Aww, scottish castles aren't ugly dude, I think they look great for what they were designed for (I like tower castles in particular for their simplicity). Greetings from Germany. ^^
One real old castle which was use by robber barons / knights and still has the vibes of that time ( people lived there without Glas windows with open fireplaces inside and robbed the merchants on the way to Nuremberg) is Burg Prunn. In 1566 the fourth oldest complete version Nibelungenlied was found there. By the way , the towers in old castles aren‘t part of churches but are the so called Burgfried, the best fortified ( and therefore often the oldest) part of the castle. Built with meter thick walls they were used as the last keep for inhabitants in wartimes.
We have two words for castle, Burg which is more the medieval fortification kind and Schloss which is more like a palace. (we do have a word for palace, Palast, too though)
The word "Schloss" castle means more palace, so it is more for representation, not military like "Burg" castle. German is linguistically more accurate than English.
I came here to point out the difference between Schloss and Burg. However, I would not say that German is necessarily more accurate than English in this sense. For example, as a Scot myself, I could point to places like Holyrood Palace, Falkland Palace, Linlithgow Palace that are all almost purely representational, but I could again point to Glamis Castle or Dunrobin Castle that have military fortifications going back to the 13th or 14th century but have extremely palace-like Renaissance features with very typical round turrets. So when we look at the different architectural periods in different countries we have to take the different traditions into account.
@@alicemilne1444 That's great - but why is Neuschwanstein called a castle in English? It has no military or strategic value whatsoever. By your logic it should be "Palace Neuschwanstein", but then again "Palast" means something different in German. In some areas of Germany, the denomination of "Schloss" was strictly limited to the residences of the territorial ruler, other buildings like this by wealthy people would be called "Herrenhaus", "Gutshaus" and so on. The German feudal system was different from the one found in the area that is now the United Kingdom, so it's no wonder different words exist.
Today a Schloss is a palace, a Festung is a Fortress of firearms age, and a Burg is a fortified Castle of medieval era. But in older days, the words had been used interchangeable. For example in 16. century Württemberg, some medieval castles had been modernized to fortresses, but called Bergschloss.
This video only shows the restored or maintained castles. Germany has the ruins and overgrown castles as well, just like Scotland. Also important to note: German has several words for castle and only some directly translate: Burg > Castle = bulky military building Festung > Fortress = even more bulky military building Palast > Palace = residence of royalty Schloss > ?! = will most likely be translated as "castle", but is actually closer to "palace", as it is usually the residence of a lord or lady Most of the ones shown in the video are of the "Schloss" type, not of the "Burg" type.
Objection. A Palast was not limited to royalty, just to wealth. Also, the restriction of "Schloss" to the residence of a territorial ruler was not prevalent in all of Germany.
A Burg is actually not in first instance a military building, the term in it's most narrow meaning very much refers to a building that was build in the medieval age and was home to at least a family of low nobility (Ritter/knights). Burgen were built to withstand attacks, but a lot of them never had to. Really, their main purpose was to be the home of a noble family and to also act as the administratrative center, the place of court for a territory and as a symbol of control over an area. It was also like a small to middle-sized business operation with horse breeding, cheese making, wine making ect. in a slightly bigger style than the farmers would to it, although a lot of that would be used to feed the inhabitants of the castle itself. Castles were not "military" buildings in the actual sense, they weren't places to station troops or something like that as with Roman fortresses for example. What we now call a Schloss can just be a modified castle, a lot of Schlösser are (Schloss Marburg for example started as a castle). They can still have many of the same defensive structures as a castle, but they are now mainly just rural country houses of nobles or otherwise rich people without that much of an economic or administritive purpose. A Festung is a building that is mainly used for military purposes, often a base for troops. We mostly use it for the kind of heavily fortified military buildings we see with the start of the early modern period in the 16th century. We talk about buildings built for war with guns and big cannons, Americans would call them forts I guess. Often with star-shaped designs to allow the best angles for heavy artillery. But it can also be used for the military-only buildings of Romans and other pre-medieval civilizations with standing armies. A Palast/Palace is kinda similar to a Schloss, but usually urban, belonging more to the absolute high nobility or even a king or archbishop and they usually have a certain representative value and they tend to be much bigger because of all that.
@@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei well, yes, my comment isn't as precise as your explanation, but I didn't want to write an essay like you. There is such a thing as "close enough"... My point was, that there are differences between German and English and that you cannot smoothly translate what buildings are/were with just a single word.
The Tower of the Wartburg probably has a Cross, because Martin Luther found refuge here, when the HRE declared him a wanted man, and here he began his concepts to translate the Bible into German.
The Wartburg is the place where Martin Luther translated the bible into German. He was not really the first to do it, but his version was the one that caught on and is now the basis of most German translations. Since his bible was the first book that was available in German households all over the German speaking world, his way of writing (and speaking) very much contributed to what we know today as standard German language. There are loads of smaller ruined castles around where I live. So, those exist, as well. Most castles are not in the possession of the old familie, whereas most fairly intact castles in Scotland seem to be. My favourite intact castles that I've visited because they're near where I live are 1. Hohenzollern (the one that you took out right before the actual list began and official no. 2 on the list) - a huge one, beautiful and well preserved. 2. Lichtenstein (no. 4 of the list). 3. Burg Teck (the Teck where the Royals get their name from, not in this video). I can actually walk there (6km) from my place. It, too, has a restaurant and a hikers' hostel in it. Look at the Disney Logo Castle - that is Neuschwanstein.
Very good! I wanted to provide the same hint. I was really very surprised that Martin Luther's name wasn't even mentioned (despite me being a catholic). The Reformation was an important historical event not only for Germany.
Eltz Castle, No. 2 in the video, has been owned by the founding family since the beginning of its existence and is one of the few castles that exist completely originally. This castle has never been destroyed and is therefore unique in substance. It is hidden in the forest near the Moselle and was also depicted as a portrait on the old 500 DM banknote. Neuschwanstein and the Drachenburg on the Drachenfels near Bonn are not real old castles or palaces, but pure fantasy buildings from the era of historicism. The Dragon Castle (Drachenburg) is more of a playful villa of a wealthy merchant, but not really a castle or palace, because the building never was. Above this fantasy object, at the top of the mountain, are the ruins of the real Drachenfels Castle.
Although the word "castle" is used for both, it can mean "Burg" or "Schloss" in German and there is a big difference between this two types of buildings. A "Burg" is fortified in order to protect its inhabitants and armed forces against an attack or siege, so it is primarily a military building. A more precise translation may be "fortress" . A "Schloss" served as a residential building for those who could afford it an was primarily build to represent the richness of its owner, so it is more of a "palace". In many cases both functions became important to some extend over time. A stronghold could become the preferred place for a sovereign to live in, especially in unsettled times, and some palaces were also built to protect their owners and their belongings. Neuschwanstein is definitely on the "palace" end of the spectrum, as many of the beautiful castles shown here, with very limited use when attacked or besieged. With "protection" in mind, you would not choose a place on a lake, surrounded by hills, which might easily be flooded just by building a dam to retain the river flowing through that lake. With "beauty" on top of the requirements, you would choose exactly that place. Many of these castles are located in places that have become interesting for tourists. Sometimes the castle itself became a tourist attraction, sometimes there is an old city nearby (which may have been the reason for building the castle in the first place or the city prospered in the shodow of the overlooking castle), sometimes it is the strategic placement on a hill near a river and sometimes the location was choosen because of its beautiful view, which still attracts visitors. Anyway, it is often lucrative to run a restaurant or hotel there, because there are a lot of visitors. I guess many Scottish castles are in more remote locations where running a hotel or restaurant would not pay off.
Yes, qa Burg is a home with military value (at its time), a Schloss is the poser version - nobles of old lived in a Burg, but it doesn't add any extra defensive value, so they just made it just look like one.
exactly, that's one reason the number of castles are so high in germany, as residential and military ones are counted together in the english word "castle". Another reason obviously is the late unification of all the different german states, so they each had their own military and residential castles.
In old days the words Burg , Schloss and Feste ( Veste) had been often used interchangeable, in contrast to now. And in swabian region also the word Schlössle exists, can be every old , but small representative building .
The "Loewenburg" (means Lion's Castle) in Kassel was build 1793 -1801 (long after medieval times) by Langraf Wilhelm IX because he wanted a romantic, medieval and scottish / british looking castle just for fun. It was built partly in ruins to make it more romantic and is roughly in scale 2:1 compared to real castles in GB - so it is smaller as it looks. The large tower was destroyed in ww2 and it's rebuilding was finished just last year. I grew up in Kassel and always loved to visit the Löwenburg.
There's a simple reason the first two castles in the intro look so awesome: both are barely around 150 years old. Neuschwanstein Castle (the first) was opened in 1884 and the Hohenzollern Castle in 1867. Neither are medieval castles, but castles that were built by their noble lords in the course of german "Romanticism".
No worry about that many Scottish castles are in ruins. We've got them also. Some of the most beautiful and attractive castles in Germany we saw are "new-built" from 19th century. Very rich people created their own "Disneyland".
4:30 I've never tought I'd here the words "late 18th century" and "medieval" right next to each other, but here we are... I suppose someone has to retake their basic history class...
Castles in the UK, esp. Scotland and Wales are not ugly. I've still have to travel to Scotland but Welsh castles are breathtaking, esp. castle Coch. The history of Cardiff Castle is also nothing to sniff about. It dates back to the Roman times and it is amazing. German castles vary from the original fortresses of the medival times to the more fantasy based castles of the 18th and 19th century and only very few of the 24000+ castles are actually habitable most of them are ruins. Historians say, that they still discover new castles every year so that the real estimate of German castles could be more than 30-35000.
