International Castle Research Society

The International Castle Research Society (ICRS) was established in Aachen in 1986 as a not-for-profit organization following earlier initiatives by Bernhard Siepen, architect, who has been its president since 2000. Early supporters were the long-standing Aachen member of parliament, Dr. Hans Stercken, and Consul Cornel Renfert, of the Franco-German Chamber of Commerce, Paris. The first model, the Donjon of Coucy, was started in 1997, with a number of models following, the latest being the Castel del Monte. Whereas the earlier models were of French fortified keeps, or donjons, then Crusader castles and bazaars as well as medieval ships, for some time now ICRS has been working on creating models of palaces typical of the 9th to 12th centuries. There are also plans for a model of the imperial Aachen palace of Charlemagne, dating from around AD 800, and of historic buildings in Jerusalem.

The president, team and ICRS consultants

Models created by ICRS based on historical sources, at 1/25 of natural size

Donjon of Coucy, France ( AD 1339 )
6x6 metres, 2,40 m height, c 2,500 figurines

French jousting tournament
2x2 metres, c 700 figurines

Aleppo Bazaar (16th century)
4x4 metres, c 750 figurines

Crac des Chevaliers, Syria ( AD 1271 )
6x6 metres, 2.30 m height, c 2,000 figurines

Arab trebuchets and mangonels
1x0,6 meters, c 50 figurines

Crusader ships anchored in Akko harbour (AD 1270)
3x2 metres, c 600 figurines

Castel del Monte
3x3 metres, c 400 figurines

More than one million people in both in Europe and North America so far have visited ICRS exhibitions.

...
Wikipedia