Well-preserved medieval cities

[ov_79]

Some examples of preserved medieval cities in Czech republic:

České Budějovice (more pictures here)


Český Krumlov (more pictures here)


Jindřichův Hradec (more pictures here)


Kutná Hora (more pictures here)


Litoměřice (more pictures here)


Litomyšl (more pictures here)


Loket (more pictures here)


Mikulov (more pictures here)


Olomouc (more pictures here); does not seem from the aerial picture, but very medieval and very valuable


Písek


Slavonice (more pictures here)


Tábor (more pictures here)


Telč (more pictures here)


Třeboň (more pictures here)


Znojmo (a pano here)

[ptto]

Originally Posted by Clay Hefner

no one else posting but us Teutons?

Ok, here's a few close to where I live.

Morella


Peniscola


Google their names for some more pics.

[Clay Hefner]

^ great pics everyone

Those fortifications in the Mediterranean and Balcans are pretty impressive.
A well-preserved town wall is always so very special and adds so much to the atmosphere. So many of them everywhere have been completely torn down. Even in Bavaria, where the state tried to prevent demolition, many towns have removed parts of the fortifications overtime.
Some towers here, a gate or part of the wall there.
It's pretty strange somehow how some well-preserved old German towns outside Bavaria and the Palatinate have kept substantial parts of the wall intact, but removed ALL of the town gates. In Quedlinburg or Fritzlar one town gate would be the icing on the cake, like the gates help make Gelnhausen so special.

Is there even one fortification left in lower saxony that is comparable to, say, Büdingen?
Goslar, maybe?

The fortifications in the Czech Republic seem to have been removed mostly, are the gates still there? I suppose the Austrians were pretty active in that department.


Iphofen


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[Clay Hefner]

Gates of Rothenburg

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[peter871]

Continental Croatia:

Zagreb, German: Agram
Gradec town


Zagreb, German: Agram
Kaptol town


Karlovac, German: Karlstadt or Carlstadt, Hungarian: Károlyváros
(actually a renaissance town)

[peter871]

Istria and Kvarner

Rovinj, Italian: Rovigno
Built on an island close to the coast, it was connected with the mainland in 1763 by filling in the channel





Poreč, Italian: Parenzo

Poreč, Euphrasian basilica (6th ct.)





Novigrad, Italian: Cittanova



Pula, Italian: Pola





Plomin, Italian: Fianona



Labin, Italian: Albona





Buje, Italian: Buie



Beram



Bale, Italian: Valle



Buzet



Motovun, Italian: Montona







Vodnjan, Italian: Dignano



Višnjan, Italian: Visignano



Grožnjan, Italian: Grisignano



Town Hall


Svet Vinčenat, Italian: Sanvincenti



Hum, Italian: Colmo, German: Cholm
Hum has a population of only 17 people (2001 census)[1], but is officially a town, and is the Guinness World Record holder for the smallest town in the world.





Sveti Lovreč, Italian: San Lorenzo del Pasenatico



Gračišće, Italian: Gallignana

[/IMG]

Krk, Italian: Veglia





Rab, Italian: Arbe, German: Arbey

[wolfpaw]

Some really great pics, thank you! Many of the places I haven't heard of either. I'll try and post some from the UK, although we have hardly anything that even compares with the well-preserved medieval cities of Europe

[peter871]

Dalmatia (Croatia)

Zadar, Italian: Zara
Built as a roman urbs quadrata it has layers form different periods of time.





Pag, Italian: Pago, German: Baag





Šibenik, Italian: Sebenico







Trogir, Italian: Traù
founded by Greek colonists from the island of Vis. It also has layers of different periods.







Split, Italian: Spalato
Diocletian's palace became one part of the medieval town.







Hvar, Italian: Lesina



Korčula, Italian: Curzola





Ston





Dubrovnik, Italian: Ragusa
Independent republic from 1358. - 1808. (Respublica Ragusina)

[Darryl]

Wow! Awesome photo.

[erbse]

Great stuff everyone, but DON'T FORGET TO CREDIT THE SOURCES where you took the photos from. Thanks.

