Taken from @Archaeo-Histories:

> Hrad Bouzov Castle, a medieval fortress situated in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic, approximately 35km northwest of Olomouc.

> The castle dates back to the early 14th Century CE, and was originally built by the noble Búz family, who were prominent in the region. The castle features a dominant central tower, surrounded by a complex of defensive walls, turrets and bastions. It includes richly decorated interiors, such as grand halls, a chapel and knight’s rooms.

The French Wikipedia article about the castle

The fortress was built in the place of a Byzantine fortress from the sixth century. It served as an important centre during the Second Bulgarian empire, second only to the capital of Turnovo. It minted coins and in 1235 it became the seat of the Bishopric of Cherven.

The fortress was burned by the invading ottomans in 1388, with most people fleeing to what is today Ruse.

There is also a 3D reconstruction of the town during the 14th century

Cherven’s wiki

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Tower%2C_Worcestershire

Strictly a "folly" but you may like it.

Description: The ruins of a castle on a steep cliff, against the backdrop of a cloudy sky and lush green forests. Up against the cliffside are a few stone houses, overlooking a river and a stony beach on the opposite shore.

Drone camera footage by The Kilted Photographer: Original video here

Wikipedia article about the monument

Made famous by the Harry Potter films. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the 1066 Norman conquest.

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Visited this in primary school (90s).

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• English Heriatge

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Wikipedia article about the fortress

Homepage | Geo-Location

The castle is open for visits (entry fee 70 Lei which is about 15€)

Commonly known outside Transylvania as Dracula's Castle, it is marketed as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker's Dracula. There is no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle, which has only tangential associations with Vlad the Impaler, voivode of Wallachia, who shares his name with Dracula. Stoker's description of Dracula's crumbling fictional castle also bears no resemblance to Bran Castle.

The castle is now a museum dedicated to displaying art and furniture collected by Queen Marie. Tourists can see the interior on their own or by a guided tour. At the bottom of the hill is a small open-air museum exhibiting traditional Romanian peasant structures (cottages, barns, water-driven machinery, etc.) from the Bran region.

The construction of the castle began in the 10th century at the place of the Ancient Roman castell Bononia. The building of Baba Vida is tied to a legend, according to which a Danubian Bulgarian king who ruled at Vidin had three daughters: Vida, Kula and Gamza. Prior to his death, he divided his realm among the three. Vida, the eldest, was given Vidin and the lands north to the Carpathians, Kula was awarded Zaječar and the Timok Valley, and Gamza was to rule the lands west up to the Morava. Although Gamza and Kula married to drunkard and warlike nobles, Vida remained unmarried and built the castle in her city. The name of the castle means "Granny Vida".

Due to wars and castles being torn down as to prevent rebellions or just for the materials during ottoman times Baba Vida remains the only fully intact castle in Bulgaria.

Baba Vida’s wiki

And Vidin’s

Photo by Aki Mykkänen

Wikipedia article about the castle

It served as the primary stronghold in the capital of the Second Bulgarian empire. It’s situated on the Yantra river, on a hill of the same name, across it is the other main hill in the medieval city - Trapezitsa.

It was conquered on 17 July 1393 by the ottomans after a three month siege, during which the tsar was at Nikopol, leaving the Bulgarian patriarch to defend the city.

On 22 September 1908, at the foot of Tsarevets, in the Holy Forty martyrs church, tsar Ferdinand declares Bulgaria’s independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Here’s a great guide for Tsarevets

Schwerin Castle also known as Schwerin Palace is a schloss located in the city of Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state, Germany. It is situated on an island in the city's main lake, Lake Schwerin. Major parts of the current castle were built between 1845 and 1857. Like Alcázar of Segovia, Schwerin Castle was one of the many real palaces who inspired Disney's Cinderella Castle.

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Castel del Monte is a 13th-century citadel and castle situated on a hill in Andria in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It was built during the 1240s by King Frederick II, who had inherited the lands from his mother Constance of Sicily.

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https://www.falaise-suissenormande.com/en/sites-et-musees/chateau-guillaume-le-conquerant/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/45487091 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/n5Ze749WFP9ZHVNj6

This castle is open every day during varying times based on season for a ticket fee.

