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Founded: 1265Category: Castles and fortifications in Estonia
Historical period: Danish and Livonian Order (Estonia)
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The construction of Paide order castle was started in 1265 under the leadership of Konrad von Mandern. The original tower of Tall Hermann was octagonal with the height of over 30 meters and the thickness of the walls of about 3 meters.
At the beginning of the Livonian War the Russians repeatedly besieged Paide, but only in 1573 they finally managed to invade Paide. After that it changed hands several times until the Swedes got it in 1608. In 1638 they removed Paide from the list of castles.
The rampart tower and castle ruins were first conserved at the end of 19th century. In 1913 a park was planted on the hill. In 1941 Soviet soldiers destroyed the rampart tower,– the symbol of both Paide and Järva County. To celebrate the 650th anniversary of the St. George's Night uprising the tower was restored in 1993. Today it houses a museum.
References: Aviastar.org, Paide Tourism Information
The historical centre of Briançon is a strongly fortified town, built by Vauban to defend the region from Austrians in the 17th century. Its streets are very steep and narrow, though picturesque. Briançon lies at the foot of the descent from the Col de Montgenèvre, giving access to Turin, so a great number of other fortifications have been constructed on the surrounding heights, especially towards the east.
The Savoyards made two raids into French territory in 1691 and 1692. As a result, Vauban was dispatched to inspect the frontier defences, which had been ill-equiped to deal with the attack from Savoy. He returned to the area in 1700 to check on the progress that had been made since his first visit. When Vauban visited Briançon, work on the defences had already started under a local engineer, Monsieur d"Angrogne in 1692.