played a crucial role during frequent wars between Great Moravia and the Franks.

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Happy Independence Day!
The city of Malaga is blessed with two castles.  The Alcazaba is a Moorish fortification in Malaga, southern Spain. Created from the 8th century, much of it was built around the middle of the 11th century for King Badis of Granada.
Map coordinates 36.721084, -4.415631
The Castillo de Gibralfaro, which sits on an adjoining hill was built in the 13th through the 15 centuries.
Map coordinates 36.723877, -4.410622
In 1487, Ferdinand and Isabella captured the city after a long siege, and raised their standard at the "Torre del Homenaje" in the inner citadel.
Alcazaba






Gibralfaro

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Château de Vaulruz, in Vaulruz Switzerland  was originally a donjon built by the seigneur de Blonay in the 13th century.
map coordinates 46.624895, 6.994311
In the early 14th century castle and lands were sold to Amédée V, Comte de Savoie.

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Borgholm Castle in Borgholm, Sweden,
is today only a ruin of the fortress that was first built here in the second half of the 12th century and many times rebuilt in later centuries.
Map coordinates 56.870833, 16.644167
The castle was destroyed in a fire on 14 October 1806.

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Ait Benhaddou is a citadel and 'fortified city' along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in present-day Morocco.
Map coordinates 31.05, -7.133333
Unimaginably ancient though the site is, most of the town's inhabitants now live in a more modern village at the other side of the river; however, ten families still live within the ksar.

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Yxtaholm Castle is a castle in Sweden.
Map coordinates 59.083889, 16.627778
The castle, stables and wings were built in their present form in 1753 but the first written reference to a fortified residence on the site is in a will from 1329.