If you hear the word “castle” or the word “palace”， you might picture the same kind of building for both： large， made of cut stones， probably with a tower or turret. And of course， youre not totally wrong， as those are features of both palaces and castles.

However， it turns out there is a difference， and you can see it pretty clearly in these two popular buildings.

The Case for Castles

Castles were built throughout Europe and the Middle East mainly for the protection of the king and his people. Some common features of castles include：

●thick walls and heavy gates to keep enemies out

●high towers for keeping a lookout over the surrounding lands

●parapets or slits in the walls for archers to shoot with cover

●gatehouses for allowing allies instead of enemies into the castle

●moats for defensive purposes

Castles were （and sometimes still are， as in the case of Windsor Castle） places where royalty lives. But they were also intended as defensive seats. Say youre a king who has taken a particular area over. Now you have to hold it. So you build a castle and staff it with soldiers to protect your land and make certain it remains part of your kingdom.

The Place for Palaces

Palaces， on the other hand， have no defensive purposes. Theyre meant for showing off—big time. This is where the spoils of war might be displayed， along with golden thrones， very large banquet halls， gold table settings and dozens—maybe even hundreds—of sumptuous rooms.

While kings and queens certainly live in palaces as well as castles， bishops and ministers could live in castles to show the power of their immense riches. The word comes from Palatine Hill in Rome， where the first palaces were built to display wealth.

You can see this when you look at Buckingham Palace， which is in the middle of London and built to impress visitors rather than to defend against any attacks.

如果你聽到“城堡”或“宮殿”這個(gè)詞，你可能會(huì)想到兩個(gè)詞都是指同一種建筑：大的，用鑿過的石頭建成的，可能帶有一座塔或塔樓。當(dāng)然，你沒有完全弄錯(cuò)，因?yàn)檫@些都是宮殿和城堡的特征。

然而，它們是有區(qū)別的，在這兩種受歡迎的建筑里你可以很清楚地看到。

城堡的情況

城堡遍布?xì)W洲和中東，主要用以保護(hù)國王和他的人民。城堡的一些共同特征包括：

○將敵人拒之門外的厚厚的墻和沉重城門

○用于監(jiān)視周圍土地的高塔

○城墻上用以掩護(hù)弓箭手射擊的護(hù)墻或孔隙

○允許盟友而非敵人進(jìn)入城堡的門樓

○用于防御的護(hù)城河

城堡曾經(jīng)是（有時(shí)仍然是）皇室的住所（如溫莎城堡），但它們也被用作防御基地。假設(shè)你是一個(gè)占領(lǐng)了某個(gè)地區(qū)的國王，現(xiàn)在你必須掌握該地區(qū)，所以你建造了一座城堡，并配備了士兵來保衛(wèi)你的領(lǐng)土，確保它一直是你王國的一部分。

宮殿的所在

另一方面，宮殿沒有防御的目的，它們是用來極度炫耀的。在宮殿中可能會(huì)有戰(zhàn)爭的戰(zhàn)利品，還有金色的王座、非常巨大的宴會(huì)廳、金制的餐桌裝飾品和幾十個(gè)甚至幾百個(gè)華麗的房間。

雖然國王和王后肯定住在宮殿和城堡中，而主教和大臣們可以住在城堡里展示他們巨大財(cái)富的力量。這個(gè)詞源自羅馬的帕拉廷山，那里最早的宮殿是為了炫富而建造的。

你在參觀白金漢宮時(shí)可以看到這一點(diǎn)。它位于倫敦市中心，是為了給游客留下深刻印象而建，而不是為了抵御任何襲擊。