Saying so he gave his personal opinion. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and there is always something more beautiful than something. Yet by and large, on avergae, it is safe to say that British castle cannot compare to German castles regarding beauty.
The List is very looooong ;) I already was at Schwerin Castle and Wartburg. But even in my Region there are many more stunning Castles like Rochsburg, Festung Königstein or Schloss Moritzburg and the List goes on. Have a great Day!
I know what region you mean. 😁 And the most stunning castle (Burg) around there is Burg Kriebstein. I think its one of the best originally preserved in Germany and the location on the rock is crazy too.
Been to Festung Königstein a few times and It's definitely worth more than one visit. I'm also a big fan of little Schloss Pillnitz and it's beautiful park. Greetings from the Lüneburger Heide, which has a real shortage of castles, but at least quite many interesting convents. 😊
I'd say those were the most touristy castles in Germany. There are about 25k castles and medieval mansions in Germany, though in varying states of upkeep, all the way from being a few small ruins all the way up to being lived in, and encompassing anything from military fortresses to residential palaces. So this wasn't just a tiny selection, it was miniscule and heavily favored the palaces over the military fortresses, because they look more impressing. The closest castle to me is Schloss Burg or translated in a literal sense: castle Castle. Though the story behind that name is a curious one: It was the castle of the Count of Berg, originally called Schloss Neuenberge or Schloss Neuenburg, as the Berg dynasty abandoned their previous castle, it kind of made sense to them. Stayed that way until a large reconstruction in the 15th century, when it turned from Schloss Neuenburg to simply Schloss Burg. So it was for a while "Schloss Burg of the count Berg".
There are basically two different groups of castles: the old original "Burg" castles, as in medival fortified homes of nobility, and then the new castles from the 18th and 19th century, which were meant to be more a romanticising kind of palace, showing off wealth and "class" in those days. The most famous example is Neu-Schwanstein, build by bavarian king Ludwig II, a weirdo who lived in a fantasy world of his own. And even non-nobles build their palaces in the later 19th century, if they had enough money, like in the case of the Drachenburg. The old medival castles are a totally different breed. They were build as a fortified home and refuge for the local ruler, some earl or count or knight, just like the majority of the old castles in Scottland. I guess one of the most famous there is the castle that was used in the making of Monty Python's "Holy Grail" movie... :) Btw., placing a castle in a big pond, or making a big trench filled with water around it, is a very old method of defense against attacker. This, or building on top of a hill were the usual way of getting a advantage over attacking forces. A "Wasserburg" is very effective in this - but not so good if you have rheumatism...:)
4:24 it is not a church. it is the "bergfried". a tower where important things and people could be safe in case of an attack. even with enemies running around inside the castle, you could survive there for a couple of days because once up there, you destroy the ladder or whatever. so they just sat there and watched from the highest point of the castle. they had the choice to starve to death or surrender. which in many cases meant death also. and this particular castle is very interesting! i have been there several times. you see the stages of building, you see what they have done to it over hundreds of years. it is a perfect example for any architecture student! you have hundreds of years of building and extensions.
It was probably not that often the case that people would starve to death, actually we don't have much evidence of people actually using the Bergfried as last line of defense in any way. Usually, when the enemies comes into the castle, it's over anyway and there was no point. It would maybe be a wise thing to do when you know your allies would be there in like a day or so. The nobles wouldn't have that much too lose, they were usually not killed, but just captured. Which often just meant sitting in a fancy room with service and all. And by the way, the entrance often had quite solid stairs. Sometimes there was like a little gap with a small drawing bridge or just some planks you could remove, but it wouldn't be that difficult to put someone there as a improvised bridge and getting the door open was then just a matter of hours. It was probably mostly supposed to look impressive.
After living near Frankfurt am Main for many years I always loved to visit the Ronneburg. Its just a small one bit they do beautiful medieval festivals there and you can visit a falconry there, too. 👍
I am somewhat dumbfounded that the list left out Schwerin castle - there's a reason why it's called the "Neuschwanstein of the North". Guess it's driving home the point: There's a lot of castles to choose over here. :P
Both the UK and Ireland have something that no other countries have in Europe and the rest of the world. It’s the combination of beautiful rugged northern landscape combined with romantic centuries old castle ruins that gives these countries it’s fairytale aura which is of course reinforced through countless films and books. There is no other place that combines the romanticism of old castles with that kind of landscape and cultural heritage. Yes Germany and France have their own castles and palaces but a lot of the times even when a castle is old it often got renovated and therefore looks artificial and not as natural and free like the castles standing in the endless expanses of the British countryside. Therefore I actually prefer Scottish castles.
Of course, with over 25,000 castles to choose from, this list is wayyyy too short and centers around more touristy places. The most beautiful experiences to me where the castle ruins I stumbled upon by sheer chance. Though I freely admit, visiting Eltz castle in autumn (the "side season" when it was closed for visitors) took my breath away. The place was deserted and the castle and forest around it were partly hidden in fog. Neuschwanstein castle is the least authentic, it's a "fairy tale castle" built by king Ludwig, but still makes no. 1 on every list I've seen :'). There's a very good video about german castles and palaces by Dr. Ludwig that I totally recommend to you!
I was drawn in by the Schweriner Castle on the thumbnail. 😅 It's good to see some recognition of Mecklenburg anywhere. I used to go to school in Schwerin and I also worked in the Schweriner Castle for a short period of time. The Castle is used as state parliament of Mecklenburg - Vorpommern so inside it has many office rooms and what else you expect of a parliament building and sadly I haven't seen the Castle without building fences for as long as I am alive I believe.
Schwerin is my home town and we have been to the castle since we were children. In winter, people go sledding around the castle garden with a view of the castle. A very nice place :)
I love Burg Eltz... 800 year old, 800 years unconquered, held by the Counts of Eltz for 800 years *running* , the current Count Eltz still has an apartment there. And it's unchanged in it's military function, in the case of a Zombie apocalypse it could still be held, unlike many others 😂. Best regards Raoul G. Kunz
before i watch this video... in my opinion the castles in scotland are waaay cooler than the german ones. has to do with history and stuff and why and when they were built. and again, i friggin love your accent! you almost pronounce words as germans would but with that special twist! is that any special accent you speak or do all scots just sound so cool?
I lived in the town below Schloss Lichtenstein. Compared to the other castles in the video, it's a small one and not really medieval. It was build for the Lord of Baden Wuerrtemberg in the midd 19th century as a hunting residence. It's worth for a a day trip, maybe in combination with Burg Hohenzollern which is an hour away from Lichtenstein Castle. Also in that wider area: Sigmaringen Castle which belongs to the same family: the Hohenzollern de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Sigmaringen#/media/Datei:Schloss_Sigmaringen_2022.jpg If you plan a trip to southern Germany: also consider Salzburg and it's surroundings as Austria has also a lot of Castles (as well as Switzerland - there I recommend Chillon Castle at the lake of Geneva).
9:10 acually i am from germany and i have been to most of the castles in this video! thanks to my father, who made me this castle and history nerd^^ and all i can tell you: visit them! even as a german i find them stunning. i can't imagine how surreal many castles must be to travellers!
Some things to remark. Some fortresses are very nice, like the Würzburg fortress, or the fortress of Coburg. And a special thing is the restored Roman border fort Saalburg, north of Frankfurt. It was rebuilt in Imperial times in the early 20th century and gives a good impression of the life of a Roman legionnaire who served Rome in inhospitable Germania. There is an extensive museum exhibition and bratwurst "Roman Style"... And what I forgot to mention is, that the Schwerin Castle is the seat of the state parliement of Mecklenburg- Vorpommern.
They try to preserve as many old buildings and castles as possible. The cost for upkeep is quite high, so many castles are used by the government and house different kinds of offices or courts. My favourite castle is Schloss Seehof in Bamberg. It's small, but really pretty. And houses the state office for the preservation of historical monuments... quite fitting. Fancy workplace, a castle 😂
Neuschwanstein is beautiful, but no one ever really live in there, so it's missing something. I prefer Hohenschwangau, the neighbouring castle where King Ludwig's family actually lived. And, of course, Hohenzollern Castle. I know, it sounds a bit weird, but my fave castles are all in Austria: Hochosterwitz Castle, Heinfels Castle, Hohenwerfen Castle, the fortress of Kustein.
The Marksburg should have had an honourable mentioning, as it has been the template for most toy castles. Also worth an honourable mentioning are Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, Burg Rheinfels, Schloss Braunfels, Schloss Limburg, Starkenburg Heppenheim,…
The Schweriner Schloss 9:58 has it's original purpose back again ... To rule a region. The parliament of "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" - the most north-easter Country of Germany - resides in that building.
as someone from schwerin im always happy when our castle gets mentioned you dont recognize its beauty until youre not home for some time but its just 5min from our flat and always a nice option to go to also funny to say is that there is a spot that has a nice view of the castle and its popular for all the teenagers to drink there late at night and it somehow connects the younger generations with this building and its surroundings
Mert, if you want to see A LOT of german castles, book a ship tour from Koblenz to Rüdesheim. Plus in Rüdesheim is Siegfrieds mechanisches Musikkabinett, the new home of the Wintergatan Marble Machine😂
What a pity they didn't show europe's biggest inhabited castle; castle st. emmeram, thurn und taxis. in general, i think Mert would love Regensburg. The awesome castle, the Walhalla, the old inner city, the danube, etc.
