Pechtas Castle
Pechtas Castle houses the Parliament of Isselmere-Nieland. Situated in the City of Isling, the Bailie of The Burgh, Greater Daurmont Alderdom, Isselmere, the Castle is one of the oldest buildings in the city, with portions of the structure dating back to at least the tenth-century.
Origins
The etymology of the Castle's name is the subject of some scholarly speculation. Pechtas may derive either from the early Anglo-Frisian word for the indigenous Letheans, itself stemmed from the Old English word for the Picts. Alternatively, the name might arise from a Germanic vegetation and fertility goddess, Perchta or Berchta. The remains of an ancient settlement as well as possible votive offerings to the deity mean that the true origin of the castle's name might forever be in doubt. The name is not derived from the modern Dutch word for emergency or trouble (pech), despite the statements by some wags and political journalists.
The earliest foundations of the castle — essentially a fortified monastery — and attached buildings date back to the thirteenth-century. Much of the present-day structure is of more recent origin, notably the major reconstruction work undertaken in the mid-fourteenth- and sixteenth-centuries, which itself underwent great change throughout the latter half of the nineteenth-century.
Construction
The House of Assembly sits in the Hall of Audience, the Senate in the Hall of Counsel, and the monarch grants Royal Audiences in the Hall of Congregation.
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