Neurathen Castle (Felsenburg Neurathen), which was first mentioned by this name in 1755, is located near the famous Bastei rocks near Rathen in Saxon Switzerland. This was once the largest rock castles in the region, but today only the rooms carved out of the rock, passages, the cistern and rebates for the timber of the former wooden superstructure have survived. In the years 1982–1984 parts of the extensive castle were used to build the open-air museum.
The beginnings of Neurathen date back to the first half of the 13th century, however the site may have been inhabitated already in the Bronze Ages. The castle was inherited and sold, repeatedly besieged, conquered and burned in the wars between Bohemian and Saxonian armies. In 1485 it fell to the Duke Albrecht, but he never restored it and the castle eventually collapsed. During the Thirty Years' War, his ruins served to shelter the inhabitants of Pirna before the Swedes.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.