Bridge castle

A bridge castle served as military surveillance and securing a river crossing. In a narrower sense is denoted by this term only castles that were applied directly to or on a bridge. Sometimes, however, even castles in the vicinity of a bridge to be addressed as a bridge castles.

The fortifications were often conceived as customs and castles were only inhabited by a guard force. In Europe, some examples of bridge castles have been preserved, especially in the south and southeast of the continent.

The - rarely treated in more detail in the literature - this type of a bridge castle can not always distinguish clearly from the " fixed bridge ". In medieval Europe, numerous river crossings were secured by tower blocks and granges.

Examples of bridge castles

In the Italian Capua ( Caserta ), the Hohenstaufen Doppelturmtor the Roman bridge over the Volturno can be classified as a bridge castle. Frederick II of Hohenstaufen erected here as a gateway to the kingdom of Sicily, a representative "state building ", let the preserved remains an idea only a little of its former importance.

As the largest extant bridge castle is considered the rectangular system of Valeggio sul Mincio ( Verona, northern Italy ). Gian Galeazzo Visconti ordered here in the late Middle Ages between Mantua and Lake Garda, the facility of a mighty fortress bridge under the four-bladed main castle of the village. The bridge fort lies about 100 meters below the level of the castle. Three gatehouses are connected by intermediate walls with 14 towers shell. The gate tower below the hilltop castle is performed remarkably weak. The living quarters of the guards were in the middle gate. This gatehouse locks the transition similar to the back gate as a massive crossbar.

The famous bridge castle Stari most in Mostar ( Bosnia - Herzegovina) in 1993, destroyed by Bosnian Croat forces partially, but could be reconstructed. Originally protected here in 1450 two large towers on both banks of a suspension bridge, which in 1566 replaced by a stone arch.

Fixed bridges

A characteristic example of a " fixed bridge " is the Pont valentre at Cahors (Midi- Pyrénées) in the South of France The plant is down to the - abolished in the 19th century - eastern barbican ( Torburg ) almost completely intact. In Germany and Central Europe only remains of bridge fixtures could be preserved. Most just are single gate towers, such as in Regensburg ( Stone Bridge ) or Prague ( Charles Bridge ).