Castello d'Augusta
| Castello d'Augusta | ||
|---|---|---|
 The fort |
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| Alternative name (s): | Castello Svevo | |
| Creation time : | 1232 | |
| Castle type : | Inselburg | |
| Conservation status: | restored | |
| Standing position : | Attachment | |
| Place: | Augusta (Sicily) | |
| Geographical location | 37 ° 14 '5 " N , 15 ° 13' 3" E | |
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The Castello d'Augusta or Castello Svevo is a fort in the Sicilian city of Augusta in the Free Community Consortium of Syracuse . Like the rest of the historic old town, the fort is located on an island in front of the modern city of Augusta, accessible via a bridge.
The fort in its current form was built on the foundations of an older fortification by order of Emperor Friedrich II . The construction management had the Praepositus Aedificiorum Riccardo da Lentini.
The fort is roughly square in plan (with a rectangular inner courtyard). The outer walls are each around 60 m long. There is a square tower at every corner. In the middle of the southern wall front (next to the main entrance) there is a pentagonal tower, on the west and east sides the towers in the middle of the outer wall have a rectangular floor plan. Excavations by the local monument authority have shown that the pentagonal tower was originally octagonal, reminding of the octagonal shape of Castel del Monte . This tower shape also suggests a reference to the octagonal outer towers of the Frederician fort of Cosenza in Calabria . Architectural details allow the interior design to be derived from Cistercian shapes, especially from that of Clairvaux Monastery, which is important for the southern filiation ("box ribs" etc.).
In general, the design (as is often the case in the architecture around Friedrich II.) Was based on the shape of a Roman castrum . In the course of time, the castle was rebuilt several times and the structure of the interior was changed significantly. It served military and civil purposes (customs warehouse). During the period of Spanish rule in southern Italy ( Bourbon-Sicily rulers ), the second wall was built around the castle.
From 1890 to 1979 a prison was housed in the fort. After a long period of vacancy and decay, it was restored in the 1990s.
literature
- Alexander Knaak: Prolegomena to a corpus work of the architecture of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the Kingdom of Sicily 1220–1250 (= studies on art and cultural history. Volume 16). Jonas, Marburg 2001, ISBN 3-89445-278-1 (on Augusta's fort, pp. 38-47).
Remarks
- ↑ Alexander Knaak: Prolegomena to a corpus work of the architecture of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the Kingdom of Sicily 1220-1250. Marburg 2001, p. 39.