Corte Citadel

Corte, France

A small town in the heart of Corsica, Corte was the capital of the island (from 1755-1769 under Pasquale Paoli). Jutting out above the Tavignano and Restonica Rivers, and the cobbled alleyways of the Haute Ville, the citadel’s oldest part is the château – known as the Nid d’Aigle (Eagle’s Nest) – built in 1419. The 19th-century barracks now houses the tourist office and the Museu di a Corsica, a must-see for Corsica culture buffs. It’s a joint admission for the museum and citadel.

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Address

Rue du Donjon, Corte, France
See all sites in Corte

Details

Founded: 1419
Category: Castles and fortifications in France

Rating

4.1/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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San Giovanni Battista (2 km)


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Ajaccio Citadel (54,9 km)
Bastia Citadel (49,7 km)
Bastia Cathedral (49,6 km)
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Cervione Cathedral (28,3 km)

User Reviews

Brian Gavin (7 months ago)
Spacious, well laid out museum on several floors. The exhibits provide a comprehensive history of Corsica. You need to leave plenty of time for a visit if you want to read all of the detailed information for each exhibit. As with most museums there is probably more on display than can be absorbed on one visit. Don't miss the "Corsican Head" sculpture on the outside terrace on the first floor.
Mārtiņš Torsters (8 months ago)
A beautiful view available from inside, has good historical information about Île de beauté
Mark Dawson (8 months ago)
Excellent location integrated with the citadel and its fortifications. We enjoyed the underground experience and the history of Corse
Gulden Fried (9 months ago)
The concept and execution of this exhibition is wonderful. If you're not french I would highly recommend taking the audio guide for 1,50€ (I am german) because written information is only provided in french and corse and this guide opens the path to more information anyway! That's why i only give 4/5. But what we really liked was not only a wide range of provided knowledge (history, geography, geology, anthropology etc) but also access to the fort and an extended audio guide tour about architecture and the building as a whole as you walk up to the very top of the city!
James Harper (12 months ago)
Worth going in for the views from the citadel alone. The directional signage is available in English, but the exhibition signs are French and Italian only. Interesting enough though.
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Moszna Castle

The Moszna Castle is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia. The history of this building begins in the 17th century, although much older cellars were found in the gardens during excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the investigators, including H. Barthel, claimed that those cellars could have been remnants of a presumed Templar castle, but their theory has never been proved. After World War II, further excavations discovered a medieval palisade.

The central part of the castle is an old baroque palace which was partially destroyed by fire on the night of April 2, 1896 and was reconstructed in the same year in its original form by Franz Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. The reconstruction works involved an extension of the residence. The eastern Neogothic-styled wing of the building was built by 1900, along with an adjacent orangery. In 1912-1914, the western wing was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. The architectural form of the castle contains a wide variety of styles, thus it can be generally defined as eclectic.

The height of the building, as well as its numerous turrets and spires, give the impression of verticalism. The whole castle has exactly ninety-nine turrets. Inside, it contains 365 rooms. The castle was twice visited by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. His participation in hunting during his stay at the castle was documented in a hand-written chronicle in 1911 as well as in the following year. The castle in Moszna was the residence of a Silesian family Tiele-Winckler who were industrial magnates, from 1866 until the spring of 1945 when they were forced to move to Germany and the castle was occupied by the Red Army. The period of the Soviet control caused significant damage to the castle's internal fittings in comparison to the minor damage caused by WWII.

After World War II the castle did not have a permanent owner and was the home of various institutions until 1972 when it became a convalescent home. Later it became a Public Health Care Centre for Therapies of Neuroses. Nowadays it can be visited by tourists since the health institution has moved to another building in the neighbourhood. The castle also has a chapel which is used as a concert hall. Since 1998 the castle housed a gallery in which works of various artists are presented at regular exhibitions.

Apart from the castle itself, the entire complex includes a park which has no precise boundaries and includes nearby fields, meadows and a forest. Only the main axis of the park can be characterised as geometrical. Starting from the gate, it leads along the oak and then horse-chestnut avenues, towards the castle. Further on, the park passes into an avenue of lime trees with symmetrical canals running along both sides of the path, lined with a few varieties of rhododendrons. The axis of the park terminates at the base of a former monument of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. On the eastern side of the avenue there is a pond with an islet referred to by the owners as Easter Island. The islet is planted with needle-leaved shrubs and can be reached by a Chinese-styled bridge. The garden, as part of the whole park complex was restored slightly earlier than the castle itself. Preserved documents of 1868 state that the improvement in the garden's aesthetic quality was undertaken by Hubert von Tiele-Winckler.

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