During the last decades, rebuilding medieval castles and palaces has become more and more popular in the countries of East Central Europe. The present paper offers an overview of the most prominent cases, starting from Hungary and including examples from Poland, Lithuania and Croatia; we shall analyze the different methodologies applied during the reconstructions, and pose general theoretical questions related to contemporaneous monument protection. This paper argues that all reconstructions are destructive, they falsify authenticity, and result in loss of historical sources as well as the age value which has primary importance in the cases of medieval castles.