On the death of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, in August 1026 his son (also called Richard) succeeded to the duchy. The inheritance however was disputed by Richard III's younger brother, Robert. Not content with his inheritance of the town of Exmes and its surrounding area, Robert rebelled and took up arms against his brother, and he captured the castle of Falaise. Richard then besieged the castle and forced Robert to submit to him. However, when Richard died from unknown causes in 1027, Robert became Duke of Normandy. Robert fathered an illegitimate son by a woman named Herleva, who was from the town of Falaise and the daughter of a chamberlain. The child, William, was born in about 1028. The castle (12th–13th century), which overlooks the town from a high crag, was formerly the seat of the Dukes of Normandy. The construction was started on the site of an earlier castle in 1123 by Henry I of England, with the "large keep" (grand donjon). Later was added the "small keep" (petit donjon).

The tower built in the first quarter of the 12th century contained a hall, chapel, and a room for the lord, but no small rooms for a complicated household arrangement; in this way, it was similar to towers at Corfe, Norwich, and Portchester, all in England.

Prince Arthur as a prisoner of Hubert de Burgh in Falaise Castle, by William Frederick Yeames.

Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, was King John of England's teenage nephew, and a rival claimant to the throne of England. With the support of King Philip II of France, Arthur embarked on a campaign in Normandy against John in 1202, and Poitou revolted in support of Arthur. The Duke of Brittany besieged his grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, in the Château de Mirebeau. John marched on Mirebeau, taking Arthur by surprise and capturing him on 1 August. From there Arthur was conveyed to Falaise where he was imprisoned in the castle's keep. According to contemporaneous chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall, John ordered two of his servants to mutilate the duke. Hugh de Burgh was in charge of guarding Arthur and refused to let him be mutilated, but to demoralise Arthur's supporters was to announce his death. The circumstances of Arthur's death are unclear, though he probably died in 1203.

In about 1207, after having conquered Normandy, Philip II Augustus ordered the building of a new cylindrical keep. It was later named the Talbot Tower (Tour Talbot) after the English commander responsible for its repair during the Hundred Years' War. It is a tall round tower, a similar design to the towers built at Gisors and the medieval Louvre.

Possession of the castle changed hands several times during the Hundred Years' War. The castle was deserted during the 17th century.

Since 1840, Château de Falaise has been recognised as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. A programme of restoration was carried out between 1870 and 1874.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenan_Castle

Greenan Castle is a 16th-century ruined tower house, southwest of Ayr in South Ayrshire, Scotland. Situated at the top of a sea cliff, it was originally a promontory fort converted into a motte-and-bailey in the 12th century. In the 15th century a tower house was built by the Lords of the Isles.

Photo and write-up by https://mastodon.scot/@McNige here: https://mastodon.scot/@McNige/110926238926867959

https://www.foundinitaly.com/blogs/travel/isola-di-loreto-a-real-life-fairytale-island

This island is private property.

There is a spectacular little island in the Iseo Lake, in the province of Brescia. The structures on it are built in a neo-Gothic style— meaning the main property is pretty much a fairy tale castle. The island has its own small harbour, two magnificent towers and a park of conifers that introduce the sweet scent of pine into the air.

In the XIX century, the island became a property of Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa, the nit was purchased by Vincenzo Richeri, a Royal Navy Captain. In 1910, Richeri built a neo-Gothic castle on the island, and around it he created a garden full of conifers, a marina, and two light towers. The latter illuminate a cove with a path leading straight up to the villa.

This abode features a rectangular layout, with two floors. Thanks to its turret, battlements, and light stone walls, the villa appears quite spectacular and evocative. It actually stands on a rock overlooking the lake.

https://www.alcazardesegovia.com/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/6708094 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/NvH3Jcj7cFCA5rv47

Visitation info is on their website, but it’s only in Spanish.

The Alcázar of Segovia, like many fortifications in Spain, started off as a Roman castrum, but apart from the foundations, little of the original structure remains. The alcázar was built by the Berber Almoravid dynasty. Almoravid art and architecture is scarcely talked about in scholarship in part because so little of the physical work has survived in Spain. Furthermore, the Almoravid dynasty was short-lived and therefore much of the art and architecture of that period was subsequently destroyed or converted by their successors.

