At the heart of a castle is its tower, known as the keep. The number of floors within the keep depended on its size and the wealth of its owner. All Keeps contained a large room known as the Great Hall. The enclosed area between the inside of the wall and the keep.

Castles could store plenty of foodstuffs in the basement and ground floor of the tower keep as, without windows (to improve security during a siege), this part of the building was not much good for anything else.

For example, kitchens were called kitchens as were pantries and cellars. The most important room in a royal palace or castle was the Great Hall. Unless there was another hall, it was usually referred to simply as ‘the hall’.

The castle gatehouse was one of the most defensive parts of any medieval fortress. It was a strong, fortified building positioned to defend the entrance to a castle.

Below are the main rooms found in medieval castles and large manor houses.

• The Great Hall.
• Bed Chambers.
• Solars.
• Bathrooms, Lavatories and Garderobes.
• Kitchens, Pantries, Larders & Butteries.
• Gatehouses and Guardrooms.
• Chapels & Oratories.
• Cabinets and Boudoirs.

Possibly the most important part of a castle in the time of sieges, the Well meant survival for the inhabitants of the castle even if they had little food. The well could be situated in the courtyard or inside the keep. If the well was outside, a wooden covering usually protected it from the elements.

The entrance to the castle was always its weakest point. Drawbridges could be pulled up, preventing access across moats. Tall gate towers meant that defenders could shoot down in safety at attacks below. The main gate or door to the castle was usually a thick, iron-studded wooden door, that was hard to break through.

A castle is a fortified dwelling. In other words, there are many kinds of fortifications built for defense, but a castle is specifically used as a residence, as well. So when we’re wondering what’s the difference between a castle and a palace, the most important difference is that a palace is not fortified.

There is little difference between a fortress and a castle. Fortresses normally have thick stone walls, thicker but less tall than in castles so artillery cannot break them. There were very small windows, without glass, so that soldiers inside could fire out through them. Fortresses were not designed for comfort.

Hofburg Palace in Austria has 18 wings, 19 courtyards, and 2,600 rooms.

• Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, is 2,583,339 square feet.
• The Royal Palace of Caserta in southern Italy measures around 500,000 square feet, but it is the world’s largest palace if measured by volume.

The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork (Polish: Zamek w Malborku; German: Ordensburg Marienburg) is a 13th-century Teutonic castle and fortress located near the town of Malbork, Poland. It is the largest castle in the world measured by land area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A castle is a large, fortified residence or group of buildings with strong walls to defend against attacks. No fortified walls, no moats, no cannons—they’ve more of the gilded-chic vibe. Palaces were/are lived in by royalty, heads of state, or heads of a church, and are usually surrounded by lush, landscaped gardens.

the Palace of the Parliament

775 rooms