I built this map from open data. Every point is one of 5,793 castles, fortresses, palaces and ruins across 138 countries: 2,591 castles, 1,180 fortresses, 934 palaces and 1,088 ruins. The density is the story. Europe blazes while most of the planet stays dark.

It is a curated atlas, not a complete inventory. Germany alone has an estimated 25,000 castle sites (According to some sources). A landmark makes the map when it has a real photo on Wikimedia Commons, a Wikipedia article and exact coordinates in Wikidata, balanced across countries so the map stays explorable. France leads with 351.

You can explore every one interactively at https://thecastlemap.com/ with photos, founding centuries and short stories, plus a daily Guess the Castle game. There are no ads or sign up, everything CC0 and free to download.

  • Flightmussy@sopuli.xyzOP
    1·
    3 hours ago

    Thanks for the feedback! Honestly I think that Claude did not take Westminister on the map because it thought that it was only a parliament, not an actual palace. You are right here.

    For Whitehall, I will do further verification because the fame listing comes from how famous the place is on Wikipedia. If there are no historical value and the fame comes from it being a city district, then I would have to delete it.

    I will see to it later today.