Cardiff Castle

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Cardiff Castle ( Welsh: Castell Caerdydd ) is a medieval castle and a neo-gothic mansion in the style of Victorian architecture. The castle stands on the remains of a Roman fort in Cardiff, capital of Wales.

History

The Roman Fort

At the site of the present castle were several Roman forts. The first was probably built around 55 AD, during the campaign against the Silures. To 75 AD, the Romans built the castle in the northern half of the old equipment new. In the southern half of workshops were set up. Around the year 250, a third fort with three meters thick walls was built, which remained until the departure of the Romans to AD 500 as a strategic base against raids from the sea in use.

The Norman Castle

The Norman Keep, of which the outer walls are preserved on Located close to the manor house castle hill to this day, was built around 1091 as a moth of Robert Fitzhamon, the lord of Gloucester and conqueror of Glamorgan. After his failed attempt Henry I to snatch the crown of England, was Robert II, the son of William the Conqueror, until his death in 1134 imprisoned here. 1158 came the Welsh chieftain Ifor Bach by the guards unnoticed at night in the castle and kidnapped the castle lord William FitzRobert, his wife and his son.

The stone castle went to 1216 in the hands of the Clare family over and changed in the following centuries often the owner: After the Despencer family ( 1306-1411 ) and Beauchamp ( 1411-1445 ), the family was Neville ( 1445-1483 ) master of Cardiff Castle before it in the possession of the Tudors (1485-1550) and then the Herbert (1550-1766) passed. 1766 the castle came by marriage Charlotte Jane Herbert to her husband John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute and 1st Marquess of Bute, who was appointed in 1776 to Baron Cardiff of Cardiff Castle.

The Victorian mansion

Under the leadership of the Bute Cardiff was one of the biggest coal port in the world, and on their behalf, Cardiff Castle was rebuilt. The first Marquis of Bute was designed by Capability Brown and his son Henry Holland remodel the terrain. Among other things, the moat was filled, the trees felled on the castle hill and some buildings removed before Holland large parts of the system rebuilt and modernized. For John Crichton - Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, the castle was further expanded and modernized. With the mission of John Crichton - Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute to the architect William Burges, to examine the state of the castle, began a sixteen -year collaboration, during which the castle was rebuilt in neo-Gothic " fairytale castle ". During this construction activities and the Roman military camp was discovered, which was located on the premises.

The renovation began with the construction of a covered battlements with embrasures. 1875, the bell tower was completed. Later, four towers were erected, restored the Bute Tower, the Herbert Tower, the Guest Tower and the tank tower and the octagonal Octagon Tower from the 15th century and expanded by a roof skylights. At the site of the old Knight's Hall, which was demolished under the first Marquis, a new library and a ballroom were built.

Inside the castle designed Burges a series of splendid rooms: Depending on a Smoking Room for winter and summer, the Chaucer Room with stained glass, representing the Canterbury Tales, the Arab Room in orientalizing style, Lord Bute 's Bedroom with mirrored ceiling and intricately paneled walls as well as the top floor of the atrium -like Roof Garden with painted walls and a fountain.

Burges died in 1881, but his former assistant William Frame continued his work by the north gate and restored the Animal Wall was built, a wall with sculptures of various animals.

As the 3rd Marquis died in 1900, had to be paid for the estate high inheritance taxes. Nevertheless, his son continued the construction work. 1947, the castle of the 5th Marquis of Bute, was sold for the symbolic price of one pound sterling to the city of Cardiff.

1947 to today

Cardiff Castle is now a popular tourist attraction and in addition to the above mentioned areas, the regiment museum of the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards. To the castle extends the Bute Park. In addition, Cardiff Castle is the venue of various concerts as well as sporting and cultural events.

The architectural historian Dan Cruickshank took Cardiff Castle in the selection of eight buildings in his book The Story of Britain's Best Buildings on. In his eyes, it is a " strange product" that the " major conflict of the mid-19th century between the doctrinal Christianity and the new discoveries of science [ was ] that seemed to make the truth of the Bible and its account of creation in question. " " Cardiff Castle [ ... ] is a strange product of the great mid-19th -century conflict in between doctrinaire Christianity and the new discoveries of science did Appeared to question the veracity of the Bible and its account of Creation. "