Your Castle Adventure Starts Here
The Sturdza Palace at Miclăușeni or Sturdza Castle at Miclăușeni is a historic monument in the village of Miclăușeni, at a distance of 20 km (12 mi) from Roman and 65 km (40 mi) from the city of Iași.
Currently, it is part of the Miclăușeni Historic Monastery complex, designated by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and National Patrimony in
The Viscri fortified church is a Lutheran fortified church in Viscri, Brașov County, in the Transylvania region of Romania. It was built by the ethnic German Transylvanian Saxon community at a time when the area belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary.
Initially Roman Catholic, it became Lutheran following the Reformation. Together with the surrounding village, the church forms part of the villages with fortified churches in the Transylvania UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In the 12th century, fortifications began to be built around the chapel. Forming an oval and made of river and fieldstone, the south, east and northeast walls have survived; these are 7 m in height. The entrance is through the southeast wall, to which two towers and two bastions were added in the 14th century.
The south tower, built into the wall exterior, had three floors and a battlement resting on wooden corbels. Sharing a roof with the south bastion, the tower’s lower levels were joined into a hall entered from the east.
The topmost level kept its parapets, with their oak border and moveable logs that could shut in defenders. The south bastion battlement and roof were joined with those of the south tower.
In 1999, Viscri, together with five other places, was added to the already-listed Biertan to form the villages with fortified churches in Transylvania UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Additionally, the church is listed as a historic monument by Romania’s Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, with the following being listed as separate entries: the inner walls and towers, the outer walls, and a 19th-century outdoor space for festive dances.
The Pelișor Castle is a castle in Sinaia, Romania, part of the same complex as the larger castle of Peleș.
The castle was built in 1899–1902 by order of King Carol I, as the residence for his nephew and heir, the future King Ferdinand (son of Carol’s brother Leopold von Hohenzollern) and Ferdinand’s consort Queen Marie.
In 2006, it was decided that the entire complex, including Pelișor, long a museum and tourist site, is the legal property of the King Michael I of Romania. The royal family was to assume legal possession of it and lease it to the Romanian state, so that it will remain in its current status.
The main castle of Peleș is already under lease, but negotiations for other villas and chateaus are on going. King Michael I of Romania maintained that Pelișor would remain a private residence for the royal family.
Făgăraș Citadel is a historic monument in Făgăraș, Brașov County, Romania.
The construction of the fortress started in 1310, on the site of a wooden fortification with earth ramparts from the 12th century.
Archaeological research shows that the old fortification was violently destroyed around the middle of the 13th century, presumably in connection with the Mongol invasion of 1241.
Located halfway between Brașov and Sibiu and close to Wallachia, the Făgăraș Citadel provided a defensive position against possible incursions into south-eastern Transylvania.
In 1526, Ștefan Mailat [ro] consolidated the citadel, doubling the thickness of the walls. In 1541, the Ottomans attacked the fortress and captured Mailat, who died in captivity at Yedikule Fortress in Istanbul.
Gáspár Bekes, the owner of the citadel between 1567 and 1573, constructed the moat around the fortress, the excavated earth being used to strengthen the inner part of the walls.
During the time of Stephen VIII Báthory (voivode of Transylvania from 1571 to 1586) and Balthasar Báthory (lord of the fortress from 1588 to 1594), the first bastion was constructed in the south-eastern corner of the outer defensive ring.
In 1599, Michael the Brave occupied Făgăraș Citadel and sheltered there his family and the royal treasure. In the 17th century, Prince Gabriel Bethlen gave it priority over Alba Iulia in modernizing the fortifications, while Michael I Apafi transformed it, due to its strengthened position, into a princely residence.
From 1948 to 1960, the fortress was used as a prison for those opposed to the communist regime, and to members of the police and Siguranța Statului from the interwar period, including generals Vasile Zorzor [ro], Gheorghe Liteanu [ro], and Emanoil Leoveanu [to].
In all, some 5,000 people were detained at this location, many of whom were subjected to torture. Cold, hunger and lack of any form of medical care were the causes of a large number of deaths among detainees.
