Bran Castle ( ro, Castelul Bran; german: Schloss Bran; hu, Törcsvári kastély) is a
castle in
Bran
Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, ...
, southwest of
Brașov
Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County.
According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...
. It is a national monument and landmark in
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
. The
fortress is on the
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
n side of the historical border with
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...
, on road
DN73
DN73 ( ro, Drumul Național 73) is a Roads in Romania, national road in Romania which links Pitești with Brașov. It is a high-traffic road and the preferred route for trucks. Near Câmpulung the road crosses the Southern Carpathians along the D ...
.
Commonly known outside Transylvania as Dracula's Castle, it is marketed as the home of
the title character in
Bram Stoker's ''
Dracula''. There is no evidence that Stoker knew anything about this castle, which has only tangential associations with
Vlad the Impaler
Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most im ...
,
voivode
Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...
of Wallachia, who shares his name with Dracula. Stoker's description of Dracula's crumbling fictional castle also bears no resemblance to Bran Castle.
The castle is now a museum dedicated to displaying art and furniture collected by
Queen Marie. Tourists can see the interior on their own or by a guided tour. At the bottom of the hill is a small
open-air museum
An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum.
Definition
Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere ...
exhibiting traditional Romanian
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...
structures (cottages, barns, water-driven machinery, etc.) from the Bran region.
History
Wooden castle of the German Order
In 1212, the
Teutonic Order
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...
built the wooden castle of Dietrichstein as a fortified position in the
Burzenland
Țara Bârsei, Burzenland () or Barcaság is a historic and ethnographic area in southeastern Transylvania, Romania with a mixed population of Romanians, Germans, and Hungarians.
Geography
The Burzenland lies within the Southern Carpathians m ...
at the entrance to a
mountain pass through which traders had travelled for more than a millennium. This castle was destroyed by the
Mongols in 1242.
The castle's original name, Dietrichstein or ''lapis Theoderici'' in Latin, lit. "Dietrich's Stone", seems to have been derived from the
''Comthur'' (Commander) and regional
Preceptor, ''frater Theodericus'', mentioned in a 1212 document.
[. Accessed 23 January 2019.] This Dietrich is the probable builder of the castle.
A 1509 document confirms that the Törzburg county had once belonged to Commander Dietrich of the Teutonic Order.
Stone castle of the Kronstadt Saxons
The first documented mention of Bran Castle is the act issued by
Louis I of Hungary on
19 November
Events Pre-1600
* 461 – Libius Severus is declared emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The real power is in the hands of the ''magister militum'' Ricimer.
* 636 – The Rashidun Caliphate defeats the Sasanian Empire at the Battle of ...
,
1377
Year 1377 ( MCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–December
* January – Battle of Đồ Bàn: Trần Duệ Tông, Trần dynasty Emperor ...
, giving the
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
of
Kronstadt (modern Brașov) the privilege to build the stone castle at their own expense and labour force; the settlement of Bran began to develop nearby. In 1438–1442, the castle was used in defense against the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, and later became a customs post on the mountain pass between Transylvania and Wallachia. Although many castles of the time belonged to members of the nobility, it has been established that Bran Castle was built almost exclusively for fortification and protection of German colonists in Transylvania.
It is believed the castle was briefly held by
Mircea the Elder
Mircea the Elder ( ro, Mircea cel Bătrân, ; c. 1355 – 31 January 1418) was the Voivode of Wallachia from 1386 until his death in 1418. He was the son of Radu I of Wallachia and brother of Dan I of Wallachia, after whose death he inherited t ...
of Wallachia (r. 1386–95, 1397–1418) during whose period the customs point was established. The Wallachian ruler Vlad Țepeș (Vlad the Impaler; 1448–1476) does not seem to have had a significant role in the history of the fortress, although he passed several times through the Bran Gorge. At some point, Bran Castle belonged to the
Hungarian kings
This is a list of Hungarian monarchs, that includes the grand princes (895–1000) and the kings and ruling queens of Hungary (1000–1918).
The Principality of Hungary established 895 or 896, following the 9th-century Hungarian conquest of the ...
, but due to the failure of
King Vladislas II (r. 1471–1516) to repay loans, the city of Brașov regained possession of the fortress in 1533. Bran played a militarily strategic role up to the mid-18th century.
Royal residence and aftermath
With the 1920
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
lost
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, and the castle became a royal residence within the
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...
after being given to the royal house by the Saxons of Kronstadt-Braşov, who had no more use for it and no interest in financing the time-damaged property. It became the favorite home and retreat of
Marie of Romania, who ordered its extensive renovation conducted by the Czech architect . The castle was inherited by her daughter
Princess Ileana who ran a hospital there in World War II. It was later seized by the
communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
with the expulsion of the royal family in 1948.
[
In 2005 the Romanian government passed a law allowing restitution claims on properties illegally expropriated, such as Bran, and thus a year later ownership of the castle was awarded to American ]Dominic von Habsburg
Dominic von Habsburg (born 4 July 1937) is a member of the Grand Ducal Family of Tuscany and the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He is also the Carlist-Carloctavismo pretender to the throne of Spain under the name Domingo I.
