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Wolfsburg Castle
The Wolfsburg is medieval lowland and water castle in North Germany that was first mentioned in the records in 1302, but has since been turned into a Renaissance ''schloss'' or palace. It is located in eastern Lower Saxony in the town of Wolfsburg named after it and in whose possession it has been since 1961. The Wolfsburg developed from a tower house on the River Aller into a water castle with the character of a fortification. In the 17th century it was turned into a representative, but nevertheless defensible palace that was the northernmost example of the Weser Renaissance style. Its founder and builder was the noble family of von Bartensleben. After their line died out in 1742 the Wolfsburg was inherited by the counts of Schulenburg. Name The name ''Wolfsburg'' (literally "Wolf Castle") does not indicate that the region of the Vorsfelder Werder in which the castle is located had a large number of wolves, even though there were certainly wolves in the nearby wet meadows ...
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Lowland Castle
The term lowland castle or plains castle (german: Niederungsburg, Flachlandburg, Tieflandburg) describes a type of castle that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The classification is extensively used in Germany where about 34 percent of all castles are of the lowland type.Krahe, pp. 21-23 (2002) Because lowland castles do not have the defensive advantage of a site on higher ground, sites are chosen that are easy to defend, taking advantage, for example, of rivers, islands in lakes or marshes. Where such natural obstacles do not exist, artificially similar obstacles take on added significance. These include water-filled or dry moats, ramparts, palisades and curtain walls. In order to increase the height of the castle above the surrounding terrain, artificial earth mounds may be built (such as mottes), and fortified towers also fulfil this purpose. Castles of the Early Middle Ages (including Slavic an ...
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Wolfsburg Merian
Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's headquarters and the world's biggest car plant. The Autostadt is a visitor attraction next to the Volkswagen factory that features the company's model range: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, MAN, Neoplan, Porsche, Scania, SEAT, Škoda Auto and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. Wolfsburg is one of the few German cities built during the first half of the 20th century as a planned city. From its founding on 1 July 1938 as a home for workers producing the "KdF- "Wagen" until 25 May 1945, the city was called Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben. In 1972, the population first exceeded 100,000. In 2019, the GRP was €188,453 per capita. Geography Wolfsburg is located at the Southern edge of the ancient river valley of the Alle ...
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Wall Walk
A ''chemin de ronde'' ( French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; ), also called an allure, alure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk, is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement. In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficult to defend from the ground. The ''chemin de ronde'' was devised as a walkway allowing defenders to patrol the tops of ramparts, protected from the outside by the battlements or a parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ..., placing them in an advantageous position for shooting or dropping. References External links * Castle architecture {{castle-stub ...
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Corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the structure. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger" in England. The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or parapet, has been used since Neolithic (New Stone Age) times. It is common in medieval architecture and in the Scottish baronial style as well as in the vocabulary of classical architecture, such as the modillions of a Corinthian cornice. The corbel arch and corbel vault use the technique systematically to make openings in walls and to form ceilings. These are found in the early architecture of most cultures, from Eurasia to Pre-Columbian architecture. A console is more specifically an "S"-shaped scroll bracket in the classic ...
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Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians. The walkway may be lined with retail stores. An arcade may feature arches on both sides of the walkway. Alternatively, a blind arcade superimposes arcading against a solid wall. Blind arcades are a feature of Romanesque architecture that influenced Gothic architecture. In the Gothic architectural tradition, the arcade can be located in the interior, in the lowest part of the wall of the nave, supporting the triforium and the clerestory in a cathedral, or on the exterior, in which they are usually part of the walkways that surround the courtyard and cloisters. Many medieval arcades housed shops or stalls, either in the arcaded space itself, or set into the main wall behind. From this, "arcade" has become a general word for a group of shops in a single building, regardless of the architectural f ...