According to researchers, either 161 or 166 inmates were officially declared to have died in this prison, though ex-detainees put the number much higher.
Between 1965 and 1977 restoration work was carried out. Currently, the citadel functions as a museum, housing various artefacts.
Peleș Castle is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inauguration was held in 1883. It was constructed for King Carol I.
When King Carol I of Romania (1839–1914), under whose reign the country gained its independence, first visited the site of the future castle in 1866, he fell in love with the magnificent mountain scenery. In 1872, the Crown purchased 5 square kilometres (1.9 sq mi) of land near the Piatra Arsă River. The estate was named the Royal Estate of Sinaia.
The King commissioned the construction of a royal hunting preserve and summer retreat on the property, and the foundation was laid for Peleș Castle on 22 August 1873. Several auxiliary buildings were built simultaneously with the castle: the guards’ chambers, the Economat Building, the Foișor hunting lodge, the royal stables, and a power plant. Peleș became the world’s first castle fully powered by locally produced electricity.
The first three design plans submitted for Peleș were copies of other palaces in Western Europe, and King Carol I rejected them all as lacking originality and being too costly. German architect Johannes Schultz won the project by presenting a more original plan, something that appealed to the King’s taste: a grand palatial alpine castle combining different features of classic European styles, mostly following Italian.
elegance and German aesthetics along Renaissance lines. Works were also led by architect Carol Benesch.[2] Later additions were made between 1893 and 1914 by the Czech architect Karel Liman, who designed the towers, including the main central tower, which is 66 metres (217 ft) in height.
The Sipot Building, which served as Liman’s headquarters during the construction, was built later on. Liman would supervise the building of the nearby Pelișor Castle (1889–1903, the future residence of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania), as well as of King Ferdinand’s villa in the Royal Sheepfold Meadow.
The cost of the work on the castle undertaken between 1875 and 1914 was estimated to be 16,000,000 Romanian lei in gold (approx. US$ 120 million today). Between three and four hundred men worked on the construction. Queen Elisabeth of the Romanians, during the construction phase, wrote in her journal:
Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, the Gypsies were coolies. Albanians and Greeks worked in stone, Germans and Hungarians were carpenters. Turks were burning brick. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech.
The Frenchmen were drawing, the Englishmen were measuring, and so was then when you could see hundreds of national costumes and fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled in all dialects and tones, a joyful mix of men, horses, cart oxen and domestic buffaloes.
Construction saw a slight slowdown during the Romanian War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1877–78, but soon afterwards the plans grew in size and construction was quite rapid.
Peleș Castle had its official Royal Ball of Inauguration on 7 October 1883. King Carol, I and Queen Elizabeth lived in Foişor Villa during construction, as did King Ferdinand and Queen Marie during the construction of Pelișor Castle.
King Carol II was born at the castle in 1893, giving meaning to the phrase “cradle of the dynasty, cradle of the nation” that Carol I bestowed upon Peleș Castle. Carol II lived in Foișor Villa for periods during his reign. Princess Maria died there in 1874.
After King Michael I’s forced abdication in 1947, the Communist regime seized all royal property, including the Peleș Estate. The castle was opened as a tourist attraction for a short time. It also served as a recreation and resting place for Romanian cultural personalities.
The castle was declared a museum in 1953. Nicolae Ceaușescu closed the entire estate between 1975 and 1990, during the last years of the Communist regime. The area was declared a “State Protocol Interest Area”, and the only persons permitted on the property were maintenance and military personnel.
Ceaușescu did not like the castle very much and rarely visited. In the 1980s, some of the timber was infested with Serpula lacrymans. After the December 1989 Revolution, Peleș and Pelișor Castle were re-established as heritage sites and opened to the public.
Today, Foișor Castle serves as a presidential residence. The Economat Building and the Guard’s Chambers Building are now hotels and restaurants.
