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Herrenchiemsee is a castle of royal buildings on the Herreninsel, an island in the middle of the Bavaria’s largest lake - Chiemsee. The Neues Schloss (New Castle) is the most famous of these buildings and it is the biggest of Ludwig II of Bavaria’s palaces. The Neues Schloss was designed by Christian Jank, Franz Seitz, and Georg Dollman and built between 1878 and 1885. This is the final castle of Ludwig II and the biggest, and most expensive of all 16.6 million.

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The Royal Pavilion is a former royal residence located in Brighton, United Kingdom. Known as “London by the Sea”, the city of Brighton is the UK’s most famous seaside holiday resort. Brighton was just a fishing village until 1787 when the Prince George, Prince of Wales, decided to build a spectacular palace there. The Brighton Pavilion was built over the next 20 years. With its oriental stylistic architecture, the Royal Pavilion of Brighton certainly stands out from the other tourist attractions of Britain.
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Situated high above the River Neckar, Heidelberg Castle is one of Germany’s most romantic locations. It has had a long and turbulent history since it was first constructed in the early 15th century as a residence for the Palatine princes, the powerful secular rulers who presided over this part of southern Germany during the Holy Roman Empire. The construction lasted over 400 years and consists of ramparts, outbuildings and palaces in all styles from Gothic to High Renaissance. The two dominant buildings at the eastern and northern side of the courtyard were erected the 16th century. Today, they are considered to be two of the most important buildings in German architectural history.

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The Alhambra is a beautiful collection of buildings and gardens. The tree-lined walks are luscious, providing pleasant shade and coolness, enhanced by the abundance of water that flows in its streams. This palace structure was started after the Reconquista, the reconquering of Spain performed by the Christian kings, started. This adds to its aura. While the illiterate Christians were advancing, Spain reached its highest cultural level ever, but under the Muslim rulers. The slender structure of Alhambra…

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When in North Korea, foreign visitors will often be asked to pay homage to the Great Leader President Kim Il Sung. This will usually be done at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace.Visiting the Kumsusan Memorial Palace to pay homage to Kim Il Sung is quite an experience. Entry is through a long passageway which has the longest travelator that I have seen in my life. I was advised by my guides that it was installed at the initiative of the Great Leader General Kim Jung Il so that visitors would not get tired when walking to the palace. “The great leader is always thinking of the comfort of his people”,
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The Kremlin is Russia’s mythic refuge, a self contained city with a multitude of palaces, armories, and churches, a medieval fortress that links the modern nation to its legendary past in the ancient state of Kievan Rus’. As the dominance of Kiev faded and its empire fragmented under the weight of foreign invasion and internecine strife in the 11th and 12th centuries, regional princes gained power. In 1147, as Kievan Rus was experiencing its final death throes, a chronicler recorded that a feast was held at the hunting lodge of Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy, ruling prince of Rostov and Suzdal. The lodge was perfectly situated atop a hill overlooking the Moskva and Neglina rivers, prompting its development (in such troubled times) as a fortified town, or Kremlin.

Within a century, the town had risen to become an independent principality within the Mongol empire. By the middle of the 14th century, its princes had gained such pre-eminence that Moscow was made the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church. With Ivan the Great (1462-1505) at its helm, Muscovite rule extended over all of Russia, and the Kremlin became more magnificent, befitting its role as the seat of Russian power. By 1480 the once modest hunting lodge had become an imposing fortress city. Its stone walls were graced by the magnificent Cathedral of the Assumption, where Ivan defiantly tore up the charter binding Moscow to Mongol rule. Over the next two centuries, until Peter the Great transferred the capital of Russia to St. Petersburg, the Kremlin served as the central stage for the magnificent and occasionally horrific history of the Tsars.
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Potala Palace located at Lhasa is one of the most massive palace on the Earth. Now a museum it was once the winter religious and political seat of Tibet under the leadership of the Dalai Lama.

Built at an altitude of 3,700 m, on the side of Marpo Ri hill, the Red Mountain in the center of Lhasa Valley, Potala Palace, with its vast inward-sloping walls broken only in the upper parts by straight rows of many windows, and its flat roofs at various levels, is not unlike a fortress in appearance. At the south base of the rock is a large space enclosed by walls and gates, with great porticos on the inner side. A series of tolerably easy staircases, broken by intervals of gentle ascent, leads to the summit of the rock. The whole width of this is occupied by the palace.

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