Château de Vincennes

19 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Edal Anton Lefterov/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Edal Anton Lefterov/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Château de Vincennes is a former fortress and royal residence next to the town of Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, alongside the Bois de Vincennes. It was largely built between 1361 and 1369, and was a preferred residence, after the Palais de la Cité, of French Kings in the 14th to 16th century. It is particularly known for its “donjon” or keep, a fortified central tower, the tallest in Europe, built in the 14th century, and for the chapel, Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, begun in 1379 but not completed until 1552, which is an exceptional example of Flamboyant Gothic architecture. Because of its fortifications, the château was often used as a royal sanctuary in times of trouble, and later as a prison and military headquarters. The chapel was listed as an historic monument in 1853, and the keep was listed in 1913. Most of the building is now open to the public.   read more…

Windsor Castle

18 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Diliff/cc-by-2.5

© Diliff/cc-by-2.5

Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.   read more…

Burghausen in Upper Bavaria

17 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Rolf Kranz/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Rolf Kranz/cc-by-sa-4.0

Burghausen is the largest town in the Altötting district of Upper Bavaria in Germany. It is situated on the Salzach river, near the border with Austria. Burghausen Castle rests along a ridgeline, and is the longest castle in the world (1,043 m).   read more…

Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo

9 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Renaissance wing © Bjs

Renaissance wing © Bjs

The Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) is also called Royal Palace of Palermo. It was the seat of the Kings of Sicily with the Hauteville dynasty and served afterwards as the main seat of power for the subsequent rulers of Sicily. Since 1946 it has been the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. The building is the oldest royal residence in Europe; and was the private residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Sicily and the imperial seat of Frederick II and Conrad IV. The palace stands in the highest point of the ancient centre of the city, just above the first Punic settlements, whose remains can still be found in the basement.   read more…

Potager du roi in Versailles

16 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Paris / Île-de-France, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Grand Bassin © Djampa/cc-by-sa-4.0

Grand Bassin © Djampa/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Potager du roi (Kitchen Garden of the King), near the Palace of Versailles, produced fresh vegetables and fruits for the table of the court of Louis XIV. It was created between 1678 and 1683 by Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, the director of the royal fruit and vegetable gardens. Today it is run by the École nationale supérieure du paysage, the grande école for landscape architects. It is officially recognized as a Remarkable Garden of France. Together with the Palace of Versailles and its park, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.   read more…

Greenwich Park in London

8 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Greenwich Park from the observatory © Mx. Granger

Greenwich Park from the observatory © Mx. Granger

Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest single green spaces in south-east London. One of the Royal Parks of London, and the first to be enclosed (in 1433), it covers 74 hectares (180 acres), and is part of the Greenwich World Heritage Site. It commands views over the River Thames, the Isle of Dogs and the City of London (Simon Jenkins rated the view of the Royal Hospital with Canary Wharf in the distance as one of the top ten in England).   read more…

Royal Palace of Caserta

2 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

© Editor04082022/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Editor04082022/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Royal Palace of Caserta (Italian: Reggia di Caserta) is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as their main residence as kings of Naples. It is the largest palace erected in Europe during the 18th century. In 1997, the palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site; its nomination described it as “the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque, from which it adopted all the features needed to create the illusions of multidirectional space”. The Royal Palace of Caserta is the largest former royal residence in the world, over 2 million in volume and covering an area of 47,000 . and a floorspace of 138,000 square meters in the distributed in the five storeys of the building.   read more…

Villa d’Este on Lake Como

30 May 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  11 minutes

© panoramio.com - Nikolai Karaneschev/cc-by-3.0

© panoramio.com – Nikolai Karaneschev/cc-by-3.0

The Villa d’Este, originally Villa del Garovo, is a Renaissance patrician residence in Cernobbio on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy. Both the villa and the 25-acre (100,000 m²) park which surrounds it have undergone significant changes since their sixteenth-century origins as a summer residence for the Cardinal of Como. Nevertheless, visiting the garden in 1903 for Century Magazine, Edith Wharton found this to be ‘the only old garden on Como which keeps more than a fragment of its original architecture’, and noted that ‘though Queen Caroline anglicised part of the grounds, the main lines of the Renaissance garden still exist’. Since 1873, the complex has been a luxury hotel.   read more…

Marble Palace in Saint Petersburg

22 April 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Игорь Кленовый/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Игорь Кленовый/cc-by-sa-3.0

Marble Palace is one of the first Neoclassical palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is situated between the Field of Mars and Palace Embankment, slightly to the east from New Michael Palace. Currently, the palace accommodates permanent exhibitions of the Russian State Museum, notably “Foreign Artists in Russia (18th and 19th centuries)” and the “Peter Ludwig Museum at the Russian Museum”, featuring canvases by Andy Warhol and other Pop Art idols.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top