Originally Posted by wolfpaw

I'll try and post some from the UK, although we have hardly anything that even compares with the well-preserved medieval cities of Europe

Well, you don't have too many of them. But what about Edinburgh, Bath, Durham, parts of Liverpool, towns in the Shropshire (Shrewsbury, Ludlow,..) and uhm.... That's about it


Damn, I really can't think of any more decent old town areas in the UK

[Marathaman]

Where is the plumbing in all these buildings?

[wolfpaw]

Well, you don't have too many of them. But what about Edinburgh, Bath, Durham, parts of Liverpool, towns in the Shropshire (Shrewsbury, Ludlow,..) and uhm.... That's about it


Damn, I really can't think of any more decent old town areas in the UK

Liverpool has nothing! The oldest building is only 250 years old or something and the rest of it is either Victorian or 20th century. Ludlow and Shrewsbury are very nice, but they're really small towns and not cities. Lavenham is a small village with loads of half-timbered buildings but again it's very, very small. Manchester has one single 16th century building. York is probably the UK's best preserved medieval city. Warwick was largely destroyed by fire a few centuries ago. Bath is almost completely Georgian and dates from the 18th century. Durham and Lincoln are attractive but don't have large amounts of medieval houses surviving, although Stratford upon Avon has a number of really fine half-timbered houses from the 15th, 16th and 17th century. Most of Exeter's surviving medieval and 16th century housing were demolished in the 1930s. In fact many cities in the UK have one or two medieval houses but they are isolated incidents.

The UK has a lot of fine manor/country houses and some really attractive market towns and villages, but the cities just don't have streets and streets of ancient urban architecture that you find on the continent. Coventry is always mentioned as a fine city destroyed by bombing in WW2 but, like Plymouth, it was never actually that great to begin with, especially compared with places like Warsaw, Berlin, Dresden, Nuremburg, Danzig, etc. etc.

[Zanovijetalo]

Saint George takes a break after slaying the dragon, while in the background you can see Kamenita vrata/Steintor (Stone Gate), the only remaining part of Zagreb medieval walls. Even today Kamenita is main entrance to Gradec (or Upper Town), the oldest part of the city.




Photo by our highly respected SSC-er, bubach_hlubach.

[Fellow_traveler]

Toruń [Poland] is known as the best preserved gothic towns in East-Central Europe













pics come from www.plfoto.com

[peter871]

It's important to show those towns significant at their age even if they are small today. They certainly had an influence on todays well preserved medieval towns/cities.
Most of the Croatian medieval towns looks rural (although picturesque) but they have walls, town gates, city hall, cathedral, palazzi.. and they are towns

[peter871]

*wolfpaw
show them as they are..
Salisbury, Linclon, Edinburgh ? They seem decent..

[Qaabus]

Zutphen is pretty representative of Medieval cities in the Netherlands:







image hosted on flickr

[TomTack]

Bruges, Belgium
The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is egg-shaped and about 430 hectares in size, Golden Age (12th to 15th century)


































Toyo Ito pavilion

[buho]

Ávila, in Spain. Preserves the complete medieval wall, 2.500 metres long with 88 towers and 9 doors built between 1090 and 1099. The own presbitery of the gothic cathedral is insert in the wall, to reinforce the city. And the fortified churchs that are out of the walls, possibly actued as advanced defensive castles. Inside the walls, romanic and gothic churchs and fortified palaces.









from Wikipedia



from canonistas.com



from fuenterrebollo



from arssummum





by Angel M. Gómez Gómez (monumentalnet.org)













by me

[whatever...]

Vilnius would easily be on the list, and could rival anyone nowadays. But the soviet aviation and artillery was to much to handle and 40% of the Oldtown laid in ruins afterwards. Entire renaissance/baroque blocks of the city were lost and perhaps the most precious treasure lost was The Great Synagogue of Vilna - a major worldwide jewish centre with Torah learning schools and one of the richest jewish libraries.

The only city in Baltics that escaped the WW2 barely touched was Tallinn.