Searching for real places in Central Europe that pour on the mystical charme of the series “Game of Thrones”
GAME OF THRONES is one of my favorite TV series. I like the quality of the camera work and the fact that the produces have searched inspiring places round the globe for the production design. Places that breath the spirit of the past – real locations combined with some CGI to create a medieval fantasy world. I recognized locations in Iceland, Scotland, Spain, Croatia and many other countries throughout the different seasons of GoT. Since the core of the story is the fight of several noble families and kingdoms forthe emperors throne, might, influence and wealth against I always felt reminded to medieval Central Europe. Though covered by a entity called “the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation” (covering parts of nowadays Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland and many more) there were dozens of little kingdoms, principalities, free cities, land owned by the clergy and so on. Small and large scale wars, scheming, homicides and conspiracies were daily faire. Not to forget the religious wars after the reformation. There are legends of Sigfried from Xanten that also feature dragons. Invasions of foreign forces like Hungarians, the Huns, the Vikings or the Turks threatened Central Europe more than once. So actually every part of the story of “Game of Thrones” is reflected by the history of Central Europe. The remains and silent witnesses of this time are visible everywhere. Castles and their ruins, monastries, medieval cities and old little villages, court-trees und holy groves. The only thing of “Game of Thrones” that’S missing nowadays at first glance are the epic landscapes since Central Europe is densely populated. Nontheless there are remote wilderness-like areas left that pour on the charme of the series. So I continued my search for the mystical and magic locations in Germany and the surrounding countries and created this homage to the awesome series “Game of Thrones”.
Kilian Schönberger – Professional landscape and architecture photographer from Cologne / Germany