1. European Castles

2. Catherine Palace

3.  Built in 1717, redesigned in Rococo style in 1752 by Bartolomeo Rastrelli  Built for Empress Catherine I of Russia as a summer palace  Famous for its feminine and opulent blue, white, and gold exterior and its extremely intricate interior  the Amber Room  Russia’s most expensive palace, due to the fact of all the gold

6. Neuschwanstein Castle

7.  Built in 1869 as the retreat for King Ludwig II  Located in Schwangau, Germany, which is in the middle of the Bavarian Alps  Embodiment of 19 th century Romanticism  Considered very modern because it was equipped with running water, a heating system, and plumbing  Inspiration for almost all Disney castles, including Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle

8. Neuschwanstein Castle

9. Mont-Saint-Michel

10.  Founded in 708 by Saint Aubert, bishop of Avranches, to be a monastery  Main foundation and structure of the castle were built between 1203 and 1228, called La Merveille (the Marvel)  One of the greatest achievements of Medieval Gothic architecture  Connected to the mainland by a causeway, which is accessible at low tides only

11. Mont-Saint-Michel

12. Swallow’s Nest

13.  Built on a 130 ft. high rock in Crimea in 1912 by the German noble Baron von Steingel  Architect Vsevolod Sherwood wanted it to a romantic “fairytale castle”  After an earthquake in 1927, part of the rock foundation underneath crumbled off, which is why the castle now hangs off the cliff.  Originally had a few rooms, but it has been remade into an Italian restaurant