Schloss Wurzen was built in 1491-1497 in late Gothic style with elements of the early Renaissance by the Meißen bishop Johann VI. After its completion, he often resided here in addition to his stays at Stolpen Castle. In 1631 both towers burned down and were very badly damaged. Today Wurzen Castle is an unusually well-preserved residential palace from the late 15th century and the only Gothic bishop's palace with a restaurant and hotel.
The massive building on a rectangular floor plan with the south-east and north-west corner towers and the deep, dry moat with the medieval drawbridge mark the transition from a medieval castle to a late Gothic palace.
The room structure, the Wendelstein , the arched curtain windows on the towers and on the first floor, and above all the cell vaults with net-shaped figuration inside, point to a direct connection with Albrechtsburg Castle in Meißen, whose master builder Arnold von Westfalen significantly introduced the art of castle architecture in Saxony.
References:Château de Niort is a medieval castle in the French town of Niort. It consists of two square towers, linked by a 15th-century building and dominates the Sèvre Niortaise valley.
The two donjons are the only remaining part of the castle. The castle was started by Henry II Plantagenet in the 12th century and completed by Richard the Lionheart. It was defended by a rectangular curtain wall and was damaged during the Wars of Religion. In the 18th century, the castle served as a prison.
The present keeps were the central point of a massive fortress. The southern keep is 28m tall, reinforced with turrets. The northern tower is slightly shorter at 23m. Both are flanked with circular turrets at the corners as well as semicircular buttresses. Each of the towers has a spiral staircase serving the upper floors. The Romanesque architecture is of a high quality with the dressed stones closely jointed.