The first reference to this castle was in 1120, around 32 years after the city of Segovia was conquered by the Christians (during the Reconquista when King Alfonso VI reconquered lands to the south of the Duero river, down to Toledo and beyond). In 1258, during the reign of King Alfonso X of Castile (r. 1252–1284), an intense thunderstorm caused a fire that destroyed several rooms, leading to centuries-long reconstruction during the reigns of various kings.

It is not known what the shape and form of the Alcázar was before the reign of King Alfonso VIII (1155–1214), however early documentation mentioned a wooden stockade fence. It can be concluded that prior to Alfonso VIII's reign, the Muslim era structure was no more than a wooden fort built over the old Roman foundations. Alfonso VIII and his wife, Eleanor of England (sister of Richard the Lionheart), made this alcázar their principal residence and much work was carried out to erect the beginnings of the stone fortification we see today.

The Alcázar of Segovia was one of the favorite royal residences starting in the 13th century that in turn, led to secular patronage to the city of Segovia. It was during this period that most of the current building was constructed by the House of Trastámara.

In 1258, parts of the Alcázar had to be rebuilt by King Alfonso X after a cave-in and the Hall of Kings was built to house Parliament soon after. However, the single largest contributor to the continuing construction of the Alcázar was King John II of Castile who built the "New Tower" (John II tower as it is known today).

In 1474, the Alcázar played a major role in the rise of Queen Isabella I. On 12 December news of King Henry IV's death in Madrid reached Segovia and Isabella immediately took refuge within the walls of the Alcázar where she received the support of Andres Cabrera and Segovia's council. She was enthroned the next day as Queen of Castile and León.

The next major renovation at the Alcázar was conducted by King Philip II after his marriage to Anna of Austria. He added the sharp slate spires to reflect the castles of central Europe. In 1587, architect Francisco de Morar completed the main garden and the School of Honor areas of the castle.

https://georgia.travel/cities-towns/akhaltsikhe

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/9448437 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/VTE56SYxSVQK7Y4C9

Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle is a medieval fortress built in the 9th century under the name "Lomsia Castle" in the city of Akhaltsikhe in southern Georgia, recently globally reconstructed. One of the main attractions of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region along with Vardzia. The original name of the fortress in the 9th century was Lomsia, which can be translated from Georgian as "Lion". At the end of the 12th century, Lomsia acquired the new name Akhal-tsikhe, which literally translates as “New fortress”,the name "Rabati" which is sometimes used for this castle, mostly is used after restoration and it is a of Jewish/Arabic origin and means any fortified place. Rabati was usually called the trading quarter at the fortress, earlier mainly Jewish merchants and craftsmen lived in the Rabat quarter, however mainly after reconstruction the name stuck to the all fortress itself. On the official web site of municipality of Akhaltsikhe town and on the official Facebook page of the fortress the name is "Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle" was used or just "Akhaltsikhe Castle." In most of all historical documents castle is mentioned as Akhaltsikhe castle.

Built during the XV century over a pre-existing keep dating back to the X century, the castle saw a lot of conflicts, as it lies on the historical border between Milan and Venice. Restoration works began during the 1800s and went on for over a century. Today, this lovely castle can be visited for a very low sum of money (€5, iirc) which includes the ticket for the museum inside of it. Once or twice a year, medieval re-enactments and games take place in the castle.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/188997799 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/t4juVdH17RkXP75K7

https://www.fincaderequesens.cat/castell-de-requesens/ (thanks to @synthetic_being@lemmy.cat for finding this)

Probably existing since the 9th century, the castle is mentioned for the first time in a document from Ponce I, count of Ampurias in the 11th century.

In the 19th century, the ruined castle was rebuilt in a neo-medieval style. The castle was extensively used after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), when some modern constructions were added to the original structure.

https://www.wartburg.de

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2272817622 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/VhY5HLaX9Dae7KqM9

The website states that the castle is open every day of the year. 12 euros for entry.