Im living only 20 minutes away from Heidelberg... so Heidelberg Castle (actually, the "Heidelberger Schloss" ^^) is one of the attractions we show the visitors and colleagues from other countries as a real "must have seen" sight in our region ❤
Two Things to be said here. 1. Actually. While Germany has alot of Castles. France has even more. Germany has around 25.000 while France has 40.000. 2. The Reason for this Number and the Looks You noticed however is that this is a Translation Issue. In Germany there is different words for most of these. Basicly. Castle Translates into 4 different German Words. A. "Burg" which is the Castle You think off. Usually atop a Hill or in a well Defended Position with Towers and Defensive Walls etc. B. "Schloss" which would be better Translated as Palace. Because its still a Castle. But its one of these Castles like Buckingham Palace. C. "Herrenhaus" which would be better Translated as Royal Mansion. This is what You were Surprised about when Seeing it. Because while its basicly a Huge Building. Which also does have Defensive Works usually. But which is still not so much a Castle but rather a Mansion. Just that its a Mansion of some Powerful Noble, Royal, Cardinal etc. And therefore had actual Defenses and Guards. D. "Festung" This is a Fortress or Citadel. Its basicly a Huge Castle which might even House a Small City or Military Camp. Complete with a Huge Mansion, Defensive Works and Fortress Walls etc. Now. What You think of as Castle is likely only A and D. While C would be what You would call a Mansion. And B would be what You call a Palace.
I don’t agree with the choices in this video at all. Too many 19th century fairytale constructions - even the Wartburg, historically the most important german castle was heavily rebuilt. But if you are looking for real medieval castles there is only one in the film - the beautiful Burg Eltz. I would recommend Burg Burghausen for it’s size, Burg Lichtenberg, the Meersburg at Lake Constance, Burg Reichenberg and others. Then there are the representative Palaces from the renaissance period like the Heidelberger Schloss, Güstrow (both ruins), or Heiligenberg. Beautiful baroque palaces in Ludwigsburg, Würzburg, Schwetzingen, Ludwigslust, Dresden (Zwinger) or - off course - Potsdam (Sanssouci) - and many others. And if you are really into the Disney-type fake castle from the 19th century, go for Neuschwanstein, Schwerin or Hohenzollern - or the cute versions, Lichtenstein or Linderhof.
The Schloss Hohenzollern that was shown in this video was actually the Burg Hohenzollern in Bisingen. The actual Schloss Hohenzollern is in Sigmaringen about 50km southeast to the Burg
If you check out pictures of the no.1 Neuschwanstein, you will see that Hohenschwangau castle (my personal fave) is right next to it. There are amazing shots where you can see both castles together. Oh and btw I have been to these two at least 15 times till now. The 3 castles my hometown got are no match but are also nice buildings.
When it comes to German castles, Burghausen is often not mentioned. This is strange because 1. The word "castle" is in the name and 2. The castle holds a world record: it is the longest in the world. ruclips.net/video/zyG-nWbgBws/видео.htmlsi=hDE_rIRbc-S5Z74F
Attention! In 14th century great time of ,German Knights Culture ' was over, so most castles fell into ruins. Some had been transformed into modern fortresses and used to 19th century, others had been transformed into representative Schlösser/ palaces ,or Herrenhäuser, an englishman would call .... House, .... Hall or ...Manor.
Im From Heidelberg... We Were told the French destroyed our castle because some Louis Anyhow thought, because of his Wife who was from Here the castle should belong to him. Neuschwanstein.... ya...for me its just "nostalgic fake" I Miss the Ehrenbreitstein in Koblenz To Build a Castle you can build it up a hill, on cliffs .....or on an island in a lake... which we would call "Wasserburg" and i think whe i remember the Holy Grail Monty Python Film than the Final ambush scene is on to a "wasserburg"
Glücksburg Castle belongs to the family of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, which is the dynasty, that is still the royal family of Denmark. This is just just part of the history of Germany and also the reason for those many castles. Until 1871 there was no real Germany. There were multiple states and dynatsties on German territory, like Prussia, Bavaria or Holstein. In some cases the local ruler of such a state was also the ruler of a foreign country, like in this case Denmark or more prominently the house Hannover, which got to be English kings after the Stuarts. As there were so many states, there was also quite a lot of rivalry, hence the many castles. The German state I live in (Baden Württemberg) has half the size of Scotland. Before Napoleon this area constisted of over 300 independent states. Some were only a couple of villages or a single city or even just a monastery. And they all tried to defend their territory. If you look at a map from around 1600, this is absolutely crazy. And in many of the "larger" realms the Dukes or Counts or whatever did build a palace later on and tried to trump their Neighbours. The duke of Württemberg for example had a palace in Stuttgart and did build four more. One of them, Schloss Ludwigsburg was planned as the German Versailles, just that Württemberg back then had less inhabitants than Paris alone. Glücksburg is really nice, but Castle Stalker in Scotland is also in a lake. Great place. In the north of Germany there are no hills or mountains, so most castles are surrounded by water. And they don't have much stones, so they used bricks instead. Mespelbrunn is still in private hands. It is located in the famous Spessart forest, so it is really surrounded by forest. And it is really an old castle. Some others, like Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, Drachenburg or Hohenzollern were built from scratch in the 19th century. Hohenzollern was the dynasty of the German emperors. The dynasty had moved from here to Prussia and became king there. So wen they became emperor, they decided to rebuild their old family seat in very fantasy style. Same time and style as the Glenfinnan Monument or the Hub in Edinburgh. Lichtenstein castle is just around the corner from me. Some more traditional castles are in ruins, like Burg Rötteln, Heidelberg, or Wertheim. Sme are more carefully reconstructed, like Coburg, Pfalzgrafenstein or the Marksburg. And some of the really large castles were redesigned to fortresses, like Hohentwiel, Hohenneuffen or Königstein, while their old residents moved to their new palaces. Some great palaces in Germany would be Ludwigsburg, Moritzburg, Würzburg, Sanssouci, Nordkirchen, Schwetzingen, Nymphenburg... And you get more castles than you can count on the Mittelrheintal, which is a UNESCO world heritage. 40 castles and ruins on 60 km river line. And you can even find a lot of castles in neighbour countries, like Austria or Czech republic, as in medieval times the belonged to the German empire as well. So Salzburg or Prague have also fantastic castles.
Refuge from the Imperial Penalty for the Reformer Luther's stay at Wartburg Castle, defiantly situated above Eisenach, was not long and not entirely voluntary. From May 4, 1521 to March 1, 1522, the theologian lived there in a modest cell, which can be visited today as Luther's room. This stay has gone down in history not only because it saved Luther's life, but also because Luther used his time at Wartburg Castle for great things. Here he translated the New Testament from the Greek text into German. With this translation, the Holy Scriptures - previously a reading for scholars who knew the ancient languages - became readable for the first time by anyone who could read.
Hohenzollern is Germany’s Windsor, the seat of the imperial family. Wartburg is where Martin Luther was taken by a friendly prince, where he began translating the German Bible.
7:51 is actually 100% wrong, as this "castle" has neither been restored nor is it an old castle after all. It was built around 100 years ago by an investor and serves both as a museum and night accomodation. The REAL castle is WAAAAY up the hill, and still in ruins. That's why you can't trust channels with AI voiceover: Around 99% of it is bullcrap.
The Löwenburg Castle is not exactly a real castle, more a build castle ruin for a private park, kinda like a garden house. The Schwerin Castle is the parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern nowadays. The Glücksburg Castle has a twin in Ahrensburg, looks very similar. Until 1918 most of the castles still have been private owned. And quite a lot of castles and palaces are still owned privately by the family it belonged too, that is most likely why they are in such good conditions.
There are also castles and manors in Germany which are ruined and have felt apart, but they have been preserved in 20th century to keep them in their latest state to be savely visited by the public. Some of those ruined and preseved castles are used as stage for small concerts and events like medival markets. My favourite castle by now is Burg Eltz. I also visited a lot of other castles like In Burg Colditz, Gnandstein, Burg Hartenfels, Burg Kriebstein, Burg Mildenstein, Barockschloss Delitzsch, Schloss Moritzburg. There are more, but I do not remember every one.
So for me as a German I have to say what I haven't seen in SO many castles so that I can even list them: Veste Coburg (I live in the district), Rosenau Castle, Rosenberg Kronach Fortress, Mitwitz moated castle (there is every one there year a very nice Christmas market), Ehrenburg Castle (I think important for England), Callenberg Castle, Lauterburg ruins, Hohenfels Castle, and yes, that should have been all of them so far. Greetings 😁
In my opinion, Braunfels Castle is one of the most beautiful castles in Germany. Unfortunately, the castle is rather unknown. Incidentally, there are also beautiful castles here in Switzerland. Probably anywhere in Europe. thanks for your video
This US made documentation get`s a lot of facts wrong. E.g. : Lichtenstein castle is close to my home. It is built by the King of Wuerttemberg (south west of Germany) in 1850 as a accomodation for hunting in the near by forrestes with his noble friends. On top of the ruins of an very old medival castle. It is a romantic medival interpretation based on a novel written by theb author Mr. Hauff. Most of these castles are romantic buildings from the 1890ies when medival history was big fashion. Built on top of medival ruins ore squesed in, but still they are "new". New means from the period of 1850 to 1900.
