Outstanding shots of some amazing Japanese architecture. I have always been a fan of their unique combination of grace and power. The stonework alone is amazing. Thanks for these! 
Sintra is really something to see, and Belem Tower looks like something from a wedding cake. But I really like the Castle of the Moors, also located in Sintra. The antiquity, location and construction are wonderful. Living in Europe for eight years had its benefits; I can’t begin to recount all the castles I saw in Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, etc. Oh, and Prague Castle.
You poor prideless, diversity-loving people. Stormfront.org has a thread about castles; part of their white/European heritage thing. Look for “The outrageous beauty of medieval castles.” Cant post a link. Using my phone.
It’s only a model.
I have a kinda strange question: are any of these castles verboten to be photographed like Falling Waters in SW PA?
One of my favorites is the Chateau de Coucy. Deliberately dynamited by the Germans during the First World War as part of their misguided policy of intentionally making themselves hated, it was regarded in its day as one of the militarily mightiest castles in Europe.
Yep! “Hearst’s Castle,” built by W.R. Hearst, of whom Charles Foster Kane was a fictionalized portrayal (or caricature, your choice.)
In the actual movie, they used long shots of the California Tower, in San Diego, for Kane’s palatial estate, “Xanadu.”
(This is kind of uppermost in my thoughts right now, as, just two hours ago, I took a tour that climbed up into the upper reaches of that tower! Whoo! Wonderful view!)
I suppose Iolani Palace us the only dwelling in the US built for royalty.
You can see a cutaway model of Coucy in all its glory here.
And, here, a 3D animation of the donjon-keep (largest such in Europe), basement to battlements.
Je suis ni roi, ni prince aussi: Je suis le seigneur de Coucy!
Before the Louvre Palace we know as an art museum, there was a Louvre Castle on the same site.
Love of castles aside, a Straight Doper is the kind of person who goes to the beach and builds sand star forts de Vauban.
Grin! So terribly, hilariously true!
This one is neither the most spectacular, nor the best-preserved (it’s in ruins) but it has a very special place in my heart. Located about 15km from where I grew up, I must have visited it twenty times. It was one of the typical one-day trips that I’d do with my family when I was a kid. Lots of great memories from that place.
http://www.castles.nl/franchimont-castle
https://www.google.fr/search?q=franchimont&biw=1600&bih=789&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0CAgQ_AUoA2oVChMIlsnZydXzxwIVRlgaCh3PSQcy
My father is a huge Middle Ages buff and we visited dozens of castles in Belgium, France and Germany when I was young. I thought it was a drag at the time but cherish these memories now. These visits opened my mind.
I prefer Pierrefonds – at least it looks like it was designed with defense in mind. (Which it was; the present confection is a 19th-Century neo-Gothic fantasy like Neuschwanstein, but it is also an actual medieval fortress “restored” from ruins by Viollet-le-Duc, with more or less the original defensive features rebuilt.)
My favorite is the Krak de Chevaliersin Eastern Syria, greatest of all crusader forts. No soaring towers or ornamented crenelations here - this castle’s all business, projecting sheer *strength *better than any other building I’ve ever seen.
Unfortunately, the castle was damaged last year in the civil war, and it’s current state is unknown.
Not really the most attractive of buildings, but my SIL is something like 17th in line to inherit Borthwick Castle in Scotland.
I have seen so many Vauban things in the last five years it ain’t funny.
On a happier note, will be seeing Carcassonne in the next several days
Deal Castle and Pendennis Castle and other Henrician device forts are of interest as an intermediate stage between the medieval castle and the star fort, an effort to adapt the original castellar defensive architecture to the age of gunpowder.
Sorry, the animation is here.
I think I can answer this.
What’s the point of a castle? To create a stronghold that would be difficult to conquer in a war. But why do you want a stronghold? The point of a stronghold is to have a safe place to quarter your troops and dominate an area. So you can build impenetrable castles on all sorts of tidal rocks and isolated mountain crags and desolate wastes, but those castles would be useless, since they don’t help you control valuable lands or trade routes.