The castle's foundation was laid about 1067 by the Thuringian count of Schauenburg, Louis the Springer ( Ludwig der Springer ), a relative of the Counts of Rieneck in Franconia. Together with its larger sister castle Neuenburg in the present-day town of Freyburg, the Wartburg secured the extreme borders of his traditional territories. Louis the Springer is said to have had clay from his lands transported to the top of the hill, which was not quite within his lands, so he might swear that the castle was built on his soil.

The castle was first mentioned in a written document in 1080 by Bruno, Bishop of Merseburg, in his De Bello Saxonico ("The Saxon War") as Wartberg.

During the Investiture Controversy, Louis's henchmen attacked a military contingent of King Henry IV of Germany. The count remained a fierce opponent of the Salian rulers, and upon the extinction of the line, his son Louis I was elevated to the rank of a Landgrave in Thuringia by the new German king Lothair of Supplinburg in 1131.

From 1172 to 1211, the Wartburg was one of the most important princes' courts in the German Reich. Hermann I supported poets like Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach who wrote part of his Parzival here in 1203.

The castle thus became the setting for the legendary Sängerkrieg, or Minstrels' Contest in which such Minnesänger as Walther von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Albrecht von Halberstadt (the translator of Ovid) and many others supposedly took part in 1206/1207. The legend of this event was later used by Richard Wagner in his opera Tannhäuser.

At the age of four, St. Elisabeth of Hungary was sent by her mother to the Wartburg to be raised to become consort of Landgrave Ludwig IV of Thuringia. From 1211 to 1228, she lived in the castle and was renowned for her charitable work. In 1221, Elisabeth married Ludwig. In 1227, Ludwig died on the Crusade and she followed her confessor Father Konrad to Marburg. Elisabeth died there in 1231 at the age of 24 and was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church just five years after her death.

In 1247, Heinrich Raspe, the last landgrave of Thuringia of his line and an anti-king of Germany, died at the Wartburg. He was succeeded by Henry III, Margrave of Meissen.

In 1320, substantial reconstruction work was done after the castle had been damaged in a fire caused by lightning in 1317 or 1318. A chapel was added to the Palas.

The Wartburg remained the seat of the Thuringian landgraves until 1440. The Luther Room

From May 1521 to March 1522, Martin Luther stayed at the castle under the name of Junker Jörg (the Knight George), after he had been taken there for his safety at the request of Frederick the Wise following his excommunication by Pope Leo X and his refusal to recant at the Diet of Worms. It was during this period that Luther translated the New Testament from ancient Greek into German in just ten weeks. Luther's was not the first German translation of the Bible but it quickly became the most well known and most widely circulated.

From 1540 until his death in 1548, Fritz Erbe, an Anabaptist farmer from Herda, was held captive in the dungeon of the south tower, because he refused to abjure anabaptism. After his death, he was buried in the Wartburg near the chapel of St. Elisabeth. In 1925, a handwritten signature of Fritz Erbe was found on the prison wall.

Over the next centuries, the castle fell increasingly into disuse and disrepair, especially after the end of the Thirty Years' War when it had served as a refuge for the ruling family.

https://www.arundelcastle.org

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/1118816 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/guoitK1nR6NcbhGT7

Website says open for visit "Weekdays 09.30 -17.00". There's an events page with tons of listings: https://www.arundelcastle.org/whats-on/

The original structure was a motte-and-bailey castle. Roger de Montgomery was declared the first Earl of Arundel as the King granted him the property as part of a much larger package of hundreds of manors. Roger, who was a cousin of William the Conqueror, had stayed in Normandy to keep the peace there while William was away in England. He was rewarded for his loyalty with extensive lands in the Welsh Marches and across the country, together with one fifth of Sussex (Arundel Rape). He began work on Arundel Castle in around 1067.

Between 1101 and 1102 the castle was besieged by the forces of Henry I after its holder Robert of Bellême rebelled. The siege ended with the castle surrendering to the king. The castle then passed to Adeliza of Louvain (who had previously been married to Henry I) and her husband William d'Aubigny. Empress Matilda stayed in the castle, in 1139. It then passed down the d'Aubigny line until the death of Hugh d'Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel in 1243. John Fitzalan then inherited jure matris the castle and honour of Arundel, by which, according to Henry VI's "admission" of 1433, he was later retrospectively held to have become de jure Earl of Arundel.

