Paffendorf castle is one of the many castles and manors in the Erftniederung. Built in the 16th century, the complex is surrounded by moats and consists of the multi-winged, two-storey mansion and the formerly agricultural forecourt, which encloses a spacious farmyard at right angles. Two massive round towers, diagonally opposite, flank the main building. The outer bailey is bounded at the corners by massive towers, which with beveled pedestals reach down to the ditches then fed by Erftwasser.
In the middle of the 19th century, the castle received its neo-gothic appearance through a fundamental reconstruction. The buildings owe their battlements, turrets, balustrades and balconies as well as figurative jewelery. When in 1958 the progressive opencast mine Fortuna-Garsdorf reached the lands belonging to the castle, the then owner sold all the property to a predecessor company of RWE Power.
The castle includes a 7.5-hectare park. Extensive water surfaces and numerous distinctive single trees, among them old sequoias, gingko and giant life trees, characterize the picture. A forestry education gives an impression of the flora of the Tertiary. Descendants of primeval trees, shrubs and moorland plants from other parts of the world provide visitors with a literally living image of the Tertiary.
As a remnant of primeval flora, two 15 million year old sequoia stumps flank the entrance to the castle park. Their high natural content of tannic acid prevented the decomposition over millions of years, so that they could be found well preserved in an open pit.
References:The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.
The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.
Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.