The images from the series were photographed from the television screen; the others (with exceptions noted) are photos taken during my July, 1996 visit to Castle Vianden in Vianden, Luxembourg. Click on the thumbnail images to view a large version of the same thing. New 7/18/00: armoury, the defensive wall, entries & exits, bedroom and dungeon.
The Great Hall/Knight's Hall and Armoury:
The counterpart of Lucard's Great Hall is Castle Vianden's Knight's Hall. The pilot episode was filmed there, and Knight's Hall's unusual ceiling style shows up again in the hallways of Castle Lucard (see next section). A variation on this same style ceiling, as well as the same recessed window seats, are also featured in Castle Vianden's vaulted armoury.
Image 1: The Great Hall ceiling, as seen in "Children of the Night."
Image 2: The Great Hall, looking like a Metallica video, in CotN.
Image 3: Knight's Hall, with nice view of ceiling and window-seats (postcard).
Image 4: Knight's Hall: close-up of the vortex fireplace and suits of armour.
Image 5: The Great Hall, as seen in "Decline of the Romanian Vampire."
Image 6: Castle Vianden's armoury, with ceiling and window-seats (postcard).
Passages, Entries, and Exits:
Unlike the post-pilot Great Hall, Knight's Hall has no staircase, but Castle Vianden's exit stair is of a very similar style to the staircase in Lucard's Great Hall. Also, since Castle Vianden is composed of a series of interconnected rooms, it does not have Castle Lucard's endless corridors. It's easy to see why that was changed in the series!
The castle's outer walls and defensive wall are made from jagedy stones cemented together.
Image 1: The hallway outside the Great Hall, as seen in DotRV.
Image 2: Door and top of staircase in the Great Hall, as seen in DotRV
Image 3: "Defense Way," one of the only real hallways in Castle Vianden.
Image 4: Door and top of staircase by which one exits Castle Vianden.
Image 5: The huge defensive wall which surrounds Castle Vianden.
Image 6: One of the kids running through the defensive wall, "Children of the Night"
Image 7: The outer wall and one of Castle Vianden's windows from outside.
Image 8: Castle Vianden--the way in (brochure).
The Dining Room:
Lucard's dining room was filmed in the Castle Vianden dining room in the pilot episode (in fact, from all appearances, that was the real table that Lucard slid Chris across!). The dining room in subsequent episodes is slightly changed, but still clearly based on the original. (I don't have any photos from the series, but you can confirm this for yourself. Good "dining room episodes" are the pilot, "My Fair Vampire" and "I Love Lucard.")
Image 1: Shot showing whole dining room (postcard).
Image 2: Close-up showing the windows, side-chair, chandelier, and table.
Image 3: Close-up showing the side-chair, fireplace and candlesticks.
Bedroom and Dungeon:
We never really see an equivalent to Castle Vianden's "living room," but many of its elements (chair, rugs, recessed windows) are familiar. Perhaps Lucard's bedroom, or at least one of the bedrooms in Lucard's castle, is something like this room. I don't think we'll ever get an answer to the "bed or coffin?" dilemma, though. Lucard's dungeon scenes were filmed in the casemates (see Friday's log entry), not in Castle Vianden's actual dungeon, but here's a photo of the original model.
Image 1: Shot showing Castle Vianden's "living room" (postcard).
Image 2: A view of Castle Vianden's cellar dungeon.
See also:
Castle Interiors /
Lucard's Home Page /
lpetix@dpcc.com