Kornis Castle is a castle begun in the 16th century and located in Mănăstirea village,

Cluj County Cluj County (; german: Kreis Klausenburg, hu, Kolozs megye) is a county (județ) of Romania, in Transylvania. Its seat ( ro, Oraș reședință de județ) is Cluj-Napoca (german: Klausenburg). Name In Hungarian, it is known as ''Kolozs megye ...

, Romania. It is listed as a

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

by the country's Culture Ministry.

History

The main building was built by Kristóf Keresztúri between 1573 and 1593 in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought a ...

. Over time, the castle was filled with secondary buildings in a quadrilaterally shaped enclosure. After the domain became the property of the Kornis family around 1673, Kornis Gaspar (1641-1683) raised the second floor of the main building on the south side. In 1680, his son, Zsigmond Kornis, renovated the castle. He also repaired the castle after it was damaged during the Curuti uprising in the early 18th century and in 1720 added two new octagonal bastions on the northern side and restored the tower at the castle entrance on the west side. The tower still exists today. During this period the castle rooms were redecorated with frescoed ceilings. The wooden frame works of the top floor and staircase were added, decorated with popular motifs and decorations of Dej volcanic tuff stone were created. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

part of the castle was destroyed and its collections were burned by the communistsUn castel cu Inorogi
, 25 June 2007, Toma Roman Jr, ''Jurnalul Național'', accessed July 5, 2012 or stolen after nationalization. Before the destruction of the castle, the library contained 9,000 volumes, consisting of collections of rare books. It was destroyed together with the extensive natural history collection. The pavilions are now used as a silo, hostel and cultural school destinations. After 1944, only part of the masonry was rebuilt in 1975-76 and Kornis chapel was taken over by the

Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...

. But there was no serious restoration of the castle and the domain, leaving the castle in ruins today. The castle is known for the statues of two

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

s which guarded the entry until recently, when they were removed after a failed burglary attempt.

Photo gallery

File:Kornis Castle in Manastirea, Cluj County 001.JPG, Tower entrance File:Kornis Castle in Manastirea, Cluj County 003.JPG, Octagonal fountain File:Kornis Castle in Manastirea, Cluj County 005.JPG, Ruins of the castle File:Kornis Castle in Manastirea, Cluj County 006.JPG, Coat of arms on one of the buildings File:Kornis Castle in Manastirea, Cluj County 013.JPG, Coat of arms File:Kornis Castle in Manastirea, Cluj County 015.JPG, Inorog File:Kornis Castle in Manastirea, Cluj County 019.JPG, Coat of arms of the Kornis family File:Kornis Castle in Manastirea, Cluj County 024.JPG, Adjacent building

References

Bibliography

* ''Repertoriul arheologic al județului Cluj'', Cluj-Napoca, 1992.

External links

Burgenwelt (Information about the castle)

, 25 iunie 2007, Toma Roman Jr, ''Jurnalul Național'' {{Castles in Romania Houses completed in 1593 Castles in Romania Historic monuments in Cluj County