Neuschwanstein is the most famous, but is as fake as the disney thing. Built as his personal palace, imitating several former architectural periods with some ad ons of medieval fortresses to personal liking of King Ludwig. There even are modern steel structures in it like in the Eifel tower, Electrical power and Telefone, just futuristic new coming up at that time. And Ludwig spend so much money for it, that it did not get completed, , but the state of Bavaria got to be bankruptced, had to get submerged by former rival kingdoms and deleted from all maps.. King Ludwig was declared insane, and submerged under psychiatric control under house arrest. Found dead shortly after that in the nearby lake, unclear , if murdered or just drowned. So as submerged as the state of Bavaria, wich happened after him. To this day, the Bavarians feel, they still are their own state and act like that politicly. When you come across the border from Austria, at first you see a sign "Freistaat Bayern" then secondly a sign" Bundesrepublk Deutschland" behind it. What it never was, like the american author told us, is a "castle". That would be a kind of military purposed fortified building, called "Burg". This was going to become " "Schloss Neuschwanstein" Schloss beeing Palace, representative home of noble persons like Kings, Dukes and so forth. and oftentimes the building of the government. In that video there were many fake buildings like villas in the style of Schlösser, mostly Palaces and and very few Castles, which would be called "Burg", a suffix that is worldwide known and just at the end of city names, when a city developed over time under the protectiom of a Burg ( castle). And -by the way the 5 cornered "castle" at the end in the sunset was not a castle, as it is the " Schweriner Schloss" of Schwerin, the capital city of the state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern and this Schloss houses the regional Government. I don't know, why tin Germany all Schlösser and burger are put under the same label: In france in the valley of Loire there are many famous Places ( Schlösser) and i don't think they are named castles there. Would the americans even name Versailles or the the Louvre a castle? They are and were Palaces as well, allthough the Louvre started as a combination of both at first.
I just visited Glücksburg castle just about a week ago and it really was stunning. See, those lake / mout castles were built in places were no mountains could be used to fight off attackers. Like in my hometown, Detmold, we have a representative castle with a small park still surrounded by the old mout from two sides. Glücksburg is in the very north of Germany, but there are no mountains. More to the south, like the Rhine/Mosel Region and especially the very south like Bavaria you almost exclusively find those mountain top fortresses. Gotta say something about the Löwenburg at 4:40 here. The narrator correctly says it was purpose-built in the gardens/park of Wilhelmshöhe Castle (representative castle, not military fortress). However, the purpose never was to fend off attackers, but rather to have a classic romantic thing to look at when wandering around in these parks. It's sole purpose is to look nice. Then again, it does this pretty well. Have also visited the Wilhelmshöhe Castle gardens about a year ago
Next to the Burg Eltz, I also like the Marxburg and Castle Braunfels a lot. Neuenschwanstein ist very touristic, but fully worth it as it's full of surprises on the inside. I used the end of the Covid times to visit it and, though, some rooms were closed due to the regulations, I felt, it was the best time to go as it permitted me to go in without queuing and in small groups of 20 people only, one group per 20 mins. In normal times, it's absolutely overcrowded with people from all over the world. On that weekend, I also visited Hohenschwangau, but it's more expensive and far less interesting. Heidelberg Castle is also worth it to visit it. And there are more... As for the usage: In Koblenz, there is a fortress (Festung Ehrenbreitstein), into which they have put a Youth Hostel. We went there with my school class for a week. I loved it! Those thick walls and hidden paths even. As, originally, I'm from the very flat north, it was also awesome to sit on top of a hill and to be able to look down onto the town from there. But, well, having lived in Scotland, I also adore those rougher castles a lot, and, having been member of two trusts, I visited a lot of them! 😍
I live near "Marienburg" - Castle in the area of the City of Hildesheim. You really should come over to visit. It's not so far away from Your home. Just a short flight to Hanover...😊 See You in Germany!!
this Scottish guy seems completely oblivious to the castles background. e.g. Glückburg castle should give him a hint simply by its name. Glücksburg is one of the oldest ruling houses of Europe and as a Scot he should know the late prince Philip, duke of Edinburgh was a member of the house of Glücksburg, just not of the main branch. the present Danish and Norwegian monarchs and the former Greek kings are also part of the house of Glücksburg. the first two castles he presented in the preview were the famous dream castle Neuschwanstein, the thing Disney used as blueprint for its emblem. it's not old but a historicist palace and construction started just in 1869 (practically yesterday, seen from a European historical p.o.v. ) and the next one was Hohenzollern castle, which as the name inplies, is the family seat of that famous house which ruled Brandenburg/Prussia for centuries. no wonder it is in pristine condition.
Martin Luther spent several years at Wartburg Castle under the protection of the Elector of Saxony, Frederick, after Luther was banned from the church for his theses and declared an outlaw. During his stay at Wartburg Castle, he translated the Bible into German, thus laying the foundation for modern High German.
The church tower in the middle of the Wartburg castle definitely has it's meaning. The Wartburg castle is the place where MartIn Luther translated the Bible into German, which layed the groundstone for Protestantism. :)
insider tip: if you want to see a lot of castles on one trip, take a boat from Bingen down the Rhine river all the way to st. goar and you'll see about 20-30 different castles left- and righthand side of the rhine
I seem to remember the Scottish ruins are due to a tax-reform in the late 18th century. One had to pay taxes for the size of a property if there was a roof on it, so people dismantled roofs. And once the roof is gone it takes about 75years to turn a building in a ruin. And these german castles are mostly restored - and often reconstructed - in the 1820's to 1890's - or completly rebuilt from scratch like Neuschwanstein. (There was a ruin beneath, but it was removed for the sake of the King's new Fantasycastle.)
Nice video But unfortunately there are like 50% tourist style castles. We also got Ruins On mountains. In my section of Germany we got 384 castles. I’ve been to Most of them mentioned in the video.I could figure out your email address I will send you a link to a German homepage dealing with all the castles In Germany.
Heidelberg Castle was destroyed by the french, not by lightning. A lot of the shown castles like Neuschwanstein and Hohenzollern are not real historical buildings, but romantisized historisms, buit in the 19th century.
By the way, the city of Altena (the 2nd Castle) turned out to be the cheapest germany town to rent an appartment. 60sqm for 200 Euro in a good condition. Because they had a previous military camp from the british that turned into appartments but with the soldiers the whole population went away to other cities, loving 50% of it's people in just a decade.
Some historical background: Germany was united quite lately in 1871 (officially), before it was divided into many small political units (maybe 30 - 300). Each unit had a king or another noble (Fürst, Herzog, Graf etc) who built his own residence for reprensentative reasons, the normal people were suffering. Germany was always a poor country in the past. You will find hundreds (or even thousands) of that kind of residences or castels all over Germany. PLUS magnificient churches or cathedrals in every town or city. Unfortunately most was destroyed in war up to a line of the Main river at Frankfurt. Have all fun here , its really one of the most beautiful countries in the whole world! Welcome
This can fit to castles as well as to humor, although it‘s a bit older already. BTW…Ostfriesland is located at the North West of Germany. ruclips.net/video/bCcd7RcthvY/видео.html ruclips.net/video/jCe17KBY024/видео.html
the burg mylau is a pretty nice one situated on a rock between two river valleys, offering amazing views of the gölzsch river valley, featuring other amazing architecture such as the gargantuan gölzsch viaduct, the largest brick bridge in the world.
Beautiful video. We've been to the Neuschwanstein Castle in the south of Bavaria and of course the 'Heidelberg Castle' since we've lived there over 27 years.
from those featured in the video I've been only to Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein and Heidelberg, but that List is very short and there are so many more castles. Where I live in central Bavaria within a 50km range I have serveral castled and palaces and of course ruins. I just have to cross the road to get tothe local Schloss, but don't imagine it like those shown in the video. It's just a fancy nobilities home, right in the middle of the village and many villages here have their own Schloss. However, the next village to the west has a fully grown castle towering over the village, so does the next village too and there is the Rosenburg looking down on the city of Riedenburg 20km to the east from where I live. The reason for so many castles and ruins here is the landscape. North of Ingolstadt and the Danube river there are a lot river valleys and it's only logical to build a castle high engough to be able to overlook the valley for approaching enemies. That explains why there's literarely a castle within visual range of the next castle. They simply did't trust their neighbors.
The most impressive castle is Burg Eltz as it has been inhabited by the same family since the middle ages. It has the original style and look 19th ct. Neuschwanstein strifes for.
There are videos with Germany before WW2, so before the cities were bombed into oblivion. Stuttgart is not the same city anymore. Just compare the old with the new city hall, then you know what I mean by that...
Aww, scottish castles aren't ugly dude, I think they look great for what they were designed for (I like tower castles in particular for their simplicity).
Greetings from Germany. ^^
...das finde ich auch.
One real old castle which was use by robber barons / knights and still has the vibes of that time ( people lived there without Glas windows with open fireplaces inside and robbed the merchants on the way to Nuremberg) is Burg Prunn. In 1566 the fourth oldest complete version Nibelungenlied was found there. By the way , the towers in old castles aren‘t part of churches but are the so called Burgfried, the best fortified ( and therefore often the oldest) part of the castle. Built with meter thick walls they were used as the last keep for inhabitants in wartimes.
00:46 I really like Neuschwanstein, but it was built in late 19th Century...
We have two words for castle, Burg which is more the medieval fortification kind and Schloss which is more like a palace. (we do have a word for palace, Palast, too though)
The word "Schloss" castle means more palace, so it is more for representation, not military like "Burg" castle. German is linguistically more accurate than English.
I came here to point out the difference between Schloss and Burg. However, I would not say that German is necessarily more accurate than English in this sense. For example, as a Scot myself, I could point to places like Holyrood Palace, Falkland Palace, Linlithgow Palace that are all almost purely representational, but I could again point to Glamis Castle or Dunrobin Castle that have military fortifications going back to the 13th or 14th century but have extremely palace-like Renaissance features with very typical round turrets. So when we look at the different architectural periods in different countries we have to take the different traditions into account.
@Alice Milne Yes, I just noticed that many English speakers almost always use Castle instead of Burg or Schloss, including translation apps.
@@alicemilne1444 That's great - but why is Neuschwanstein called a castle in English? It has no military or strategic value whatsoever. By your logic it should be "Palace Neuschwanstein", but then again "Palast" means something different in German. In some areas of Germany, the denomination of "Schloss" was strictly limited to the residences of the territorial ruler, other buildings like this by wealthy people would be called "Herrenhaus", "Gutshaus" and so on. The German feudal system was different from the one found in the area that is now the United Kingdom, so it's no wonder different words exist.
