Inveraray Castle
Inveraray Castle is a castle in the town of Inveraray on Loch Fyne in Scotland, about 95 kilometers north of Glasgow. It is the headquarters of the Dukes of Argyll, a branch of the Campbell clan, and can be visited.
Description
The centerpiece of the four-storey castle is a tower with a large hall. This is around close to four wings and form a square, four gothic round towers at the corners. Battlements and Machicolation ( pitch nose rows ) both at the central tower and to the corner towers serve only the ornament. The building rises over four floors.
The interior of the central tower is occupied by a single large hall, whose ceiling height is 21 meters and is therefore the highest space of Scotland. It is home to a collection of weapons with weapons from the 16th to 18th centuries, including Brown Bess muskets, Lochaber axes, Scottish broadswords of the 18th century and the dagger Rob Roys.
Inveraray Castle is surrounded by a large, symmetrical landscaped park, which blends seamlessly into the rugged Scottish landscape. The transitions are fluid.
History
Built in 1457 Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, a first fortification in Inveraray. The building has not been used for a long and fell into disrepair. Colin's descendant John toyed with the idea to build a new building and had to import from John Vanbrugh make a first sketch, but only Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll decided, finally, to build a new castle. In order to provide sufficient space for these plans, had the old place Inveraray soft and was rebuilt a mile away. The work according to the plans of the architect Roger Morris and William Adam, which were based on the first draft Vanbrugh, began in 1745 and lasted until 1790.
After a fire in 1877 the castle has been added new architectural elements in the repair work. Thus, the corner towers were for example cone helmets and the attic window with tympanum.