![Mikó vár Csíkszereda](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Mik%C3%B3_v%C3%A1r_Cs%C3%ADkszereda.jpg)
The Mikó Castle ( ro, Castelul Mikó; hu, Mikó-vár) is a fortified
castle in
Miercurea Ciuc
Miercurea Ciuc (; hu, Csíkszereda, ; german: Szeklerburg) is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, a mainly Hungarian-speaking ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt Ri ...
(''Csíkszereda''),
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
. It is among the city's most important monuments, and today houses an ethnographic museum devoted to
Székely heritage.
Work on the castle, which is 75 m long and 70 m wide, began on 26 April 1623 and probably was completed in the 1630s. In style, it resembles the castles at
Iernut
Iernut ( hu, Radnót, ) is a town in Mureș County, central Transylvania, Romania. It administers eight villages: Cipău (''Maroscsapó''), Deag (''Marosdég''), Lechința (''Maroslekence''), Oarba de Mureș (''Marosorbó''), Porumbac (''Porumbák ...
,
Vințu de Jos
Vințu de Jos, also known as ''Vinț'' (german: Unter-Wintz, Winzendorf, Alvinz, Weinsdorf; hu, Alvinc; la, Binstum; tr, Aşağı Vinçazvar), is a commune located in the centre of Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of eighteen ...
and
Lăzarea
Lăzarea ( hu, Gyergyószárhegy or colloquially ''Szárhegy'', Hungarian pronunciation: , meaning ''Bald Mountain in Gyergyó'') is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylv ...
. It is named after
Ferenc Mikó (1585–1635), who began building it a decade after becoming supreme captain of the Csíkszék (''Ciuc''), Gyergyószék (''Gheorgheni'') and Kászonszék (''Caşin'') Székely
seats
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair, a chair eq ...
, later merged into
Csík County
Csík (Hungarian, in Romanian: ''Ciuc'') was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in central Romania (eastern Transylvania). The capital of the county was Csíkszereda (now Miercurea Ciuc).
Geograp ...
. Documents of the time also refer to it as "Mikó's new citadel".
["Cetatea Mikó"]
at the Ciuc Szekler Museum site; accessed July 20, 2010
The first written document to mention the citadel dates to 1631. After Ferenc Mikó's heirs died prematurely, the citadel came into the possession of Tamás Damokos, supreme judge of Csíkszék. On 21 October 1661, Turkish and Tatar troops led by Ali,
Ottoman pasha
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitar ...
of
Temeşvar Province, invaded Csíkszereda, occupying and burning the citadel. It was rebuilt in 1714-16 under orders from
Habsburg General Stephan Steinville, as attested by a stone inscription above the entrance gate.
In 1735, the Austrian engineer and colonel Johann Conrad Weiss drew up the castle's plan. This is the oldest surviving plan of the building, and has been important to those studying both its history and the stages of its construction. For the rebuilt citadel, the Austrians designed a defensive system involving four Italian-style bastions, remnants of which are still visible on the south side. On the southwest side, they built a gunpowder depot, while converting the south bastion into a chapel. The chapel ceiling is decorated in modest stucco, following a late-
Baroque design. The
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
window frames were placed later on. The ground-floor rooms have dome-shaped cylindrical ceilings with
groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...
s. Above the window sills there are tall, narrow, rectangular
embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
s. The fortified castle played an important defensive role at the eastern border of the Habsburg Empire.
Through the mid-20th century, the building was used by the troops of various armies. In particular, it served as a barracks for Habsburg troops until 1764. From 1764 to 1848 it was the residence of the commander of the
1st Székely Regiment of the
Transylvanian Military Frontier
The Transylvanian Military Frontier ( ro, Granița Militară Transilvăneană; german: link=no, Siebenbürgische Militärgrenze; hu, Erdélyi határőrvidék) was a territory in the Habsburg monarchy. It was a section of the Habsburg Military F ...
, part of the
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and ...
. During the
Transylvanian Revolution of 1848, part of the
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
The Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire were a set of revolutions that took place in the Austrian Empire from March 1848 to November 1849. Much of the revolutionary activity had a nationalist character: the Empire, ruled from Vienna, incl ...
, it served as the headquarters of
Sándor Gál
Sándor Gál (13 December 1855 – 4 September 1937)"Nekrológ", ''Keleti Újság'', 8 September 1937. was a Hungarian lawyer and politician, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives between 1909 and 1910.
References
Exte ...
, commander of the Székely revolutionary forces. In 1970, following a thorough restoration, the
Ciuc Szekler Museum, established in 1930, moved into the castle.
Additionally, part of the
Kájoni János County Library, including a rare documents collection, has operated in the castle since 1978.
["Secţii"]
at the Kájoni János County Library site; accessed July 20, 2010 The building is classified as a historic monument by the
Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.
[Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2004: Judeţul Harghita]
, p.17; accessed July 23, 2010
Gallery
File:The_Mikó_Castle_in_Csíkszereda.jpg, Bastion
File:Mikó-vár (Csíkszereda).jpg, Panorama
File:Hídvégi Mikó Ferenc - 2013.06.19 (3).JPG, Inside the castle
File:Hídvégi Mikó Ferenc - 2013.06.19 (1).JPG, Gallery
File:Mikó-vár székelykapukkal.jpg, Szekler gates exhibition near the castle
See also
*
List of castles in Romania
This is a list of castles and fortresses declared historic monuments by Romania's Ministry of Culture. Banat
; Caraș-Severin (6)
* Bey's Fortress, Socolari
* Caransebeș Fortress, Caransebeș
* Cuiești Fortress, Bocșa
* Ladislau Fortre ...
*
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 ...
*
Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania
The south-eastern Transylvania region in Romania currently has one of the highest numbers of existing fortified churches from the 13th to 16th centuries. It has more than 150 well preserved fortified churches of a great variety of architectural s ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miko Castle
1631 establishments in Europe
Buildings and structures completed in 1631
Castles in Romania
Ethnographic museums in Romania
Historic monuments in Harghita County
Libraries in Romania
Miercurea Ciuc
Museums in Harghita County
Székelys