| A castle is a construction (or group of constructions) for the purpose of defense and fortification. In the most common words it’s the strengthening wall of feudalists in the middle age in Europe. Most of the castles which exist in the present day resemble their structural history and culture.
The history of their formation and Development:
The first background of Castles started in 7-8 BC in the territory of ASSYRIA, after that prototype castles were seen in the architecture of ancient Rome. In this era it was mainly strengthening for example of a highly protected place of the Roman empire, Ancient age fortification mostly had influence on the architecture of European castles in the middle ages .The fortification construction was like the Western European fortification constructions like the Kremlin of Moscow. Old Russian fortification construction had peculiar characters closely related with the cities, they were not only combined with a protective function but also resembled the culture and building styles, that's why the meaning of the castles to protect the feudal lords practically does not exist in Russia .By the end of the middle age era castles lost their first meaning that they were only meant for protection and now known as place for living. With development, the protective function of castles has disappeared completely. The future of castle architecture was maintained only in the quality of decoration (French Castles - ending in the 14th Century). Repeated regular planning with the clear appearance reflection of the main building acquired the character of palaces (Madrid Castle in Paris 15 - 16th Century). In the 16th Century Castle architecture in Western Europe came to an end and palaces raised. The the protective function still existed only in castles of Georgia where they were actively constructed up to 18th Century. By the end of the 18th Century to the startof the 19th century due to the waves of romanticism the construction of castles was again activated but now the new construction of castles was stylized however and they did not have any protective function. The walls and towers of the castle at times were only for a decorative purpose, this type of castle was constructed by prince Ludvic II , Bavaria in the19th Century ( Castle of New Vanghtain). There existed some castles which did not belong to one feudalist but were under the control of Knights, and like this castle were big in size for example Königsberg Castle.
Structure:
The early European castle was built mostly with wood. They were encircled with a wooden wall and pole fencing and started digging pits around the castle, for example the Castle is the Capital Castle of the Prince of Kiev. The rock castle construction had spread into Western and Central Europe by the 12th Century. The main part of the middle aged castles contained a central tower dungeon; the function carried out was to strong hold the tower. Also, this defensive function dungeon served as a living place for feudalists. As such the main tower contained living rooms for the officials of the castle, a water well, a domestic place, store rooms, shops etc. Mostly dungeon contained big administration rooms. Features of dungeons may be found in the castles of Western and central Europe, Caucasus and central Asia.
Generally a castle had a big courtyard surrounded by heavy solid teeth walls with towers and a strong surrounding wall that contained an inner yard including domestic buildings, garden and plantations.
The entire castle was surrounded by a second layer of wall and a fence from which they had a connecting bridge. Such castles mostly were in a rectangular shape or were according to the plans of local inhabitants. Many examples of such constructions remain up to the present day in the territories of Great Britain, Germany, France, Ukraine, Belarus. The latest structures of Castles was made into territories of Castles containing barracks, courts , Churches, prisons and other constructions( the Castle of Kusi in France in the 13th Century and the Castle of Great Britain ).
|