Danke. Mein Englisch ist nicht gut genug. Hab gerade geguckt was der Unterschied in der englischen Sprache ist....
Today a Schloss is a palace, a Festung is a Fortress of firearms age, and a Burg is a fortified Castle of medieval era. But in older days, the words had been used interchangeable. For example in 16. century Württemberg, some medieval castles had been modernized to fortresses, but called Bergschloss.
This video only shows the restored or maintained castles. Germany has the ruins and overgrown castles as well, just like Scotland.
Also important to note:
German has several words for castle and only some directly translate:
Burg > Castle = bulky military building
Festung > Fortress = even more bulky military building
Palast > Palace = residence of royalty
Schloss > ?! = will most likely be translated as "castle", but is actually closer to "palace", as it is usually the residence of a lord or lady
Most of the ones shown in the video are of the "Schloss" type, not of the "Burg" type.
And then there is Herrenhaus > Manor, which sometimes look to foreigners as castles.
Objection. A Palast was not limited to royalty, just to wealth. Also, the restriction of "Schloss" to the residence of a territorial ruler was not prevalent in all of Germany.
@@Uli_Krosse of course, there are always exceptions. I was speaking in general terms, which can't be denied.
A Burg is actually not in first instance a military building, the term in it's most narrow meaning very much refers to a building that was build in the medieval age and was home to at least a family of low nobility (Ritter/knights). Burgen were built to withstand attacks, but a lot of them never had to. Really, their main purpose was to be the home of a noble family and to also act as the administratrative center, the place of court for a territory and as a symbol of control over an area. It was also like a small to middle-sized business operation with horse breeding, cheese making, wine making ect. in a slightly bigger style than the farmers would to it, although a lot of that would be used to feed the inhabitants of the castle itself. Castles were not "military" buildings in the actual sense, they weren't places to station troops or something like that as with Roman fortresses for example.
What we now call a Schloss can just be a modified castle, a lot of Schlösser are (Schloss Marburg for example started as a castle). They can still have many of the same defensive structures as a castle, but they are now mainly just rural country houses of nobles or otherwise rich people without that much of an economic or administritive purpose.
A Festung is a building that is mainly used for military purposes, often a base for troops. We mostly use it for the kind of heavily fortified military buildings we see with the start of the early modern period in the 16th century. We talk about buildings built for war with guns and big cannons, Americans would call them forts I guess. Often with star-shaped designs to allow the best angles for heavy artillery. But it can also be used for the military-only buildings of Romans and other pre-medieval civilizations with standing armies.
A Palast/Palace is kinda similar to a Schloss, but usually urban, belonging more to the absolute high nobility or even a king or archbishop and they usually have a certain representative value and they tend to be much bigger because of all that.
@@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei well, yes, my comment isn't as precise as your explanation, but I didn't want to write an essay like you. There is such a thing as "close enough"...
My point was, that there are differences between German and English and that you cannot smoothly translate what buildings are/were with just a single word.
Schwerin Castle is my No. 1 in Germany. The Town Schwerin is also realy beautiful. Schwerin is Build between 7 Lakes.
The Tower of the Wartburg probably has a Cross, because Martin Luther found refuge here, when the HRE declared him a wanted man, and here he began his concepts to translate the Bible into German.
The Wartburg is the place where Martin Luther translated the bible into German. He was not really the first to do it, but his version was the one that caught on and is now the basis of most German translations. Since his bible was the first book that was available in German households all over the German speaking world, his way of writing (and speaking) very much contributed to what we know today as standard German language.
There are loads of smaller ruined castles around where I live. So, those exist, as well. Most castles are not in the possession of the old familie, whereas most fairly intact castles in Scotland seem to be. My favourite intact castles that I've visited because they're near where I live are
1. Hohenzollern (the one that you took out right before the actual list began and official no. 2 on the list) - a huge one, beautiful and well preserved.
2. Lichtenstein (no. 4 of the list).
3. Burg Teck (the Teck where the Royals get their name from, not in this video). I can actually walk there (6km) from my place. It, too, has a restaurant and a hikers' hostel in it.
Look at the Disney Logo Castle - that is Neuschwanstein.
Genau! Hier wurde Geschichte geschrieben. Die anderen Burgen/Schlösser sind nur hübsch. ;)
Very good! I wanted to provide the same hint. I was really very surprised that Martin Luther's name wasn't even mentioned (despite me being a catholic).
The Reformation was an important historical event not only for Germany.
Wartburgfest?
Eltz Castle, No. 2 in the video, has been owned by the founding family since the beginning of its existence and is one of the few castles that exist completely originally. This castle has never been destroyed and is therefore unique in substance. It is hidden in the forest near the Moselle and was also depicted as a portrait on the old 500 DM banknote.
Neuschwanstein and the Drachenburg on the Drachenfels near Bonn are not real old castles or palaces, but pure fantasy buildings from the era of historicism. The Dragon Castle (Drachenburg) is more of a playful villa of a wealthy merchant, but not really a castle or palace, because the building never was. Above this fantasy object, at the top of the mountain, are the ruins of the real Drachenfels Castle.
:-D thx for writing. I love the 'Marksburg' still mostly in its building shape .
I love the Marksburg too..
Although the word "castle" is used for both, it can mean "Burg" or "Schloss" in German and there is a big difference between this two types of buildings. A "Burg" is fortified in order to protect its inhabitants and armed forces against an attack or siege, so it is primarily a military building. A more precise translation may be "fortress" . A "Schloss" served as a residential building for those who could afford it an was primarily build to represent the richness of its owner, so it is more of a "palace".
In many cases both functions became important to some extend over time. A stronghold could become the preferred place for a sovereign to live in, especially in unsettled times, and some palaces were also built to protect their owners and their belongings.
Neuschwanstein is definitely on the "palace" end of the spectrum, as many of the beautiful castles shown here, with very limited use when attacked or besieged. With "protection" in mind, you would not choose a place on a lake, surrounded by hills, which might easily be flooded just by building a dam to retain the river flowing through that lake. With "beauty" on top of the requirements, you would choose exactly that place.
Many of these castles are located in places that have become interesting for tourists. Sometimes the castle itself became a tourist attraction, sometimes there is an old city nearby (which may have been the reason for building the castle in the first place or the city prospered in the shodow of the overlooking castle), sometimes it is the strategic placement on a hill near a river and sometimes the location was choosen because of its beautiful view, which still attracts visitors. Anyway, it is often lucrative to run a restaurant or hotel there, because there are a lot of visitors. I guess many Scottish castles are in more remote locations where running a hotel or restaurant would not pay off.
Yes, qa Burg is a home with military value (at its time), a Schloss is the poser version - nobles of old lived in a Burg, but it doesn't add any extra defensive value, so they just made it just look like one.
exactly, that's one reason the number of castles are so high in germany, as residential and military ones are counted together in the english word "castle". Another reason obviously is the late unification of all the different german states, so they each had their own military and residential castles.
In old days the words Burg , Schloss and Feste ( Veste) had been often used interchangeable, in contrast to now. And in swabian region also the word Schlössle exists, can be every old , but small representative building .
The "Loewenburg" (means Lion's Castle) in Kassel was build 1793 -1801 (long after medieval times) by Langraf Wilhelm IX because he wanted a romantic, medieval and scottish / british looking castle just for fun. It was built partly in ruins to make it more romantic and is roughly in scale 2:1 compared to real castles in GB - so it is smaller as it looks. The large tower was destroyed in ww2 and it's rebuilding was finished just last year. I grew up in Kassel and always loved to visit the Löwenburg.
There's a simple reason the first two castles in the intro look so awesome: both are barely around 150 years old. Neuschwanstein Castle (the first) was opened in 1884 and the Hohenzollern Castle in 1867. Neither are medieval castles, but castles that were built by their noble lords in the course of german "Romanticism".
No worry about that many Scottish castles are in ruins. We've got them also. Some of the most beautiful and attractive castles in Germany we saw are "new-built" from 19th century. Very rich people created their own "Disneyland".
4:30 I've never tought I'd here the words "late 18th century" and "medieval" right next to each other, but here we are...
I suppose someone has to retake their basic history class...
Ach, die paar Hundert Jahre... 😂
Castles in the UK, esp. Scotland and Wales are not ugly. I've still have to travel to Scotland but Welsh castles are breathtaking, esp. castle Coch. The history of Cardiff Castle is also nothing to sniff about. It dates back to the Roman times and it is amazing.
German castles vary from the original fortresses of the medival times to the more fantasy based castles of the 18th and 19th century and only very few of the 24000+ castles are actually habitable most of them are ruins.
Historians say, that they still discover new castles every year so that the real estimate of German castles could be more than 30-35000.
Saying so he gave his personal opinion. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and there is always something more beautiful than something. Yet by and large, on avergae, it is safe to say that British castle cannot compare to German castles regarding beauty.
The List is very looooong ;) I already was at Schwerin Castle and Wartburg. But even in my Region there are many more stunning Castles like Rochsburg, Festung Königstein or Schloss Moritzburg and the List goes on. Have a great Day!
I know what region you mean. 😁 And the most stunning castle (Burg) around there is Burg Kriebstein. I think its one of the best originally preserved in Germany and the location on the rock is crazy too.
Been to Festung Königstein a few times and It's definitely worth more than one visit.
I'm also a big fan of little Schloss Pillnitz and it's beautiful park. Greetings from the Lüneburger Heide, which has a real shortage of castles, but at least quite many interesting convents. 😊
I'd say those were the most touristy castles in Germany. There are about 25k castles and medieval mansions in Germany, though in varying states of upkeep, all the way from being a few small ruins all the way up to being lived in, and encompassing anything from military fortresses to residential palaces.
