Castel del Monte before the restoration, the extraordinary period photos

What VideoAndria.com wants to share with its readers is a journey back in time many years ago, when Castel del Monte it was not yet a much visited castle recognized as a world heritage site byUNESCO but a ruin, damaged by neglect and abandonment centuries after the construction desired by the visionary emperor Frederick II of Swabia. In the 1876 the castle, in extremely precarious conservation conditions, was finally purchased (for the sum of 25000 lire!) give it Italian statewho arranged its restoration starting from 1879. It was the 1928 the restoration directed by the architect Quails removed the waste material outside Castel del Monte and demolished part of the unsafe structures, later rebuilding them to give the castle a “rejuvenated” appearance; this did not stop its deterioration and a further restoration had to be carried out between 1975 and 1981. Above, the photo of Castel del Monte as it appears today. Here are the period photos (source: from the Bcs archive). In the 1930s, this was what a visitor could admire by venturing into the ancient medieval castle, located in the territory of Andria:

Another photo shot confirms it as also part of the flooring was in conditions very different from those today:

A third photograph:

Detail of a part of the wall of the courtyardin conditions very different from the current ones:

This is what the entrance portal looked like in those days:

A detail of the same photograph reveals a text written on it which demonstrates the existence of visits for tourists already in that period:

About the entrance portal and its stairways: in the first interventions of the 20th century, during the excavation aimed at restoring the ancient access leveling, the remains of the two old staircasesconfirming the hypotheses already advanced in previous works from the end of the 19th century (when the architect Bernich noticed the characteristic layout of the ramps). The discovery was important from the point of view of the strategy regarding the ambitious restoration which perhaps may have convinced the architects of the time to choose to introduce two new staircases (thus respecting the original style of construction) instead of preferring the construction of a new central staircase:

It is also good to remember how, at the time, Castel del Monteunlike today, was not surrounded by the pine forest but was bare of trees, introduced in subsequent deaths through a reforestation program which however evidently did not respect the original conditions of the place (many pine trees were in fact planted instead of preferring the reintroduction of oaks, typical of the Murgia territory, as mentioned on several occasions on VideoAndria.com by our fellow ecologist Nicola Montepulciano):

In 1996, UNESCO included it in the list of World Heritage Sites for the mathematical and astronomical rigor of its forms and for the harmonious union of the cultural elements of Northern Europe, the Islamic world and classical antiquity, a typical example of architecture of the Middle Ages. We conclude with some period photos that reveal the external appearance of Castel del Monte:

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