I have been busy trying to catch up on making galleries out of last summers photo shoots, mainly because THIS summer is rapidly approaching and I will once again be out shooting at events, days out and weeks away, building up another big backlog of pictures to work through. Because of this, I am concentrating on my older stuff, rather than shooting new PaD shots. I have given up on my plan to transfer a lot of my old slides into digital form, over the winter, as I never found the time.

Burg Thurant was built at the end of the 12th Century and soon fell (mid 13th Century) into the hands of a couple of archbishops due to the signing of a peace treaty. The archbishops took half each, putting a partition wall across the middle, this is why it has the distinctive look given by the twin towers.

In more recent centuries it was a private residence and owners collected together bits and pieces of statuary and odds and ends, it was also laid out with some small gardens.

Unlike the better known castles in Germany, which are often very commercialised with guided tours, museums and gift shops, Thurant is quite undeveloped. Although the entrance kiosk also includes a small gift area and drinks etc are available, this castle is very uncommercial and the current owners have really just thrown open the gates to the public. Where some castles have been made to look as they would have 900 years ago, this one remains as it has evolved over the centuries. For this reason it has a lot of character, with an almost surreal combination of styles - looking part military fortification, part garden centre, part tea garden. There is also a charming chapel built into a cellar, lit only by one light and a small stained glass window.

I have uploaded a number of images of this castle into a subgallery, which will be added to shortly. If you want to see more of it, click on the thumbnail of the shot of the chapel below, that will take you into the middle of the gallery somewhere.



As always, all comments are welcome. Thanks.