the coral castle
How could one man have built this marvel?
Acastle built of rock – walls 8ft high and 4ft wide. A rock obelisk, 28ft tall, a rock throne-room, a rock gate…
Altogether, over a thousand tonnes of solid stone, cut from the earth with just a chisel and hammer. Each piece moved into position to build the Coral Castle.
It was erected without mortar and kept together only by its own weight.
A castle built by one man – Edward Leedskalnin.
In 1913, Edward was 26 and soon to be married to Agnes Skuvst, the woman he loved. But then, Agnes broke off the engagement.
The life Edward had looked forward to in Stameriena, Latvia was over, so left to seek a new one in America. And, in 1918, settled in Florida.
There, he decided to build a castle, perhaps hoping Agnes would one day live there… perhaps as a monument to his broken heart.
He bought a remote plot of land south of Florida City and started digging out the rock beneath it – by hand.
And he used the huge rocks of coral limestone to build his amazing castle.
For the next 28 years, Edward worked tirelessly. He created a bathtub, cradle and dining table, all of them sculpted from rock.
But to this day, the question remains…how? Edward was a slight man – only 5ft tall and weighing just 7st.
But, somehow, he managed to quarry tonnes of rock and move it into position.
He worked alone, with no machinery and only at night, determined no-one would see him constructing. If folk passed, he’d stop, before they could see what he was doing.
The whole undertaking was an incredible feat.
The stone obelisk at the centre of the castle is 28ft tall, weighs 25 tonnes. In fact, the average rock used in the structure weighs 14 tonnes.
How could one man move that by himself?
The castle’s gate is 8ft tall, weighs eight tonnes. But it’s so perfectly constructed on an axis, it can be pushed open with a finger.
To this day, no-one knows how he did it. No scientist, no engineer, has discovered the secret of the Coral Castle.
Some say Edward Leedskalnin knew magic. That somehow, he was able to levitate the rocks into place.
Some say he knew the secrets of the ancients. That while historians and scientists were struggling to understand how the pyramids and Stonehenge were built, Edward just knew.
But if he did, how did he know? He was from a small village in rural Latvia, had only a limited education.
Did the knowledge come from beings superior to us, from a planet with knowledge that exceeds ours?
After all, some believe the Egyptians were only able to build the pyramids because of extraterrestrial help…
Even more incredible, in 1936, Edward decided to move his castle to a better position in Homestead, Florida, 10 miles from its original site.
Rock by rock, Edward shifted the Coral Castle himself. Always at night and with just a bicycle to help him.
When asked how he’d built the castle, Edwards always said the same thing, ‘It’s not
Perhaps he hoped Agnes would one day live thereé
difficult if you know how.’
In 1951, Edward died from a stroke, aged 64. If he’d built the castle for Agnes Skuvst, she never saw it – and Edward was never reunited with his lost love.
He died alone and brokenhearted. And the secrets of the Coral Castle died with him.