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Circular Staircase
Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage to the other level by stepping from one to another step in turn. Steps are very typically rectangular. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles. Types of stairs include staircases (also called stairways), ladders, and escalators. Some alternatives to stairs are elevators (also called lifts), stairlifts, inclined moving walkways, and ramps. A stairwell is a vertical shaft or opening that contains a staircase. A flight (of stairs) is an inclined part of a staircase consisting of steps (and their lateral supports if supports are separate from steps). Components and terms A ''stair'', or a ''stairstep'', is one step in a flight of stairs.R.E. Putnam and G.E. Carlson, ''Architectural a ...
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Bergfried
''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under German influence. Friar describes it as a "free-standing, fighting-tower".Friar (2003), p 36. Its defensive function is to some extent similar to that of a keep (also known as a ''donjon'') in English or French castles. However, the characteristic difference between a bergfried and a keep is that a bergfried was typically not designed for permanent habitation. Overview The living quarters of a castle with a bergfried are separate, often in a lower tower or an adjacent building called a ''palas'' (an English-style keep combines both functions of habitation and defence.) Consequently, a bergfried could be built as a tall slender tower with little internal room, few vaults and few if any windows. The bergfried served as a watchtower and as a ref ...
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Perron (architecture)
In architecture, a perron generally refers to an external stairway to a building. Curl notes three more-specific usages: the platform-landing reached by symmetrical flights of steps leading to the '' piano nobile'' of a building; the steps themselves; or the platform base of edifices like a market cross.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'', 2nd ed., OUP, Oxford and New York, p. 573. . Perron also refers to a type of Belgian civic monument, which usually sits on a perron. A perron may be placed in front of the main entrance of a building or house, either as a single stone staircase or pair of such staircases leading up to the entrance and built in the Romanesque or Palladian styles and decorated with arches, balustrades and corbels. One of the largest and most impressive Baroque perrons is found outside Girona Cathedral and consists of 90 steps on three flights of stairs. The Calà del Sasso in Upper Italy has 4,444 step ...
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Chimera (architecture)
In architecture, a grotesque () or chimera () is a fantastic or mythical figure used for decorative purposes. Chimerae are often described as gargoyles, although the term gargoyle technically refers to figures carved specifically as terminations to spouts which convey water away from the sides of buildings. In the Middle Ages, the term ''babewyn'' was used to refer to both gargoyles and chimerae. This word is derived from the Italian word ''babuino,'' which means "baboon". A grotesque is a decorative feature found in architecture carved from stone often depicting whimsical, mythical creatures in dramatic or humorous ways. Most commonly grotesques are a decoration that surround waterspouts and drains largely on historic buildings. Grotesques, also often referred to as chimera, have historically been a key element of architecture in many periods including the Renaissance and Medieval periods and have stylistically developed in conjunction with these times. While they depicted a wide ...
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Wall Tower
A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fulfil different functions. Shape of towers Rectangular towers Square or rectangular towers are easy to construct and give a good amount of usable internal space. Their disadvantage is that the corners are vulnerable to mining. Despite this vulnerability, rectangular towers continued to be used, and Muslim military architecture generally favoured them.Kennedy (2000). Round towers Round towers, also called drum towers, are more resistant to siege technology such as sappers and projectiles than square towers. The round front is more resistant than the straight side of a square tower, just as a load-bearing arch. This principle was already understood in antiquity. Horseshoe-shaped towers The horseshoe-shaped (or D-shaped) tower is a compr ...
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Lucarne
In general architecture a lucarne is a term used to describe a dormer window. The original term french: lucarne refers to a dormer window, usually set into the middle of a roof although it can also apply to a façade lucarne, where the gable of the lucarne is aligned with the face of the wall. This general meaning is also preserved in British use, particularly for small windows into unoccupied attic or spire spaces. Nikolaus Pevsner gives its meaning as "a small gabled opening in a roof or a spire". In industrial architecture the term lucarne is used to describe a feature of a warehouse, mill or factory where a window or opening high up on an outside wall supports a hoist above doors on the floors below. The simplest lucarne is no more than the extension of a roof beyond a gable wall, with a ridge timber strong enough to support a hoist. A gin wheel on this beam can provide a simple rope hoist, sufficient to lift a sack of grain. Any greater weights than this are likely to nee ...
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