Location: Berlin - Spandau, Citadel Please friends, follow me to the entrance....no other fotografer there, I had to wait long for this moment... Opposite we see the commander`s house with the entrance, at left the bastion Koenig (King) und behind the walls the old castle`s tower, the "Julius Tower", one of the oldest buildings in Berlin... After more than 300 years in service the "modern" cannons came up and a castle`s wall was no longer a safe place, so the authorities of the renaissance age decided to build a very modern fortess here, as we can see till today. The construction began in 1559 and lasted till 1594. The italians were the finest war - architects in these days, and this fortress was built by italian specialists, too: At first by Francisco Chiaramella de Gandino, a Venetian, and from 1576 by Rochus Earl of Lynar, an Italian, too; who was the first commander here and became war minister of Preussen. In 1631-1634 the fortress was occupied by swedish troops and in 1806-1808 by french troops of Napoleon. In this time the fortress was heavy damaged by the preussian army, the commanders house later was restored in a classicistic style... (to be continued) Dear friends, thanks for your comments for my last pic, I was very happy. And a special Thanks for these who took the favs. I have a problem in the moment: I get notifications from comments, but not from the favorites. I wish to thank these buddies with a personal e-mail, but I don`t know where they are... If somebody have an idea, what the reason for this problem could be, please mail me... Thanks for your interest. Bye for the moment. billcody