The FitzAlan male line ceased on the death of Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, whose daughter and heiress Mary FitzAlan married Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk in 1555, to whose descendants the castle and earldom passed.

In 1643, during the First English Civil War, the castle was besieged. The 800 royalists inside surrendered after 18 days. Afterwards in 1653 Parliament ordered the slighting of the castle; however "weather probably destroyed more".

Although the castle remained in the hands of the Howard family over the succeeding centuries, it was not their favourite residence, and the various Dukes of Norfolk invested their time and energy into improving other ducal estates, including Norfolk House in London. Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, was known for his restoration work and improvements to the castle beginning in 1787. The folly that still stands on the hill above Swanbourne Lake was commissioned by and built for the Duke by Francis Hiorne at this time.

In 1846, Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, visited Arundel Castle for three days. Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk, internally remodelled the castle in time for her visit. The architectural firm responsible for design of the furniture was named Morant. The work included a suite of six rooms, built on the second floor of the south-east range at this time. The 19th-century embellishments had not been completed when this picture was published in 1880.

After the 1846 Royal visit the 15th Duke began re-structuring the castle again from 1875 to 1905. The work, which was done to the designs of Charles Alban Buckler and undertaken by Rattee and Kett of Cambridge, was completed in the late 19th century. The 16th Duke had planned to give the castle to the National Trust but following his death in 1975 the 17th Duke cancelled the plan. He created an independent charitable trust to guarantee the castle's future, and oversaw restorative works.

http://www.castleboston.com/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/87109189 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/uJiRFB2rodQJd4iQA

This location is available for large events. There seems to be some small museum space but I'm unsure of how to visit. It also houses other private businesses.

The four-story granite structure was designed by William Gibbons Preston and built beginning in 1891 and finished in 1897. Due to political unrest during the period, the building was designed to withstand mob violence. Its most prominent feature is its six-story tower. It is built in the Romanesque Revival style. The building's staircases are built by the Guastavino system, as are some tower vaults.

The building was built to store armaments and contained a rifle range, gymnasium, and drill hall.

Over the years it has been known as Park Plaza Castle, Castle at Park Plaza, and The Tower.

Photo taken by me in early 2023.

https://www.visitluxembourg.com/place/beaufort-castle

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/49.83361/6.28656 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/5PYtsLpPhz21Pk7k9

The ruins of the medieval castle are open to visitors every day from Easter until 1 November from 9 am to 6 pm.

It was probably in the 11th century that the castle began as a small square-shaped fortress on a large rock protected by a moat and a second wall above the valley. A reference from 1192 indicates that Wauthier de Wiltz et Beaufort was its first lord. During the first half of the 12th century, a keep was added and the gate was moved and enlarged. In 1348, the property came into the hands of the House of Orley after Adelaide of Beaufort married William of Orley. The Lords of Orley made significant extensions overlooking the valley. In 1477, Maximilian of Austria transferred the castle to Johann Bayer von Boppard after Johann von Orley-Beaufort committed a breach in trust. In 1539, Bernard von Velbrück became Lord of Beaufort through marriage and added the large Renaissance wing with cross-framed windows on top of the medieval walls.

The castle then came into the hands of Gaspard de Heu who had married Velbrück's granddaughter. A partisan of the Dutch resistance and the House of Orange, de Heu was captured by the Spaniards, accused of heresy and treason, and publicly executed in Luxembourg's fish market in 1593. Philip II of Spain confiscated the property and entrusted it to Peter Ernst Graf von Mansfeld, the governor of Luxembourg. Through marriage, the castle became the property of Henri de Chalon and then Gaspard du Bost-Moulin who had to sell it after being ruined by the Thirty Years War. Acting on behalf of the Spanish king, Johann Baron von Beck, governor of Luxembourg, bought most of the property in 1639. He initiated the construction of the Renaissance castle in 1643 but after he died of injuries from the Battle of Lens in 1648, the work was completed by his son in 1649.

