Crypts & Castles
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The Wonderful Barnby *ottomatt Several purposes are suggested for the unique structure. One theory is based in the custom in Georgian times of using doves as a delicacy when other game or animals were not in season, and suggest its use as a dovecote. The height of the structure would also lend itself to sport shooting, supporting another theory of its use as a shooting or game keepers tower.However, a central hole through each of the floors supports the generally accepted theory of its use as a granary. The barn was built in the years immediately following the famine of 1740-41, as there was a need for new grain stores in case of another famine. 
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Czocha Casle in western Poland border with Germany and Austria.Czocha Castle began as a stronghold, on the Czech-Lusatian border. Its construction was ordered by Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, in the middle of 13th century (1241–1247). In 1253 castle was handed over to Konrad von Wallhausen, Bishop of Meissen. In 1319 the complex became part of the dukedom of Henry I of Jawor, and after his death, it was taken over by another Silesian prince, Bolko II the Small, and his wife Agnieszka (see Duchy of Silesia). Origin of the stone castle dates back to 1329.In the mid-14th century, Czocha Castle was annexed by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. Then, between 1389 and 1453, it belonged to the noble families of von Dohn and von Kluks. Reinforced, the complex was besieged by the Hussites in the early 15th century, who captured it in 1427, and remained in the castle for unknown time (see Hussite Wars). In 1453, the castle was purchased by the family of von Nostitz, who owned it for 250 years, making several changes through remodelling projects in 1525 and 1611. Czocha’s walls were strengthened and reinforced, which thwarted a Swedish siege of the complex during the Thirty Years War. In 1703, the castle was purchased by Jan Hartwig von Uechtritz, influential courtier of Augustus II the Strong. On August 17, 1793, the whole complex burned in a fire.Czocha Castle, view from the Kwisa riverIn 1909, Czocha was bought by a cigar manufacturer from Dresden, Ernst Gutschow, who ordered major remodeling, carried out by Berlin architect Bodo Ebhardt, based on a 1703 painting of the castle. Gutschow, who was close to the Russian Imperial Court and hosted several White emigres in Czocha, lived in the castle until March 1945. Upon leaving, he packed up the most valuable possessions and moved them out.After World War II, the castle was ransacked several times, both by soldiers of the Red Army, and Polish thieves, who came to the so-called Recovered Territories from central and eastern part of the country. Pieces of furniture and other goods were stolen, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the castle was home to refugees from Greece (see Greek Civil War). In 1952, Czocha was taken over by the Polish Army. Used as a military vacation resort, it was erased from official maps. The castle has been open to the public since September 1996 as a hotel[1] and conference center. The complex was featured in several movies, including a popular 1963 comedy, Gdzie jest general? (Where is the General?)
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Saint Bartholomewby *lostknightkg
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The Lambertikirche (St. Lambert’s Church) in Münster, Germany, was the market and commoners church.It was built as a late Gothic hall church in the late 14th century (with laying of the foundation stone in 1375) and won notoriety because of the three cages you can see here.They were made by the smith Bertolt von Lüdinghausen in Dortmund in 1535 (it reads MCCCCCXXXV in one of the cages) – originally for a convoy of prisoners. But the bodies of Jan van Leiden (John of Leiden), Bernd Krechting and Bernd Knipperdolling, German leaders of the Anabaptists, were raised in those three cages above St. Lambert’s Church.The three men died a horrible death. On January 22, 1536, Knipperdolling, Krechting, and Bockelson (John of Leiden) were publicly tortured and executed in Münster. Each attached to a pole by an iron spiked collar, their bodies were ripped with red-hot tongs for the space of an hour, after Knipperdolling saw the process of torturing John of Leiden, he attempted to kill himself with the collar using it to choke himself. The executer tied him to the stake to make it impossible after that. After the burning, their tongues were pulled out with tongs before each was killed with a burning dagger thrust through the heart.
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by *lostknightkg
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