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Castle Well
A castle well was a water well built to supply drinking water to a castle. It was often the most costly and time-consuming element in the building of a castle, and its construction time could span decades. The well – as well as any available cisterns – provided a protected source of drinking water for the castle garrison in peace and war and also for any civil population seeking refuge during a siege. In medieval times, external wells were often poisoned, usually with a decomposing body, in order to force a garrison to surrender. But wells sunk within the castle itself could not be poisoned from outside during a siege. Construction Wells often had to be sunk a considerable depth in order to tap the nearest geological stratum holding sufficient water, the actual depth depending on the height of the castle and level of the groundwater. This was particularly challenging in the construction of hill castles. In addition, there was also the problem of providing sufficient oxygen fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brunnen Festung Koenigstein 2007 04 22
Brunnen is a resort on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, part of the municipality Ingenbohl (Canton of Schwyz), at . Brunnen railway station, on the Gotthard railway, is served by hourly InterRegio trains, and by lines S2 of the Stadtbahn Zug, which operates hourly between Zug, Arth-Goldau and Erstfeld, and S3 of the S-Bahn Luzern, which operates hourly to Lucerne. Brunnen also has a cablecar that goes to the Urmiberg, a part of the Rigi offering views of Lake Lucerne and the Alps. History Winston Churchill spent his honeymoon in Brunnen.J.M.W. Turner painted several views from Brunnen, among his late watercolours, in the 1840s.Shanes, Eric (2012) The Life and Masterworks of J.M.W. Turner, Parkstone International, page 225 In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It resulted in the creation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1948. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homberg (Efze)
Homberg () is a small town in the northern part of Hesse, a state in central Germany, with about 15,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Schwalm-Eder district. In 2008, the town hosted the 48th Hessentag state festival. Geography Homberg lies in the transitional zone between the West Hesse Depression, a sunken area dating from the Tertiary subera, and the Knüll (or Knüllgebirge), a low mountain range. The town itself stretches over several hills underlain mainly with basalt. The river Efze flows from the Knüll through Homberg, later emptying into the river Schwalm. There exist small coal deposits in the immediate area. Constituent communities Homberg consists of the following communities: History Homberg was founded by the Hessian-Thuringian Landgraves and had its first documentary mention as a town in 1231. The place had indeed been settled earlier, but Homberg still celebrated its 775th anniversary as a town in 2006. The town's name comes from the ''Hohenburg'', the ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beeston Castle
Beeston Castle is a former Royal castle in Beeston, Cheshire, England (), perched on a rocky sandstone crag above the Cheshire Plain. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester (1170–1232), on his return from the Crusades. In 1237, Henry III took over the ownership of Beeston, and it was kept in good repair until the 16th century, when it was considered to be of no further military use, although it was pressed into service again in 1643, during the English Civil War. The castle was slighted (partly demolished) in 1646, in accordance with Cromwell's destruction order, to prevent its further use as a bastion. During the 18th century, parts of the site were used as a quarry. The castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument owned and managed by English Heritage. The walls of the outer bailey and the gatehouse and curtain walls of the inner bailey are recorded separately in the National Heritage List for England as designated Grade I listed buildings. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zbiroh
Zbiroh () is a town in Rokycany District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,500 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Chotětín, Jablečno, Přísednice and Třebnuška are administrative parts of Zbiroh. Geography Zbiroh is located about northeast of Rokycany and northeast of Plzeň. It lies in the Křivoklát Highlands. The highest point is the hill Kohoutov at above sea level. History The first written mention of Zbiroh is from 1230. It was a market village which was promoted to a market town in 1369. During the rule of the Rosenberg family, Zbiroh developed and acquired various rights. In 1897, Zbiroh was promoted to a town by Franz Joseph I. Sights Zbiroh Castle is the most important monument. The original Romanesque-Gothic castle was built at the end of the 12th century or in the early 13th century, and belongs to the oldest aristocratic residences in the country. At the end of the 16th century, it was rebuilt into its current appearan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harz Mountains
The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German word ''Hardt'' or ''Hart'' (hill forest). The name ''Hercynia'' derives from a Celtic name and could refer to other mountain forests, but has also been applied to the geology of the Harz. The Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz with an elevation of above sea level. The Wurmberg () is the highest peak located entirely within the state of Lower Saxony. Geography Location and extent The Harz has a length of , stretching from the town of Seesen in the northwest to Eisleben in the east, and a width of . It occupies an area of , and is divided into the Upper Harz (''Oberharz'') in the northwest, which is up to 800 m high, apart from the 1,100 m high Brocken massif, and the Lower Harz (''Unterharz'') in the east which is up to aroun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blankenburg (Harz)