After various changes in ownership including Pierre de Coumont (1774) and Jean Théodore Baron de Tornaco-Vervoy (1781), the castle was abandoned, fell into disrepair and at the beginning of the 19th century was even used as a quarry. In 1850, it was listed by the State as a national monument. In 1893, the new owner Henri Even restored the new building and, in 1928, Edmond Linkels cleared the rubble away and opened the medieval castle to visitors. In 1981, the property was acquired by the State.

http://www.castillodecoca.com/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/1732024 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/8i3SUsRfnhVuYzrD8

No mention of hours and days available on the website, but it does mention a few Euros gets you in.

Alonso de Fonseca y Avellaneda has been credited with the construction of the castle. The castle was built under the supervision of a master builder and most of the work had been completed by 1493. In 1502 it was decreed that castle and the town could only be passed down to male heirs, so after Alonso's death it passed on to Antonio de Fonseca. In 1512 a number of extra ornamental features were added to the keep and the castle exterior under the supervision of engineers. The castle came under attack during the Revolt of the Comuneros in 1521. Communeras troops attacked the castle in retaliation to the burning of Medina del Campo. Medina del Campo had been previously attacked by the Royalists as it housed a large number of artillery pieces, and it had subsequently been razed after Royalists met heavy resistance. In 1645, Gaspar Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 9th Duke of Medina Sidonia was accused to treachery after he instigated the Andalusian independentist conspiracy of 1641, and was imprisoned in the castle.

The castle went through a period of repairs and renovations from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century AD. Most notable among these renovations was the addition of the Patio de Armas in sixteenth century, the construction of a gallery between the Keep (Torres del Homenaje) and Pedro Mata Tower in the seventeenth century AD and the extensive renovations of 1715. After 1730 the castle suffered a long period of neglect that led to it falling into disrepair, and subsequently many important artifacts were either lost or destroyed. During the Peninsular War, Coca Castle was captured by the French, who occupied the castle in 1808 and vacated it in 1812. During these four years the castle further deteriorated and much of it fell into ruin. The French troops were, obviously, not concerned with the upkeep of the castle and many ornamental features fell into ruin during this time. Another incident that led to the castle falling further into ruin was the 1828 sale of materials by the administrator of the castle. As the castle was under the ownership of the House of Alba at that time, the owners tore away a number of columns, marble pieces and other ornamental features and sold them off to the highest bidder.

Crossposting the top post on Lemmy over the past 12 hours.

https://travelfrance.tips/tregastel-castle-chateau-de-costaeres/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/82084507 Aerial street view: https://goo.gl/maps/cZPWKLRnoxy7ZVg29

This place seems to be a private residence, not available to visit.

Château is not technically accurate: the château is actually a big neo-medieval style manor characteristic of the great summer houses of the late 19th century on the côte de granit rose (pink granite coast).

The building, a voluminous complex resulting from several extensions, is made of pink granite from the quarries of La Clarté, Perros-Guirec district. The roof is slate.

Its interior was designed with reclaimed wood from a three-masted sailing ship beached in the winter of 1896, the Maurice.

The manor was built on an islet bought at the end of the summer of 1892 by Bruno Abakanowicz (also called Bruno Abdank, who a little later - around 1896 - built the Bellevue hotel in Ploumanac'h), engineer and mathematician of Polish origin, from the customs officer René Le Brozec, a Perrosian who cultivated potatoes there and dried lichen and fish. The going rate at the time was 0.25 F per square metre. It was completed around 1896 by the engineer Lanmoniez and the Lannionnais entrepreneur Pierre Le Tensorer.

https://leapcastle.net/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/881969392 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/FPbYAAbEdzstab437

The website states that it’s open every day for visits, doesn’t elaborate on ticket info. Proclaims self as “the world’s most haunted castle.”

