Castles for sartorias

[ellarien]

Romania was late getting a monarchy; the first King, imported from Germany built Peles, with all the late-nineteenth-century modern conveniences, with his private fortune. The inside is amazing but not allowed to be photographed, but the outside gives the general flavor. More in the Flickr set here.









Bran is a much older castle, medieval Saxon, vaguely associated with the notorious Vlad Tepes aka Dracula for the purposes of the tourist trade. It was given to Queen Marie by a grateful nation after WW1; the revolution destroyed most of her furniture, but they've tried to reconstruct the general impression with similar pieces from elsewhere.

More here..





Warwick was an easy train-ride away when I was in Birmingham, many years ago now. I apologize for the poor quality -- between cheap cameras, cheap film and bad light, there isn't a lot left. It's a medieval castle again, one that mostly survived the 1640's Civil War and was still in use as a stately home at the turn of the last century. The Victorians didn't live in the towers and dungeons, of course, though they left them intact, but in more modern suites of rooms attached to the old Great Hall, so the visitor gets a flavor of two very different eras. (There's a real basement dungeon and torture chamber in one of the towers.) The castle opens pretty much into the top of the main street in the little town, with the railway station at the far end, if I remember right. Oh, and there are peacocks in the gardens.

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

The castle opens pretty much into the top of the main street in the little town, with the railway station at the far end

Here in Newcastle, the railway runs directly through the castle. Damn Victorians, blithely steamrollering through mediaeval ruins without a second thought...

[ellarien]

I believe Sheffield's castle -- which didn't survive the Civil War -- is somewhere under the foundations of a covered market. The market is slated for demolition, and there have been calls to do something more interesting with the castle remnants, but it would have to be along the lines of Jorvik in York -- more reconstruction than reality.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

These are wonderful. I have to say, the castles terraced into the side of a mountain are picturesque as bedamned, though they must have been hell to climb up and down every day. I can certainly see the possibilities for sekrit passages, though1

[ellarien]

Thanks!
Come to think of it, both the Romanian ones featured secret passages. The one in Peles went from the library to the royal bedroom, and was rather poorly concealed in the paneling; Bran had one that went up two floors in the the thickness of the wall that was part of the tour -- just a steep staircase between unfinished walls, with a barrel-vaulted roof.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Cooooool!

[kicking-k.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I have to go to Romania. I have always wanted to find a real secret passage, and looking at one would be almost as good.

My great-aunt's house in Norfolk has a hidden stairway, but the house is only 18th-century and it comes out near the kitchen, so I assume it was meant for servants.

[ellarien]

Romania's an interesting place. I was there a couple of years ago, just before it was admitted to the EU; I don't know how much will have changed by now. There's more about it here.

(And welcome, by the way!)

[kicking-k.livejournal.com]

My slender knowledge of Central to Eastern Europe is largely coloured by my sister's experiences in Slovakia (she built a community centre for a Roma settlement there as a student architect).

Looking at your pictures, the landscape looks similar while the architecture seems more Germanic, although the churches look more Slavic than I would have expected. I like the look of Bran castle a lot!

(That sister studied in Sheffield, as it happens.)

[ellarien]

I think that makes sense -- German rulers, off and on, in that part of the country, but the church was Orthodox. Parts of the landscape reminded me weirdly of Colorado -- plains of corn and sunflowers, little nodding oil derricks, and distant mountains.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I was reading Sartorias's thread hoping for exactly this - Bran Castle is my very favorite. (And you get bonus points for knowing that the connection with Vlad Tsepes is ... tenuous.)

-Nameseeker

[ellarien]

You're welcome! It was an interesting place, and well worth the few extra dollars to take photographs inside.