Blankenburg (Harz) is a town and health resort in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, at the north foot of the Harz Mountains, southwest of Halberstadt. It has been in large part rebuilt since a fire in 1836, and possesses a castle, with various collections, a museum of antiquities, an old town hall and churches. There are pine-needle baths and a psychiatric hospital. Gardening is a speciality. The nearby ridge of rocks called the ''Teufelsmauer'' (Devils Wall) offers views across the plain and into the deep gorges of the Harz. Geography The town of Blankenburg (Harz) lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains at a height of about 234 metres. It is located west of Quedlinburg, south of Halberstadt and east of Wernigerode. The stream known as the Goldbach flows through the district of Oesig northwest of the town centre. Divisions The town Blankenburg (Harz) consists of Blankenburg proper and the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions: [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regenstein Castle
Regenstein Castle (german: Burg Regenstein) is a ruined castle that lies three kilometres north of Blankenburg in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is a popular tourist destination where, each year, a knight's tournament and a garrison festival are held. Of this once relatively impregnable castle, which was built in the early and high Middle Ages on a 294 metre high sandstone rock towering over the surrounding area, only ruins are visible today. Several internal rooms, carved into the rock, have survived, as have the ruins of the keep. The castle is surrounded by remnants of a more recent fortress. Regenstein Castle is No. 80 in the system of checkpoints on the ''Harzer Wandernadel'' hiking trail network. Below the castle is the site of the old Regenstein Mill that used to supply it with water. Castle of the Regenstein counts in 1162 the ''Comes de Regenstein'' (Count of Regenstein), Conrad, was mentioned for the first time. He was the son of Count Poppo I of Blankenbur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial planet, rocky planet or natural satellite, moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt is chemically equivalent to slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro. The eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20 volcanoes per year. Basalt is also an important rock type on other planetary bodies in the Solar System. For example, the bulk of the plains of volcanism on Venus, Venus, which cover ~80% of the surface, are basaltic; the lunar mare, lunar maria are plains of flood-basaltic lava flows; and basalt is a common rock on the surface of Mars. Molten basalt lava has a low viscosity due to its relatively low silica content (between 45% and 52%), resulting in rapidly moving lava flo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Königstein Fortress
Königstein Fortress (german: Festung Königstein), the "Saxony, Saxon Bastille", is a hilltop fortress near Dresden, in Saxon Switzerland, Germany, above the town of Königstein, Saxony, Königstein on the left bank of the River Elbe. It is one of the largest hilltop fortifications in Europe and sits atop the Königstein (hill), table hill of the same name. The rock plateau rises above the Elbe and has over 50 buildings, some over 400 years old, that bear witness to the military and civilian life in the fortress. The rampart run of the fortress is long with walls up to high and steep sandstone faces. In the centre of the site is a deep well, which is the deepest in Saxony and second deepest well in Europe. The fortress, which for centuries was used as a state prison, is still intact and is now one of Saxony's foremost tourism, tourist attractions, with 700,000 visitors per year. Construction and expansion of the fortress By far the oldest written record of a castl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Well
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn up by a pump, or using containers, such as buckets or large water bags that are raised mechanically or by hand. Water can also be injected back into the aquifer through the well. Wells were first constructed at least eight thousand years ago and historically vary in construction from a simple scoop in the sediment of a dry watercourse to the qanats of Iran, and the stepwells and sakiehs of India. Placing a lining in the well shaft helps create stability, and linings of wood or wickerwork date back at least as far as the Iron Age. Wells have traditionally been sunk by hand digging, as is still the case in rural areas of the developing world. These wells are inexpensive and low-tech as they use mostly manual labour, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyffhausen Castle
The Imperial Castle of Kyffhausen (german: Reichsburg Kyffhausen) is a medieval castle ruin, situated in the Kyffhäuser hills in the German state of Thuringia, close to its border with Saxony-Anhalt. Probably founded about 1000, it superseded the nearby imperial palace (''Kaiserpfalz'') of Tilleda under the rule of the Hohenstaufen emperors during the 12th and 13th centuries. Together with the Kyffhäuser Monument, erected on the castle grounds between 1890 and 1896, it is today a popular tourist destination. The castle is variously known in English as Kyffhausen Castle, Kyffhauser Castle, Kyffhäuser Castle, and Kyffhaueser Castle. Location The ruins of the imperial castle of Kyffhausen are located on the northeastern rim of the range on a hill, the ''Kyffhäuserburgberg'' (), an approximately long eastern spur. The castle is in the parish of Steinthaleben, about northeast of the village of , in the Thuringian municipality of Kyffhäuserland, near the town of Bad Franken ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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