In fairy tales, castles are places of noble deeds, fair maidens, and brave knights. The illuminating text of this beautiful and ingenious pop-up book tells about the real castles, which were nothing like that. They were military strongholds designed for battle and defense, and often cold, dirty, and bad smelling. The castles of the past can be explored in three-dimensional detail in these fascinating models that show what castles were like and how they evolved. In some, the individual rooms can be seen, while in the castle under seige the walls fall, and weapons such as the catapult really work. This book presents castles so real it is hard to believe they are made of paper.
