European Castles were first built for defence against attacking armies of war torn feudal Europe

European Castles had their origins dating back to around A.D 900 to 1000 and played a great role in the then military system of feudalism. During the middle ages, Europe was a vastly divided continent to that which we have come to know today. She was made up of many tiny feudal states and local conflicts between neighbouring states were common.

Castles were first built for defence against attacking armies of war torn feudal Europe and were necessary to help protect the villages and their lords. As Europe grew and the states merged or were conquered the castle was built as a place of government over the local populace.

By 1500, castles became much less important in Europe. Cannons were invented, so it was easy to invade, capture and destroy a castle.



Today, nothing else so provocatively evokes dreams of days gone by than the sight of crumbling European castles perched high on mountain tops or hillsides. Nothing else is quite so profound, quite so beyond the experience of travelling to the four corners of the world, as the remnants of fortresses and of royalty and nobility built long before the Old discovered the New.

And the care with which these European Castles have been preserved, restored or rebuilt through centuries of wars, invasions, fires and natural disasters speaks volumes about the great respect Europeans have for their history.

Karlstejn Castle was founded in 1348, and has a unique position among Czech castles. It was built by Czech King and Roman Emperor Charles IV as a place for safekeeping of the royal treasures, especially Charles's collection of holy relics and the coronation jewels of the Roman Empire.

Hidden in the forests of the eastern edge of the Bohemia-Moravia highlands, Pernstejn Castle is one of the most important and most beautiful European castles in Moravia. From the middle of the 13th century it was the seat of the lords of Pernstejn who for centuries played an important role in the political affairs of the Czech kingdom.

Bojnice Castle in Slovakia was first mentioned in written records in 1113, in a document held at Zobor abbey.

Work on Malbork castle began in 1274 when the Teutonic Knights first arrived in Poland at the request of the Polish Royal family to help convert the pagan tribes in the area to Christianity.

Kyrenia Castle in Northern Cyprus, stands on a site that was in use during the Hellenistic and Roman periods of 111-11 B.C, dominates the entrance to the harbor of Kyrenia village.

Fort La Latte was constructed in the 14th century on a site that reputedly had a castle built on the same location during the 10th century.

Hohensalzburg Castle has become one of the largest, fully-preserved fortresses in central Europe.

Chateau de Blois is located in the Loire Valley, in France. It has been the residence of several French kings and also where Joan of Arc received a blessing from the Archbishop of Reims in 1429 before departing with her army to drive the English from Orléans.

Muiden Castle was built around 1280 by Count Floris V of Holland, to control the estuary of the river Vecht into the former Zuidersea.

Castle De Haar is one of the most famous and visited castles in all of Holland and was originally founded in the late 1300’s by the Van de Haar family.

'Dracula's Castle' or given its offical title Bran Castle , was originally built by the Knights of the Teutonic Order in 1212

Kronborg Castle is situated near the town of Elsinore on the extreme tip of Zealand and has a history which dates back to a fortress, Krogen, built in the 1420s by the Danish king, Eric of Pomerania.

Alcazar Castle in Segovia, Spain, was first mentioned in records dating back to 1122 as a hill-fort set atop a rocky outcrop between the rivers Bergsma and Clamores.

Diosgyor Castle which stands today, is a result of an order by King Bela IV who, after the Mongols withdrew from the country, ordered that every hill top had to have a castle constructed upon it.

Construction of the Moorish Castle at Gibraltar was commenced in the 8th century AD, but there is no record of when it was completed

Ekenas Castle located on a cliff on the shore of a lake which has since been drained is one of the best preserved Renaissance castles in Sweden was built by Peder Baner between 1630 and 1644.

Gripsholm Castle is situated in Sodermanland, on the shores of Lake Malaren, Sweden and was named after Bo Jonsson Grip, by whom the first Castle was built in the second half of the 14th century

In 1569, Schonbrunn Palace came into the possession of the Habsburg’s via Maximilian II and according to the deeds of the acquisition, included a house, a watermill, stabling as well as a pleasure garden and an orchard