So this wasn't just a tiny selection, it was miniscule and heavily favored the palaces over the military fortresses, because they look more impressing.
The closest castle to me is Schloss Burg or translated in a literal sense: castle Castle. Though the story behind that name is a curious one:
It was the castle of the Count of Berg, originally called Schloss Neuenberge or Schloss Neuenburg, as the Berg dynasty abandoned their previous castle, it kind of made sense to them. Stayed that way until a large reconstruction in the 15th century, when it turned from Schloss Neuenburg to simply Schloss Burg. So it was for a while "Schloss Burg of the count Berg".
There are basically two different groups of castles: the old original "Burg" castles, as in medival fortified homes of nobility, and then the new castles from the 18th and 19th century, which were meant to be more a romanticising kind of palace, showing off wealth and "class" in those days. The most famous example is Neu-Schwanstein, build by bavarian king Ludwig II, a weirdo who lived in a fantasy world of his own.
And even non-nobles build their palaces in the later 19th century, if they had enough money, like in the case of the Drachenburg.
The old medival castles are a totally different breed. They were build as a fortified home and refuge for the local ruler, some earl or count or knight, just like the majority of the old castles in Scottland. I guess one of the most famous there is the castle that was used in the making of Monty Python's "Holy Grail" movie... :)
Btw., placing a castle in a big pond, or making a big trench filled with water around it, is a very old method of defense against attacker. This, or building on top of a hill were the usual way of getting a advantage over attacking forces. A "Wasserburg" is very effective in this - but not so good if you have rheumatism...:)
4:24 it is not a church. it is the "bergfried". a tower where important things and people could be safe in case of an attack. even with enemies running around inside the castle, you could survive there for a couple of days because once up there, you destroy the ladder or whatever. so they just sat there and watched from the highest point of the castle.
they had the choice to starve to death or surrender. which in many cases meant death also.
and this particular castle is very interesting! i have been there several times. you see the stages of building, you see what they have done to it over hundreds of years. it is a perfect example for any architecture student! you have hundreds of years of building and extensions.
So why does it has a cross on top ? 🙂
@@Yulo2000Leyje Why not? Could now be used as a church tower, but it was probably not built as one.
It was probably not that often the case that people would starve to death, actually we don't have much evidence of people actually using the Bergfried as last line of defense in any way. Usually, when the enemies comes into the castle, it's over anyway and there was no point. It would maybe be a wise thing to do when you know your allies would be there in like a day or so. The nobles wouldn't have that much too lose, they were usually not killed, but just captured. Which often just meant sitting in a fancy room with service and all.
And by the way, the entrance often had quite solid stairs. Sometimes there was like a little gap with a small drawing bridge or just some planks you could remove, but it wouldn't be that difficult to put someone there as a improvised bridge and getting the door open was then just a matter of hours. It was probably mostly supposed to look impressive.
Honestly Neu Schwanstein only has 15 ready to visit rooms, these are magnificent, but it would make more sense to visit Linderhof Palace.
After living near Frankfurt am Main for many years I always loved to visit the Ronneburg. Its just a small one bit they do beautiful medieval festivals there and you can visit a falconry there, too. 👍
I always missed Schloss Sanssouci in these kind of videos!
Greetings from Berlin 😎
Glücksburg is in Holstein, it is completely flat, they have no hills to put castles on. 🙂
I am somewhat dumbfounded that the list left out Schwerin castle - there's a reason why it's called the "Neuschwanstein of the North". Guess it's driving home the point: There's a lot of castles to choose over here. :P
Both the UK and Ireland have something that no other countries have in Europe and the rest of the world. It’s the combination of beautiful rugged northern landscape combined with romantic centuries old castle ruins that gives these countries it’s fairytale aura which is of course reinforced through countless films and books. There is no other place that combines the romanticism of old castles with that kind of landscape and cultural heritage. Yes Germany and France have their own castles and palaces but a lot of the times even when a castle is old it often got renovated and therefore looks artificial and not as natural and free like the castles standing in the endless expanses of the British countryside. Therefore I actually prefer Scottish castles.
i missed the "marxburg " , near koblenz
Of course, with over 25,000 castles to choose from, this list is wayyyy too short and centers around more touristy places. The most beautiful experiences to me where the castle ruins I stumbled upon by sheer chance. Though I freely admit, visiting Eltz castle in autumn (the "side season" when it was closed for visitors) took my breath away. The place was deserted and the castle and forest around it were partly hidden in fog. Neuschwanstein castle is the least authentic, it's a "fairy tale castle" built by king Ludwig, but still makes no. 1 on every list I've seen :'). There's a very good video about german castles and palaces by Dr. Ludwig that I totally recommend to you!
I was drawn in by the Schweriner Castle on the thumbnail. 😅
It's good to see some recognition of Mecklenburg anywhere.
I used to go to school in Schwerin and I also worked in the Schweriner Castle for a short period of time.
The Castle is used as state parliament of Mecklenburg - Vorpommern so inside it has many office rooms and what else you expect of a parliament building and sadly I haven't seen the Castle without building fences for as long as I am alive I believe.
Schwerin is my home town and we have been to the castle since we were children. In winter, people go sledding around the castle garden with a view of the castle. A very nice place :)
I love Burg Eltz... 800 year old, 800 years unconquered, held by the Counts of Eltz for 800 years *running* , the current Count Eltz still has an apartment there.
And it's unchanged in it's military function, in the case of a Zombie apocalypse it could still be held, unlike many others 😂.
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
before i watch this video...
in my opinion the castles in scotland are waaay cooler than the german ones. has to do with history and stuff and why and when they were built.
and again, i friggin love your accent! you almost pronounce words as germans would but with that special twist! is that any special accent you speak or do all scots just sound so cool?
I lived in the town below Schloss Lichtenstein. Compared to the other castles in the video, it's a small one and not really medieval. It was build for the Lord of Baden Wuerrtemberg in the midd 19th century as a hunting residence. It's worth for a a day trip, maybe in combination with Burg Hohenzollern which is an hour away from Lichtenstein Castle. Also in that wider area: Sigmaringen Castle which belongs to the same family: the Hohenzollern de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Sigmaringen#/media/Datei:Schloss_Sigmaringen_2022.jpg
If you plan a trip to southern Germany: also consider Salzburg and it's surroundings as Austria has also a lot of Castles (as well as Switzerland - there I recommend Chillon Castle at the lake of Geneva).
I lived near the schweriner castle and was born in Schwerin. It's still the most beautiful castle to me
9:10 acually i am from germany and i have been to most of the castles in this video! thanks to my father, who made me this castle and history nerd^^
and all i can tell you: visit them! even as a german i find them stunning. i can't imagine how surreal many castles must be to travellers!
though I have to say, Scottland has gorgeous castles as well with wonderful settings and gardens.
Where is the imperial castle of Triffels in which Richard I. the Lionheart was imprisoned?
Hammer, Amboss, Triffels... fehlen definitiv in der Liste
Don't forget your Whisky...for me the best in the world 😊❤
Some things to remark. Some fortresses are very nice, like the Würzburg fortress, or the fortress of Coburg. And a special thing is the restored Roman border fort Saalburg, north of Frankfurt. It was rebuilt in Imperial times in the early 20th century and gives a good impression of the life of a Roman legionnaire who served Rome in inhospitable Germania. There is an extensive museum exhibition and bratwurst "Roman Style"...
And what I forgot to mention is, that the Schwerin Castle is the seat of the state parliement of Mecklenburg- Vorpommern.
Veste Coburg is Nr. 1 for me
Greetings from 🇩🇪to 🏴.I love 🏴👍
They try to preserve as many old buildings and castles as possible. The cost for upkeep is quite high, so many castles are used by the government and house different kinds of offices or courts. My favourite castle is Schloss Seehof in Bamberg. It's small, but really pretty. And houses the state office for the preservation of historical monuments... quite fitting. Fancy workplace, a castle 😂
I believe you do not mean "Schoenberg Castle", but "Schönburg" in Oberwesel...ruclips.net/video/GV674_dO3lY/видео.html
Neuschwanstein is beautiful, but no one ever really live in there, so it's missing something. I prefer Hohenschwangau, the neighbouring castle where King Ludwig's family actually lived. And, of course, Hohenzollern Castle.
I know, it sounds a bit weird, but my fave castles are all in Austria: Hochosterwitz Castle, Heinfels Castle, Hohenwerfen Castle, the fortress of Kustein.
Sorry as a german. You have my vavorite Castles.🏴🇩🇪 eileen or dunnottar Castle.
The Marksburg should have had an honourable mentioning, as it has been the template for most toy castles. Also worth an honourable mentioning are Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, Burg Rheinfels, Schloss Braunfels, Schloss Limburg, Starkenburg Heppenheim,…
Drachenburg castle ^^ ...Die Burg=the castle, Die Drachenburg=Dragon's Castle or Castle Dragon.
The Schweriner Schloss 9:58 has it's original purpose back again ... To rule a region. The parliament of "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" - the most north-easter Country of Germany - resides in that building.
as someone from schwerin im always happy when our castle gets mentioned
you dont recognize its beauty until youre not home for some time but its just 5min from our flat and always a nice option to go to
also funny to say is that there is a spot that has a nice view of the castle and its popular for all the teenagers to drink there late at night and it somehow connects the younger generations with this building and its surroundings
There are approximateltly 25,000 castles, palaces and grand mansions in Germany. Its a lot.
