Images in this gallery are of the massive octagonal Castel Del Monte, an architectural wonder built by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1240 AD. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Visible for miles around the striking castle crowns an isolated wooded hill top spectacularly dominating the fertile landscape of the lower Murge in the south eastern Italian region of Puglia (Apulia), about 50 kilometres north of coastal town of Bari.
It is blend of architectural styles...
more »Images in this gallery are of the massive octagonal Castel Del Monte, an architectural wonder built by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1240 AD. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Visible for miles around the striking castle crowns an isolated wooded hill top spectacularly dominating the fertile landscape of the lower Murge in the south eastern Italian region of Puglia (Apulia), about 50 kilometres north of coastal town of Bari.
It is blend of architectural styles and quirks including Gothic towers, Romanesque windows, Islamic mosaics and Classical columns, capitals and a triumphal entrance portal. Its eight octagonal towers rise to 24 metres and it has two floors with had eight trapezoid-shaped rooms covered with ribbed cross vault and a central octagonal courtyard.
Its purpose has been mystery and a puzzle to generations of historians as it lacking typical distinctive defensive features such as a moat or drawbridge. Fredrick is believed to have commissioned over 200 castles on his return from the crusades; the Castel Del Monte was the only octagonal castle among them.
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