Castles are a fairy tale trigger in most girls heads. We think ballrooms, horse and carriage, princes and crowns. There is something enchanting about the stone facades, sweeping gardens and the towers that kiss the sky. Imaginations can run wild when we look at the pictures, envisioning a different place and perhaps even a different time. Maybe you are a dreamer that imagines dragons scorching the towers, fairies weaving magic or witches casting spells when you close your eyes. Maybe your a cynic that envisions battles, lost love, and entire kingdoms clashing with war. Either way your imagination is your own, and your creative juices are flowing.
But what happens when people no longer care for these huge architectual monuments? Do they get torn down? Were they burned in battle? Do they just silently sit there waiting for someone to save them? Or do they just wait for someone to imagine life as it once was?
Maybe they are waiting for authors to use them as backdrops for a story so they may come alive again and live again in another generation. Maybe they just need star crossed lovers or mythical creatures woven back into them. Maybe what they truly need is just someone to appreciate the beauty that is lurking in their shadows, reminding us that time can truly ravage anything no matter how magical they might seem.
I, for one, am a dreamer. I can close my eyes and see the dragons circling the sky with their wings stretched wide, the witches casting protection spells with magic swirling around them, the princesses running down the grand staircases leaving behind a glass slipper and elves lurking in the forest. I have an imagination that can run W-I-L-D. I can see the lapse in time where these buildings can be restored and all things mythical and mystical woven back in to them. Just as I believe that people deserve second chances, I think the same can be said about these castles. Even if they are only restored in the pages of a book, flying on the creativity of an author.
When these castles are abandoned and allowed to melt back into their surroundings they take on an entirely different persona. They become one with the magic that exists everyday, from the little seed that grows the giant redwood tree to the entire islands that disappear beneath our ocean waves.
Here are some of my favorites of both abandoned and restored castles:
Chateau Miranda or Chateau de Noisy, Belgium
Chillon Castle, Switzerland
Clifden Castle, Ireland
Dromore Castle, Ireland
Neidpath Castle, Scotland
Ardverikie House, Scotland
Lennox Castle, Scotland
Swallow's Nest Castle, Ukraine
Neuschwanstein, Germany
Castle of Presule, Italy
Ancient Castle, Trzebnica, Poland
Bojnice Castle, Slovakia
Château de la Forêt, Belgium
Pepoli Castle, Sicily, Italy
Mont Saint Michel, France
There are so many beautiful castles, chateaus, and manors to pick from. They are littered all around the globe either being lovingly restored or sliding into decay. Which one can let your imagination run wild?
Please note, each image is linked back to it's owners!
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