Mert, if you want to see A LOT of german castles, book a ship tour from Koblenz to Rüdesheim. Plus in Rüdesheim is Siegfrieds mechanisches Musikkabinett, the new home of the Wintergatan Marble Machine😂
What a pity they didn't show europe's biggest inhabited castle; castle st. emmeram, thurn und taxis. in general, i think Mert would love Regensburg. The awesome castle, the Walhalla, the old inner city, the danube, etc.
Im living only 20 minutes away from Heidelberg... so Heidelberg Castle (actually, the "Heidelberger Schloss" ^^) is one of the attractions we show the visitors and colleagues from other countries as a real "must have seen" sight in our region ❤
Two Things to be said here.
1.
Actually. While Germany has alot of Castles. France has even more.
Germany has around 25.000 while France has 40.000.
2.
The Reason for this Number and the Looks You noticed however is that this is a Translation Issue.
In Germany there is different words for most of these.
Basicly. Castle Translates into 4 different German Words.
A.
"Burg" which is the Castle You think off. Usually atop a Hill or in a well Defended Position with Towers and Defensive Walls etc.
B.
"Schloss" which would be better Translated as Palace. Because its still a Castle. But its one of these Castles like Buckingham Palace.
C.
"Herrenhaus" which would be better Translated as Royal Mansion.
This is what You were Surprised about when Seeing it. Because while its basicly a Huge Building. Which also does have Defensive Works usually. But which is still not so much a Castle but rather a Mansion.
Just that its a Mansion of some Powerful Noble, Royal, Cardinal etc. And therefore had actual Defenses and Guards.
D.
"Festung" This is a Fortress or Citadel. Its basicly a Huge Castle which might even House a Small City or Military Camp. Complete with a Huge Mansion, Defensive Works and Fortress Walls etc.
Now. What You think of as Castle is likely only A and D.
While C would be what You would call a Mansion. And B would be what You call a Palace.
I don’t agree with the choices in this video at all.
Too many 19th century fairytale constructions - even the Wartburg, historically the most important german castle was heavily rebuilt.
But if you are looking for real medieval castles there is only one in the film - the beautiful Burg Eltz.
I would recommend Burg Burghausen for it’s size, Burg Lichtenberg, the Meersburg at Lake Constance, Burg Reichenberg and others.
Then there are the representative Palaces from the renaissance period like the Heidelberger Schloss, Güstrow (both ruins), or Heiligenberg.
Beautiful baroque palaces in Ludwigsburg, Würzburg, Schwetzingen, Ludwigslust, Dresden (Zwinger) or - off course - Potsdam (Sanssouci) - and many others.
And if you are really into the Disney-type fake castle from the 19th century, go for Neuschwanstein, Schwerin or Hohenzollern - or the cute versions, Lichtenstein or Linderhof.
The Schloss Hohenzollern that was shown in this video was actually the Burg Hohenzollern in Bisingen. The actual Schloss Hohenzollern is in Sigmaringen about 50km southeast to the Burg
If you check out pictures of the no.1 Neuschwanstein, you will see that Hohenschwangau castle (my personal fave) is right next to it. There are amazing shots where you can see both castles together. Oh and btw I have been to these two at least 15 times till now. The 3 castles my hometown got are no match but are also nice buildings.
When it comes to German castles, Burghausen is often not mentioned. This is strange because
1. The word "castle" is in the name and
2. The castle holds a world record: it is the longest in the world.
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Attention! In 14th century great time of ,German Knights Culture ' was over, so most castles fell into ruins. Some had been transformed into modern fortresses and used to 19th century, others had been transformed into representative Schlösser/ palaces ,or Herrenhäuser, an englishman would call .... House, .... Hall or ...Manor.
Im From Heidelberg... We Were told the French destroyed our castle because some Louis Anyhow thought, because of his Wife who was from Here the castle should belong to him.
Neuschwanstein.... ya...for me its just "nostalgic fake"
I Miss the Ehrenbreitstein in Koblenz
To Build a Castle you can build it up a hill, on cliffs .....or on an island in a lake... which we would call "Wasserburg" and i think whe i remember the Holy Grail Monty Python Film than the Final ambush scene is on to a "wasserburg"
Glücksburg Castle belongs to the family of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, which is the dynasty, that is still the royal family of Denmark. This is just just part of the history of Germany and also the reason for those many castles. Until 1871 there was no real Germany. There were multiple states and dynatsties on German territory, like Prussia, Bavaria or Holstein. In some cases the local ruler of such a state was also the ruler of a foreign country, like in this case Denmark or more prominently the house Hannover, which got to be English kings after the Stuarts.
As there were so many states, there was also quite a lot of rivalry, hence the many castles. The German state I live in (Baden Württemberg) has half the size of Scotland. Before Napoleon this area constisted of over 300 independent states. Some were only a couple of villages or a single city or even just a monastery. And they all tried to defend their territory. If you look at a map from around 1600, this is absolutely crazy.
And in many of the "larger" realms the Dukes or Counts or whatever did build a palace later on and tried to trump their Neighbours. The duke of Württemberg for example had a palace in Stuttgart and did build four more. One of them, Schloss Ludwigsburg was planned as the German Versailles, just that Württemberg back then had less inhabitants than Paris alone.
Glücksburg is really nice, but Castle Stalker in Scotland is also in a lake. Great place. In the north of Germany there are no hills or mountains, so most castles are surrounded by water. And they don't have much stones, so they used bricks instead.
Mespelbrunn is still in private hands. It is located in the famous Spessart forest, so it is really surrounded by forest. And it is really an old castle.
Some others, like Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, Drachenburg or Hohenzollern were built from scratch in the 19th century. Hohenzollern was the dynasty of the German emperors. The dynasty had moved from here to Prussia and became king there. So wen they became emperor, they decided to rebuild their old family seat in very fantasy style. Same time and style as the Glenfinnan Monument or the Hub in Edinburgh.
Lichtenstein castle is just around the corner from me.
Some more traditional castles are in ruins, like Burg Rötteln, Heidelberg, or Wertheim. Sme are more carefully reconstructed, like Coburg, Pfalzgrafenstein or the Marksburg.
And some of the really large castles were redesigned to fortresses, like Hohentwiel, Hohenneuffen or Königstein, while their old residents moved to their new palaces.
Some great palaces in Germany would be Ludwigsburg, Moritzburg, Würzburg, Sanssouci, Nordkirchen, Schwetzingen, Nymphenburg...
And you get more castles than you can count on the Mittelrheintal, which is a UNESCO world heritage. 40 castles and ruins on 60 km river line.
And you can even find a lot of castles in neighbour countries, like Austria or Czech republic, as in medieval times the belonged to the German empire as well. So Salzburg or Prague have also fantastic castles.
Refuge from the Imperial Penalty for the Reformer
Luther's stay at Wartburg Castle, defiantly situated above Eisenach, was not long and not entirely voluntary. From May 4, 1521 to March 1, 1522, the theologian lived there in a modest cell, which can be visited today as Luther's room. This stay has gone down in history not only because it saved Luther's life, but also because Luther used his time at Wartburg Castle for great things. Here he translated the New Testament from the Greek text into German. With this translation, the Holy Scriptures - previously a reading for scholars who knew the ancient languages - became readable for the first time by anyone who could read.
Hohenzollern is Germany’s Windsor, the seat of the imperial family. Wartburg is where Martin Luther was taken by a friendly prince, where he began translating the German Bible.
7:51 is actually 100% wrong, as this "castle" has neither been restored nor is it an old castle after all. It was built around 100 years ago by an investor and serves both as a museum and night accomodation.
The REAL castle is WAAAAY up the hill, and still in ruins.
That's why you can't trust channels with AI voiceover: Around 99% of it is bullcrap.
The Löwenburg Castle is not exactly a real castle, more a build castle ruin for a private park, kinda like a garden house. The Schwerin Castle is the parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern nowadays. The Glücksburg Castle has a twin in Ahrensburg, looks very similar.
Until 1918 most of the castles still have been private owned. And quite a lot of castles and palaces are still owned privately by the family it belonged too, that is most likely why they are in such good conditions.
Burg Eltz and Wartburg are my favorites (I visited both of them) I’m Dutch. Visited Cochem too.
Have a look at Dutch castles.
There are also castles and manors in Germany which are ruined and have felt apart, but they have been preserved in 20th century to keep them in their latest state to be savely visited by the public.
Some of those ruined and preseved castles are used as stage for small concerts and events like medival markets.
My favourite castle by now is Burg Eltz. I also visited a lot of other castles like In Burg Colditz, Gnandstein, Burg Hartenfels, Burg Kriebstein, Burg Mildenstein, Barockschloss Delitzsch, Schloss Moritzburg. There are more, but I do not remember every one.
So for me as a German I have to say what I haven't seen in SO many castles so that I can even list them: Veste Coburg (I live in the district), Rosenau Castle, Rosenberg Kronach Fortress, Mitwitz moated castle (there is every one there year a very nice Christmas market), Ehrenburg Castle (I think important for England), Callenberg Castle, Lauterburg ruins, Hohenfels Castle, and yes, that should have been all of them so far. Greetings 😁
Definitiv "Veste Coburg"
btw. we have a Law the "Denkmalschutzgesetz" - mean "you have to take care of old buildings etc."
In my opinion, Braunfels Castle is one of the most beautiful castles in Germany. Unfortunately, the castle is rather unknown. Incidentally, there are also beautiful castles here in Switzerland. Probably anywhere in Europe. thanks for your video
This US made documentation get`s a lot of facts wrong. E.g. : Lichtenstein castle is close to my home. It is built by the King of Wuerttemberg (south west of Germany) in 1850 as a accomodation for hunting in the near by forrestes with his noble friends. On top of the ruins of an very old medival castle. It is a romantic medival interpretation based on a novel written by theb author Mr. Hauff.
Most of these castles are romantic buildings from the 1890ies when medival history was big fashion. Built on top of medival ruins ore squesed in, but still they are "new". New means from the period of 1850 to 1900.
