Castles!- Large Photos

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Branik Castle, also known as Rihemberk Castle, is a castle above the village of Branik, in southwestern Slovenia.
map coordinates 45.8512, 13.7918
Fortified settlements have been present on the hill above what is now the village of Branik since prehistoric times; the site was once occupied by a Roman castrum. The date of the founding of the castle is unclear, but the noble house of Rihemberk is first recorded in 1230.

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Mains Castle, known at various times as Fintry Castle or Claverhouse Castle, is located in Dundee, Scotland.
map coordinates 56.485556, -2.958056
The castle is believed to have been built in 1562 by Sir David Graham, nephew of Cardinal Beaton. A keystone in the western gateway bears this date as well as the initials DG and DMO for David Graham and Dame Margaret Ogilvy.

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Hodejov Castle ruins look down on a village of the same name in Slovakia.
map coordinates 48.298989, 19.983638
The first written mention of the castle as Hodejov is in 1281, referring to an armed insurrection that involved King Ladislaus IV. A church now stands at the base of castle hill where the perimeter wall remains can be seen, although the hill is heavily overgrown. Other remnants of the castle can be found on the upper parts of the hill as well.

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The castle Fuencubierta is located in the province of Jaen, Spain.
map coordinates 37.779013, -4.058691
Although the site shows evidence of occupation from pre-Roman times, the current castle was probably built in the fourteenth century. At one time there must have been a village as well, since it appears in a list of churches in the diocese of Córdoba, dating from 1260.

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Iznalloz Castle, also referred to as Almendros, is located in the upper part of the town of Iznalloz, Spain.
map coordinates 37.393009, -3.530646
The remains of the Tenth century castle were built on top of an early Arabic, or Roman fortress. Some of the outer perimter walls remain along the river and have been incorporated in buildings erected since 1994.

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Bottstein is a castle in a tiny village in Switzerland.
map coordinates 47.555105, 8.224656
The noble family "Freie von Böttstein" is recorded as living in the castle in the 11th through 13th centuries. Very likely it was built by the earliest members of the family. In 1615 the castle underwent some renovations and lost most of its defensive nature.The castle and the castle chapel are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.

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Or should I say Castles?
Frohberg Engenstein and Schalberg are ruined castles that are the furthest links in a line from the town of Aesh, Switzerland.
Frohberg map coordinates 47.467740, 7.562194
Schalberg map coordinates 47.464658, 7.568345
Engenstein map coordinates 47.462990, 7.571749
The first documented evidence of Frohberg was in 1292 with the entry of Conrad I Schaler "de Vroberg". This likely puts the build date in the twelfth or thirteenth century. Schalberg was documented as early as 1050; with Engenstein being more contemporary with Frohberg. In the 14th century, the whole area went along with the castle ruins to the Counts of Thierstein.
Frohberg





Schalberg






Engenstein

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Ekenas Castle is a castle located outside Linkoping in South-East Sweden.
map coordinates 58.382, 15.946
The Fourteenth Century Fortress was heavily rebuilt in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The older parts consist of foundations and cellars now.

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Yumbulagang is an ancient fortified palace in the Yarlung Valley, in the South of Tibet, People's Republic of China.
map coordinates 29.142512, 91.802601
According to a legend of followers of the Bon religion, Yumbulagang was erected in the second century B.C. for the first Tibetan king Nyatri Tsenpo. The castle is divided into front and back parts. The front is a 3 story building while the back has a tall tower.

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Gomarn Castle is located in on a rocky head on the west side of the old walled city of St. Leonhard, Austria.
map coordinates 46.963611, 14.787778
The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century. Outer ramparts and other additions were made in the 14th century.

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Nardaran Castle is situated in the northern part of Absheron Peninsula, in Azerbaijan.
map coordinates 40.561389, 50.004722
The castle was built in 1301 by architect Mahmud ibn Sa'ad; thoughtful an inscription in the castle gives credit to someone called Mother Barikat.

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Halshany or Holszany Castle is situated in Halshany, Hrodna Voblast, Belarus.
map coordinates 54.251264, 26.020292
The most visible ruins were built in 1610, partially on top of an older castle, by the Holszanski princely family. On satellite photos, you can make out part of the footprint of the castle, that probably was built in the thirteenth century, just on the north side.

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How about a castle underground?
Coudenberg or Koudenberg; is a small hill in Brussels, Belgium where the Castle of Coudenberg was built.
map coordinates 50.84263, 4.36009
In about 1100, the counts of Leuven and Brussels left the bottom of the valley of the Zenne and built their castle on the heights of Coudenberg from where they could dominate the small city. With the second enclosure of the city, following the 1356 occupation by Louis II of Flanders, the castle was no longer necessary as a primary defence, and it was gradually converted from a military strongpoint into a residential palace. On the night of February 3, 1731, fire broke out in the kitchens and quickly engulfed the entire palace.  It was only in 1774 that Charles Alexander of Lorraine proposed replacing the ruins with a Royal Square. Because of the architectural clash between the Gothic chapel and the surrounding buildings, the chapel was pulled down. The remains of the ancient palace and adjacent building have been extensively excavated below present ground level, and preserved with a partial concrete cover.

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Krumlov Castle is located in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.
map coordinates 48.812890, 14.314833
Construction of the town and castle began in the late 13th century at a ford in the Vltava River, which was important in trade routes in Bohemia. In 1302 the town and castle were owned by the House of Rosenberg.

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Qasr Allam is a ruined fortification in Egypt, in the Libyan Desert.
map coordinates 28.341815, 28.822237
The site itself was built before millennia ago and has been built on top of and rebuilt many times. Kamose, the last ruler of the Seventeenth Dynasty (r. 1555–1550 BCE) rested at this oasis with his troops while campaigning against the Hyksos (Asiatics) in the northern territories. Egyptian tombs that could date as far back as 3000 BCE have been found at the site close by Roman houses and a temple to Alexander the Great.