There are varied accounts as to when exactly the main tower/keep was constructed, ranging anywhere from the 13th century to the late 15th century, but most likely around 1250 AD. It was built by the O'Bannon clan and was originally called "Léim Uí Bhanáin" (as was the fertile land around the castle which was associated with the Bannon clan) or "Leap of the O'Bannons". The O'Bannons were the "secondary chieftains" of the territory and were subject to the ruling O'Carroll clan. There is evidence that it was constructed on the same site as another ancient stone structure, perhaps ceremonial in nature, and that that area has been occupied consistently since at least the Iron Age (500 BCE) and possibly since Neolithic times. The Annals of the Four Masters record that the Earl of Kildare, Gerald FitzGerald, tried unsuccessfully to seize the castle in 1513. Three years later, he attacked the castle again and managed to partially demolish sections of it. However, by 1557, the O'Carrolls had regained possession.

Following the death of Mulrooney O'Carroll in 1532, family struggles plagued the O'Carroll clan. A fierce rivalry for leadership erupted within the family. The bitter fight for power turned brother against brother. One of the brothers was a priest. While he was holding mass for a group of his family (in what is now called the "Bloody Chapel"), his rival brother burst into the chapel, plunged his sword into him and fatally wounded him. The butchered priest fell across the altar and died in front of his family. In 1659, the castle passed by marriage into the ownership of the Darby family, notable members of whom included Vice-Admiral George Darby, Admiral Sir Henry D'Esterre Darby and John Nelson Darby. During the tenure of one Jonathan Charles Darby, séances were held in the castle by his wife Mildred Darby, who was a writer of Gothic novels: this led to publicity about the castle and its ghosts. The central keep was later expanded with significant extensions, but in order to pay for these, rents were raised, and much of the land accompanying the castle was sold. This is one theorised motivation for the burning of the castle during the Irish Civil War in 1922. After its destruction, Mr. Darby obtained a reinstatement estimate from Beckett & Medcalf, surveyors in Dublin, that was issued in September 1922. Confusingly, it gives the address as Leap Castle, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. The net "Amount of Claim" was £22,684.19.1, equivalent to about €1m in 2018. The claim was settled for a lesser amount. In 1974 the now ruined castle was bought by Australian historian Peter Bartlett, whose mother had been a Banon. Bartlett, together with builder Joe Sullivan, carried out extensive restoration work on the castle up to the time of his death in 1989. Since 1991, the castle has been privately owned by the musician Sean Ryan and his wife Anne, who continue the restoration work.

https://www.kansallismuseo.fi/en/olavinlinna

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/11335890 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/Q7pKKzddW5KE9dK28

Opening hours depend on season. Check here: https://www.kansallismuseo.fi/en/olavinlinna/info The middle courtyard has been covered and converted to a stage for plays and opera productions.

The fortress was founded by Erik Axelsson Tott in 1475 under the name Sankt Olofsborg in an effort to profit from the political turmoil following Ivan III's conquest of the Novgorod Republic. It was sited in Savonia so as to lay claim to the Russian side of the border established by the Treaty of Nöteborg.

One of Tott's letters from 1477 includes a passing mention of foreign builders invited to Olofsborg, probably from Reval, where the city fortifications were being extended. It was the first Swedish castle provided with a set of thickset circular towers that could withstand cannon fire. It is not by accident that a network of lakes and waterways forms the setting for the castle, for these would seriously impede a prospective Russian offensive.

The three-towered keep was completed in 1485, and the construction of the outer curtain walls with two towers was initiated immediately. They were completed in 1495. The castle is roughly a truncated rhomboid with keep on the western side of the island and the curtain walls and outer bailey to east. One of the towers of the keep, St. Erik's Tower, has a bad foundation and has since collapsed. One of the towers of Bailey, the Thick Tower, exploded in the 18th century. A bastion has been built on its place. The castle was converted into a Vaubanesque fort in the late 18th century with bastions.

Olofsborg withstood several sieges by the Russians during the First and Second Russian-Swedish wars. A brisk trade developed under the umbrella of the castle towards the end of the 16th century, giving birth to the town of Savonlinna, which was chartered in 1639.

While the castle was never captured by force, its garrison agreed to terms of surrender twice; first to invading Russians on 28 July 1714 and the second time on 8 August 1743, with the latter conflict's peace treaty in form of the Treaty of Åbo leading to the castle and the entire region being seceded to Empress Elizabeth of Russia. During the Russian era Alexander Suvorov personally inspected rearmament of the fortress.