Castle spotlight, Gravensteen Castle, Belgium
Located in Ghent, Belgium, the present castle was built in 1180 by count Philip of Alsace and was modeled after the crusaders castles the count encountered while he participated in the second crusade. Before its construction, there stood a wooden castle on the same location, built in the ninth century. Work was begun on the current Gravensteen building in 1180, on the site of an earlier castle. The building was modeled on the crusader castles in the Holy Land, and the massive fortifications still ooze power. The fortress was left empty and semi-derelict for some time, and during the industrial revolution some of its vast halls were used as loom-filled factories for the local cloth industry. It has now been restored...