Dominic was born in 1937 ...
, the son and heir of Princess Ileana.
On 18 May 2006, after a period of legal proceedings, the castle was legally returned to the heirs of the Habsburg family. However, through the Ministry of Culture, the Romanian state was also to administer it for the next three years.
In September 2007 an investigation committee of the Romanian Parliament stated that the retrocession of the castle to Archduke Dominic was illegal, as it broke the Romanian law on property and succession. However, in October 2007 the Constitutional Court of Romania
The Constitutional Court of Romania ( ro, Curtea Constituțională a României) is the institution which rules on whether the laws, decrees or other bills enacted by Romanian authorities are in conformity with the Constitution.
It consists of nin ...
rejected the parliament's petition on the matter. In addition, an investigation commission of the Romanian government issued a decision in December 2007 reaffirming the validity and legality of the restitution procedures used and confirming that the restitution was made in full compliance with the law.
On 18 May 2009 administration of Bran Castle was transferred from the government to Archduke Dominic and his sisters, Baroness Maria Magdalena of Holzhausen and Elisabeth Sandhofer. On 1 June 2009, the Habsburgs opened the refurbished castle to the public as the first private museum in the country and presented a joint strategic concept in collaboration with Bran village to maintain their prominent role in the Romanian tourist circuit and to safeguard the economic base in the region.
"Dracula's Castle"
Though many myths have been connected to him in connection with the Dracula myth, most historians agree that Vlad III Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler
Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most im ...
, never set foot in Castle Bran, which was neither a friendly place for him to visit nor under his rule. It was once believed that he was imprisoned there after he was captured by the Hungarians in 1462, but historians now conclude that he was imprisoned in a fortress in Budapest.
Connection to Bram Stoker's ''Dracula''
Bran Castle is not mentioned in the novel ''Dracula'', and the novel's description of the castle does not match Bran Castle. The claimed connection between the castle and the Dracula legend is tourism-driven.
During Stoker's research on the region of Transylvania, he came across accounts of the atrocities committed by Vlad III, and used the Dracula name after reading on the subject; but his inspiration for Dracula was not solely based on the historical figure. It is largely due to American cinema that Vlad III is considered the inspiration for the Dracula character.
Other mentions in popular culture
Most of Laurie R. King's novel ''Castle Shade'' (2022), part of her series about Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell, is set in and near Bran Castle in 1925.
Image gallery
Image:Castelul Bran - 2012.jpg, The castle in 2012
Image:Bran_castle_09.png, Southern front from the foot of the cliff
Image:Castle_bran_01.jpg, The eastern shield wall, view from the main walkway
Image:Castle bran 07.jpg, View towards Piatra Craiului
The Piatra Craiului Mountains (german: Königstein, hu, Királykő-hegység) are a mountain range in the Southern Carpathians in Romania. Its name is translated as ''Kings' Rock'' or ''The Rock of the Prince''. The mountain range is located ...
from an upstairs balcony
Image:Bran_castle_courtyard_round_tower.jpg, The courtyard, looking west
Image:Castle Bran.jpg, Western tower, seen from inside
Image:Bran castel secret passage.jpg, Secret passage
Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel, escape, or movement of people and goods. They are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow peop ...
connecting the first and third floors
File:Bran, krzyż w ogrodach zamkowych DSCF7428.jpg, 19th-century stone cross placed in the park
See also
* Castles in Romania
This is a list of castles and fortresses declared monument istoric, historic monuments by Romania's Ministry of Culture (Romania), Ministry of Culture. Banat
; Caraș-Severin County, Caraș-Severin (6)
* Bey's Fortress, Socolari
* Caransebeș ...
** Poenari Castle
Poenari Castle (), also known as Poenari Citadel (''Cetatea Poenari'' in Romanian), is a ruined castle in Romania which was a home of Vlad the Impaler. at the Wayback Machine The citadel is situated high atop a mountain and accessed by climbing ...
, an authentic Vlad the Impaler
Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most im ...
castle ruin
** Peleș Castle
Peleș Castle ( ro, Castelul Peleș ) 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 inaugu ...
** Corvin Castle
Corvin Castle, also known as Hunyadi Castle or Hunedoara Castle ( Romanian: ''Castelul Huniazilor'' or ''Castelul Corvinilor;'' Hungarian: ''Vajdahunyadi vár''), is a Gothic-Renaissance castle in Hunedoara, Romania. It is one of the largest ...
* Tourism in Romania
Romania's tourism sector had a direct contribution of EUR 5.21 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018, slightly higher than in 2017, placing Romania on the 32nd place in the world, ahead of Slovakia and Bulgaria, but behind Greece ...
* Seven Wonders of Romania
References
External links
Official Site of Castle Bran
Bran Castle Tour
History and photos of Bran Castle
Aerial view of the Bran Castle
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Brașov County
Historic monuments in Brașov County
Castles in Romania
Castles of the Teutonic Knights
Dracula
Tourist attractions in Brașov County
Historic house museums in Romania
Museums in Brașov County