Caernarfon is the most famous and perhaps the most impressive castle in Wales, which is just what its builder King Edward I intended. Raised on a site already rich in history and legend, its every feature was designed to trumpet the king's pride in his conquest of Wales and his claims to Imperial power.

Thus its unique polygonal towers, eagle-crowned turrents and colour-banded masonry echo the walls of Constantinople, City of the Roman Emperors, and recall the legendary dream-castle - "the fairest that ever man saw" - envisioned by Maximus, traditional founder of Welsh princedoms. To emphasise Caernarfon's status as his Welsh capital and royal palace, Edward arranged for the birth here in 1284 of the baby who became the first English Prince of Wales.

Inmensely strong, this crowning glory of medieval fortress-building took nearly 50 years (1283-1330) to construct and proved the costliest of Edward's castles. Following the master-plan of the great architect James of St. George, masons and carpenters, smiths and quarriers, labourers and hod-carriers - women as well as men - from all over England were summoned daily by a hornblower to build the castle and Caernarfon's magnificent still unbroken town walls.

A World Heritage Listed site, the grandeur of "the fairest castle that ever man saw" is complemented by fascinating exhibitions in many of its towers.