Some of the other buildings on the Peleș Estate were converted to tourist villas and some are now “state protocol buildings”. In 2006, the Romanian government announced the restitution of the castle to former monarch Michael I.
Negotiations soon began between the former king and the government of Romania and were concluded in 2007. The castle is on lease from the royal family to the Romanian state. Peleș Castle receives between a quarter and almost a half-million visitors annually.
Throughout its history, the castle hosted some important personalities, from royalty and politicians to artists. One of the most memorable visits was that of Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary on 2 October 1896, who later wrote in a letter:
The Royal Castle amongst other monuments, surrounded by extremely pretty landscape with gardens built on terraces, all at the edge of dense forests. The castle itself is very impressive through the riches it has accumulated: old and new canvases, old furniture, weapons, all sort of curios, everything placed with good taste.
We took a long hike in the mountains, afterwards we picnicked on the green grass, surrounded by the Gypsy music. We took many pictures, and the atmosphere was extremely pleasant.
Artists like George Enescu, Sarah Bernhardt, Jacques Thibaud and Vasile Alecsandri visited often as guests of Queen Elizabeth of Romania (herself a writer also known under the pen name of Carmen Sylva). In more recent times, many foreign dignitaries such as Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and Yasser Arafat were welcomed at the castle.
The castle was featured in the 2009 film The Brothers Bloom. The exterior of the castle is used to represent a large estate in New Jersey, the home of an eccentric billionaire played by Rachel Weisz.
The castle was featured in the Netflix original film A Christmas Prince and its two sequels, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding and A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby. It was also featured in the 2011 Hallmark Channel movie A Princess for Christmas and 2018’s Royal Matchmaker.
Corvin Castle, also known as Hunyadi Castle or Hunedoara Castle, is a Gothic-Renaissance castle in Hunedoara, Romania. It is one of the largest castles in Europe and is featured as one of the Seven Wonders of Romania.
Corvin Castle was laid out in 1446 when construction began by order of Voivode of Transylvania John Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János, Romanian: Iancu or Ioan de Hunedoara), who wanted to transform the former keep built by Charles I of Hungary.
The castle was originally given to John Hunyadi’s father, Voyk (Vajk), by Sigismund of Luxembourg, king of Hungary and Croatia, as severance in 1409, It was also in 1446 that John Hunyadi was elected as the regent governor by the Diet.
Built in a Renaissance-Gothic style and constructed over the site of an older fortification on a rock above the smaller Zlaști River, the castle is a large and imposing structure with tall towers, bastions, an inner courtyard, diversely coloured roofs, and myriad windows and balconies adorned with stone carvings.
The castle also features a double wall for enhanced fortification and is flanked by both rectangular and circular towers, an architectural innovation for the period’s Transylvanian architecture. Some of the towers (the Capistrano Tower, the Deserted Tower and the Drummers’ Tower) were used as prisons.
The Buzdugan Tower (a type of mace after which it was named) was solely built for defensive purposes and it had its exterior decorated with geometric motifs. The rectangular-shaped towers have large openings to accommodate larger weapons.
The castle has three large areas: the Knight’s Hall, the Diet Hall and the circular stairway. The halls are rectangular in shape and are decorated with marble. The Diet Hall was used for ceremonies or formal receptions whilst the Knight’s Hall was used for feasts.
In 1456, John Hunyadi died and work on the castle stagnated. Starting with 1458, new commissions were being undergone to construct the Matia Wing of the castle. In 1480, work was completely stopped on the castle and it was recognised as being one of the biggest and most impressive buildings in Eastern Europe.
The 16th century did not bring any improvements to the castle, but during the 17th century, new additions were made for aesthetic and military purposes. Aesthetically, the large new palace was built facing the town.
A two-level building, it hosted living chambers and a large living area. For military purposes, two new towers were constructed: the White Tower and the Artillery Tower. Also, the external yard was added for administration and storage.
The current castle is the result of a fanciful restoration campaign undertaken after a disastrous fire and many decades of total neglect. It has been noted that modern “architects projected to it their own wistful interpretations of how a great Gothic castle should look”.
