Tours a variety of European castles, looking at architectural features that provided fortification against attack and space for social functions during peacetime.
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"Designed like machines with nearly every architectural detail devoted to defense, medieval castles represented the perfect fusion of form and function. In this journey into the past, MODERN MARVELS takes an in-depth look at the way these massive edifices were built and used. At sites throughout Europe, visit some of the most famous, impressive, and important castles still standing. Get an up-close look at architectural features that have long since vanished: murder holes, arrow slits, battlements, and moats, and see how they all worked together to make castles virtually impenetrable to attack. Of course, when the enemy was not camped outside, these fortifications still had a valuable role to play, serving as homes to kings and nobles, economic centers, courthouses, treasuries, prisons, and, of course, torture chambers."
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