Taken after a 2 hour hike in deep snow.

I was virtually wandering around the Upper Swabia countryside in Germany on Google Earth and randomly bumped into this massive complex.

Turns out this place used to be an Imperial Abbey. It underwent a massive expansion in the 18th century, transforming into what people often call a "Heaven on Earth" for High Baroque/Rococo architecture.

Seriously, looking at the scale of the monastery buildings, church, and gardens, I can't help but wonder where these monks were getting their budget from back then!

Upper Swabia seems to be packed with these ridiculously grand Baroque monasteries (Ottobeuren, Weingarten, etc.). Anyone here been to Ochsenhausen in person?

A small castle on the outskirts of the city of Breda, NL

The castle structure mainly dates from the 12th to 14th centuries and is an example of medieval Portuguese military architecture, featuring heavy stone walls, crenellated towers, and Gothic entry portals. Today, it is a luxury hotel and visitors stay within the castle walls. When I was there I stayed at Estralagem de Convento, but the castle was beautiful.

Author of the reconstruction: Gabriele Pettinau. Source. Actual picture from here

Castello Scaligero di Sirmione is a remarkably preserved 13th-century fortress and rare water castle located at the entrance of Sirmione's historic center on Lake Garda, Italy.

Built by the Scaliger family of Verona, this medieval stronghold features massive stone walls, swallow-tail battlements, and a 47-meter-high keep overlooking the lake.

Its most distinctive feature is a unique, fully fortified 14th-century harbor once used to protect the Venetian fleet.

Today, it stands as one of Italy's most complete and visited coastal castles, offering panoramic rampart walks and views over the peninsula.

I have drove by Rathfarnham castle many a time and always said to myself I must drop in there some day . Well i did yesterday and to my surprise i was surprised. Just a few photos. I was amazed at the size of the door lock it is huge .... keep up the good work O.P.W.

Built on the Southern end of the Tauern pass, an important Alpine crossing in the Middle Ages that connected Venice and Southern Germany. The castle was built to enforce road tolls from the travellers. Nowadays a museum that gives a good insight into life in Medieval castles.

The Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey or Territorial Abbey of Saint Martin on Mount Pannonhalma (lat. Archiabbatia or Abbatia Territorialis Sancti Martini in Monte Pannoniae) is a medieval building in Pannonhalma and one of the oldest historical monuments in Hungary. Founded in 996, it is located near the town, on top of a hill (282 m). Saint Martin of Tours is believed to have been born at the foot of this hill, hence its former name, Mount of Saint Martin (Hungarian: Márton-hegy), from which the monastery occasionally took the alternative name of Márton-hegyi Apátság. It is the second largest territorial abbey in the world, after the one in Monte Cassino.

Its sights include the Basilica with the Crypt (built in the 13th century), the Cloisters, the monumental Library with 400,000 volumes, the Baroque Refectory (with several examples of trompe-l'œil) and the Archabbey Collection (the second biggest in the country). Because of the exceptional architectural evolution of the abbey over its 1000-year history and its historical importance as an international cultural and religious center, the abbey and its surroundings were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996.

About 50 monks live in the monastery. The abbey is supplemented by the Benedictine High School, a boys' boarding school.

The source