Stronghold

Strongholds (previously unofficially referred to as ruins) are part of the 1.8 Adventure update. They are a new type of structure that occurs naturally underground, and they contain multiple rooms, corridors, stairs, doors and other aspects, as of the version of 1.8. In the full release, Strongholds also contain a portal room with an unactivated End Portal, which when activated with twelve Eyes of Ender can be used to travel to The End.

Stronghold appearance
Strongholds vary in size (though they can be very large). They are labyrinthine and contain several doors and rooms made mostly of Stone Brick, Mossy Stone Brick, and Cracked Stone Brick. Some treasures found in strongholds include Paper, Books, Coal, Gold Ingots, Iron Ingots, Compasses, Red Apples, Golden Apples, Ender Pearls, Diamonds, Iron Chestplates, Iron Boots, Iron Pickaxes, Iron Helmets, Maps, and Iron Swords.

Strongholds are frequently generated underground, often unexposed to the surface and only visible within caves, possibly even underwater caves. In some seeds they may be connected to a dungeon. The terrain generator is apparently incapable of discriminating between strongholds and standard blocks, as map generation features such as Underground Ravines and Abandoned Mine Shafts cut indiscriminately through strongholds, often making the strongholds difficult to navigate. It is unclear whether this functionality is intended or not. As of the 1.8 Beta, strongholds are vacant except for regular mobs that spawn under normal conditions. Strongholds are the only location where Silverfish can spawn, created when someone mines one of the blocks within. No new mobs besides this have been added to strongholds as of yet.

The majority of a stronghold is composed of many random hallways, pillars, spiral staircases and regular stairways formed with stone slabs. There are both wooden and iron doors throughout the structure, the iron ones operated by nearby buttons. Since all doors seem to generate facing the same cardinal direction, some are initially open, which can lead to the unusual case of an open iron door which closes briefly when the nearby button is pressed. There are decorative arches built out of iron bars placed along the hallways, and random dead ends at blank walls made of regular stone. Torches and chests are scattered around.

Strongholds also feature various types of main rooms, such as Prison Cells, Libraries, Storage Rooms, and rooms which function as four way intersections with a central fountain or column with torches mounted. There are also unusual rooms with a staircase descending under an arch or bridge against the wall, with another staircase to one side leading up onto this bridge (which rarely allows you to reach anywhere else). While the overall placement and number of these features in the stronghold is random, the features themselves seem to always take the same forms.

Prison cells seem to be generated in pairs in the wall of a hallway and feature iron doors without buttons, and are empty.

The library has two size versions: A small library and a large library. A small library often contains Bookshelves, Wooden Planks, and a chest. The large library contains more Bookshelves, Fences, Wooden Planks, and torches arranged in an upper balcony with a chandelier over the small library, connected by a ladder on the far wall from the entrance. Despite the fixed arrangement of the libraries themselves, the cobwebs seem to be placed randomly within.

Chests can be found on the corner of Bookshelves, and on the upper floor of library rooms. They can also be found on the upper floor of 4-way intersections. Chests in libraries contain paper, books, a compass, and sometimes a map while the intersection chests contain coal, bread, redstone, iron ingots, Iron Swords, Iron Pickaxes, Armor, Ender pearls and Red Apples, sometimes chests can contain a very rare item such as a saddle or a Golden Apple.

Spawning
In Beta 1.8, all Strongholds are located at random in an annulus between 640 and 1152 blocks from the origin, 0/0. Due to the generation algorithm, the Stronghold proper may extend further in or out of that circle. The three strongholds are spawned at equal angles from the center point of the world (that is, each stronghold is 120 degrees from the others, measured from the origin.)

As of Beta 1.9 Pre-release 3, a glass, or pair of glass, towers indicate the location of a Stronghold on top of them, extending from the top of the map to the Stronghold brick. Jeb has stated this is because he forgot to remove the debug towers from Beta 1.9 Pre-release 3. This was fixed in Beta 1.9 Pre-release 4.

As of the full release of Minecraft 1.0.0, strongholds are still limited to 3 in a world. They can be located using an Eye of Ender.

Trivia

 * In early screenshots of Strongholds they were at surface level. This is now extremely rare.
 * It seems that Strongholds (and Mineshafts) were created by other populations - such as Villagers - and later abandoned.
 * End portals may become useless if an Abandoned Mine Shaft or a Ravine cuts through it. If this happens to all 3 strongholds that can be generated, accessing the End is rendered impossible without the use of mods.

Bugs

 * Stairs in Strongholds are made out of Cobblestone instead of Stone Bricks, except the stairs leading up to the End Portal.
 * Likewise, Slabs in Strongholds are Stone ones, except the ones around Chests.
 * Often when a stronghold overlaps with another underground structure torches or iron/wooden doors will generate floating.
 * Often when Torches in Strongholds generate, they emit no light, but the torch itself is bright.