Neuschwanstein is the most famous, but is as fake as the disney thing. Built as his personal palace, imitating several former architectural periods with some ad ons of medieval fortresses to personal liking of King Ludwig. There even are modern steel structures in it like in the Eifel tower, Electrical power and Telefone, just futuristic new coming up at that time. And Ludwig spend so much money for it, that it did not get completed, , but the state of Bavaria got to be bankruptced, had to get submerged by former rival kingdoms and deleted from all maps.. King Ludwig was declared insane, and submerged under psychiatric control under house arrest. Found dead shortly after that in the nearby lake, unclear , if murdered or just drowned. So as submerged as the state of Bavaria, wich happened after him. To this day, the Bavarians feel, they still are their own state and act like that politicly. When you come across the border from Austria, at first you see a sign "Freistaat Bayern" then secondly a sign" Bundesrepublk Deutschland" behind it. What it never was, like the american author told us, is a "castle". That would be a kind of military purposed fortified building, called "Burg". This was going to become " "Schloss Neuschwanstein" Schloss beeing Palace, representative home of noble persons like Kings, Dukes and so forth. and oftentimes the building of the government. In that video there were many fake buildings like villas in the style of Schlösser, mostly Palaces and and very few Castles, which would be called "Burg", a suffix that is worldwide known and just at the end of city names, when a city developed over time under the protectiom of a Burg ( castle). And -by the way the 5 cornered "castle" at the end in the sunset was not a castle, as it is the " Schweriner Schloss" of Schwerin, the capital city of the state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern and this Schloss houses the regional Government. I don't know, why tin Germany all Schlösser and burger are put under the same label: In france in the valley of Loire there are many famous Places ( Schlösser) and i don't think they are named castles there. Would the americans even name Versailles or the the Louvre a castle? They are and were Palaces as well, allthough the Louvre started as a combination of both at first.
I just visited Glücksburg castle just about a week ago and it really was stunning. See, those lake / mout castles were built in places were no mountains could be used to fight off attackers. Like in my hometown, Detmold, we have a representative castle with a small park still surrounded by the old mout from two sides. Glücksburg is in the very north of Germany, but there are no mountains. More to the south, like the Rhine/Mosel Region and especially the very south like Bavaria you almost exclusively find those mountain top fortresses.
Gotta say something about the Löwenburg at 4:40 here. The narrator correctly says it was purpose-built in the gardens/park of Wilhelmshöhe Castle (representative castle, not military fortress). However, the purpose never was to fend off attackers, but rather to have a classic romantic thing to look at when wandering around in these parks. It's sole purpose is to look nice. Then again, it does this pretty well. Have also visited the Wilhelmshöhe Castle gardens about a year ago
Next to the Burg Eltz, I also like the Marxburg and Castle Braunfels a lot.
Neuenschwanstein ist very touristic, but fully worth it as it's full of surprises on the inside. I used the end of the Covid times to visit it and, though, some rooms were closed due to the regulations, I felt, it was the best time to go as it permitted me to go in without queuing and in small groups of 20 people only, one group per 20 mins. In normal times, it's absolutely overcrowded with people from all over the world.
On that weekend, I also visited Hohenschwangau, but it's more expensive and far less interesting.
Heidelberg Castle is also worth it to visit it.
And there are more...
As for the usage: In Koblenz, there is a fortress (Festung Ehrenbreitstein), into which they have put a Youth Hostel. We went there with my school class for a week. I loved it! Those thick walls and hidden paths even. As, originally, I'm from the very flat north, it was also awesome to sit on top of a hill and to be able to look down onto the town from there.
But, well, having lived in Scotland, I also adore those rougher castles a lot, and, having been member of two trusts, I visited a lot of them! 😍
I live near "Marienburg" - Castle in the area of the City of Hildesheim. You really should come over to visit. It's not so far away from Your home. Just a short flight to Hanover...😊 See You in Germany!!
this Scottish guy seems completely oblivious to the castles background. e.g. Glückburg castle should give him a hint simply by its name. Glücksburg is one of the oldest ruling houses of Europe and as a Scot he should know the late prince Philip, duke of Edinburgh was a member of the house of Glücksburg, just not of the main branch. the present Danish and Norwegian monarchs and the former Greek kings are also part of the house of Glücksburg.
the first two castles he presented in the preview were the famous dream castle Neuschwanstein, the thing Disney used as blueprint for its emblem. it's not old but a historicist palace and construction started just in 1869 (practically yesterday, seen from a European historical p.o.v. ) and the next one was Hohenzollern castle, which as the name inplies, is the family seat of that famous house which ruled Brandenburg/Prussia for centuries. no wonder it is in pristine condition.
As a German I rly wonder why they never include "Festung Königsstein"? Ok it might not be anymore medival but it's really pretty to walk to it.
Martin Luther spent several years at Wartburg Castle under the protection of the Elector of Saxony, Frederick, after Luther was banned from the church for his theses and declared an outlaw.
During his stay at Wartburg Castle, he translated the Bible into German, thus laying the foundation for modern High German.
The church tower in the middle of the Wartburg castle definitely has it's meaning. The Wartburg castle is the place where MartIn Luther translated the Bible into German, which layed the groundstone for Protestantism. :)
I like the "Ulenburg Castle" - our local moated castle in Löhne / Northrhine-Westfalia
i come from a town with 18000 people and we have 3 castles nearby (5-10km)
and easily 5 more within a radius of 20km
insider tip: if you want to see a lot of castles on one trip, take a boat from Bingen down the Rhine river all the way to st. goar and you'll see about 20-30 different castles left- and righthand side of the rhine
I seem to remember the Scottish ruins are due to a tax-reform in the late 18th century. One had to pay taxes for the size of a property if there was a roof on it, so people dismantled roofs. And once the roof is gone it takes about 75years to turn a building in a ruin.
And these german castles are mostly restored - and often reconstructed - in the 1820's to 1890's - or completly rebuilt from scratch like Neuschwanstein. (There was a ruin beneath, but it was removed for the sake of the King's new Fantasycastle.)
Nice video But unfortunately there are like 50% tourist style castles. We also got Ruins On mountains. In my section of Germany we got 384 castles. I’ve been to Most of them mentioned in the video.I could figure out your email address I will send you a link to a German homepage dealing with all the castles In Germany.
Heidelberg Castle was destroyed by the french, not by lightning. A lot of the shown castles like Neuschwanstein and Hohenzollern are not real historical buildings, but romantisized historisms, buit in the 19th century.
By the way, the city of Altena (the 2nd Castle) turned out to be the cheapest germany town to rent an appartment. 60sqm for 200 Euro in a good condition. Because they had a previous military camp from the british that turned into appartments but with the soldiers the whole population went away to other cities, loving 50% of it's people in just a decade.
Some historical background: Germany was united quite lately in 1871 (officially), before it was divided into many small political units (maybe 30 - 300). Each unit had a king or another noble (Fürst, Herzog, Graf etc) who built his own residence for reprensentative reasons, the normal people were suffering. Germany was always a poor country in the past.
You will find hundreds (or even thousands) of that kind of residences or castels all over Germany. PLUS magnificient churches or cathedrals in every town or city. Unfortunately most was destroyed in war up to a line of the Main river at Frankfurt.
Have all fun here , its really one of the most beautiful countries in the whole world! Welcome
Oh my, never heard of Neuschwanstein? I'm afraid Scotland is farther away then I thought! But then again, I have never seen a Scottish castle myself.
This can fit to castles as well as to humor, although it‘s a bit older already. BTW…Ostfriesland is located at the North West of Germany.
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the burg mylau is a pretty nice one situated on a rock between two river valleys, offering amazing views of the gölzsch river valley, featuring other amazing architecture such as the gargantuan gölzsch viaduct, the largest brick bridge in the world.
Schwerin Castle is now the seat of the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
You are extremly charming with your admiration of German castles. I never thought that comparing about them.
The 2011 movie 3Muscetieres features Würzburg Residenz as Versailles. Honestly, this just scratches the surface.
Beautiful video. We've been to the Neuschwanstein Castle in the south of Bavaria and of course the 'Heidelberg Castle' since we've lived there over 27 years.
from those featured in the video I've been only to Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein and Heidelberg, but that List is very short and there are so many more castles. Where I live in central Bavaria within a 50km range I have serveral castled and palaces and of course ruins. I just have to cross the road to get tothe local Schloss, but don't imagine it like those shown in the video. It's just a fancy nobilities home, right in the middle of the village and many villages here have their own Schloss.
However, the next village to the west has a fully grown castle towering over the village, so does the next village too and there is the Rosenburg looking down on the city of Riedenburg 20km to the east from where I live.
The reason for so many castles and ruins here is the landscape. North of Ingolstadt and the Danube river there are a lot river valleys and it's only logical to build a castle high engough to be able to overlook the valley for approaching enemies. That explains why there's literarely a castle within visual range of the next castle. They simply did't trust their neighbors.
As an origin Mecklenburger I love the Castle of Schwerin. Whenever I'm there I go and visit it.
The most impressive castle is Burg Eltz as it has been inhabited by the same family since the middle ages. It has the original style and look 19th ct. Neuschwanstein strifes for.
I once was in Hohenzollern Castle as a child, in the Wartburg I was on a tour folws Martin Luther, and thi year I was in Castle Cochem
There are videos with Germany before WW2, so before the cities were bombed into oblivion.
Stuttgart is not the same city anymore. Just compare the old with the new city hall, then you know what I mean by that...
Dont forget about France and his "castle of River Loire", the place with the most castles in the world
Oh! Number 14: Burg Altena is just 10min drive by car from my home - btw i am from Germany 😁