endlessrarities | Back to Castle of (Last!) Month...

I'm cheating now. After yesterday's unscheduled interruption of an interruption (we were, after all talking about Pompeii...), I thought I'd devote some more time to the magnificent Maschio Angiono, just to give everyone a rest from Matters Classical...

Inside the great hall now, which certainly knocks most of the great halls and donjon towers I've encountered for six. Maybe I should go and explore some real castles, instead of the Scots impoverished numbers that just don't quite make it into the Premier League...

This was a really difficult structure to photograph, on account of its vast scale. I couldn't get close-ups of the architectural details, as they were just lost against the huge walls.

And the vaulting.... Oh, my, the vaulting! It was wonderful. If you don't believe me, you can take a look for yourself:-

I could imagine this sort of structure housing a chapter-house attached to a medieval abbey or cathedral, but on a much smaller scale. And I love the tiny little occulus type window which sits at the apex, which is just visible at the top-centre of the photo.

There's a tale of tragedy attached to this particular part of the castle. It suffered a fire in the early 20th century - 1919, I think it was. Before this time, it evidently featured a large number of very fine carvings, but they were destroyed in the blaze. Only a few now survive, and unfortunately they're not located in areas which allow close inspection:-