Károlyi Castle is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

castle located in

Carei Carei (; , ; /, , ) is a municipiu, city in Satu Mare County, northwestern Romania, near the border with Hungary. The city administers one village, Ianculești (). Geography The municipality of Carei is situated in the north-west of Romania, aw ...

Satu Mare County Satu Mare County (, , ) is a county (Counties of Romania, județ) of Romania, on the border with Hungary and Ukraine. The capital city is Satu Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian, it is known as ''Szatmár megye'', in German language, Ge ...

, Romania. Originally built as a fortress around the 15th century, it was converted to a castle in 1794, undergoing further transformations during the 19th century. The manor is surrounded by an arboretum which contains a great variety of species of trees and plants.

History

László Károlyi Lancz began building the fortress in 1482. In 1526, the Károlyi ''

banderium The ''banderium'' was a military unit which was distinguished by the banner of a high-ranking clergyman or nobleman in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millenniu ...

'' set out from the castle for the

Battle of Mohács The Battle of Mohács (; , ) took place on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, in the Kingdom of Hungary. It was fought between the forces of Hungary, led by King Louis II of Hungary, Louis II, and the invading Ottoman Empire, commanded by Suleima ...

. In 1592, Mihály Károlyi equipped the castle with four defensive bastions against the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

, widened the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

s, and reinforced the raised defensive rampart with

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

s. The Turks besieged the castle once, unsuccessfully. In 1598, it was inhabited by 276 taxpayer families, but in the 17th century, its population dwindled due to repeated destruction by the Imperial Army. In 1615, the envoys of Matthias II and

Gabriel Bethlen Gabriel Bethlen (; 1580 – 15 November 1629) was Prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629 and Duke of Opole from 1622 to 1625. He was also King-elect of Hungary from 1620 to 1621, but he never took control of the whole kingdom. Bethlen, sup ...

held talks in the castle about ending hostilities in the

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of Maramureș, broadly part of Transylvania ...

region. In 1622, Ferdinand II and Bethlen began the negotiations for the

Peace of Nikolsburg The Peace of Nikolsburg or Peace of Mikulov, signed on 31 December 1621 in Nikolsburg, Moravia (now Mikulov in the Czech Republic), was the treaty which ended the war between Prince Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania and Emperor Ferdinand II of the ...

in the castle. After the

Károlyi family The House of Károlyi is the name of an old and prominent Hungarian noble family, whose members held the title of Count in Hungary, awarded to them on 5 April 1712 by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. They claim descent from the late 9th century Mag ...

converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, long disputes began between the family and the city's mostly Reformed industrial and noble population. In 1649,

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

settled in the city. In 1703, while

Francis II Rákóczi Francis II Rákóczi (, ; 27 March 1676 – 8 April 1735) was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of the Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–1711 as the prince () of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of ...

, soon to be

Prince of Transylvania The Prince of Transylvania (, , , Fallenbüchl 1988, p. 77.) was the head of state of the Principality of Transylvania from the late-16th century until the mid-18th century. John Sigismund Zápolya was the first to adopt the title in 1 ...

, was returning from the Transylvanian campaign, he was stopped by Krisztina Barkóczi, on the orders of her husband,

Sándor Károlyi Baron, later Count Sándor Károlyi de Nagykároly (; 20 March 1668 – 8 September 1743) was a Hungarian aristocrat, statesman and Imperial Feldmarschall. He was one of the generals of Francis II Rákóczi during the War of Independence. Later he ...

, who had meanwhile sided with the

Kuruc Kuruc (, plural ''kurucok''), also spelled kurutz, refers to a group of armed anti- Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary between 1671 and 1711. Over time, the term kuruc has come to designate Hungarians who advocate strict national inde ...

s, opened the castle gates to him. Rákóczi stayed in the castle for 28 days, which later became one of the Kurucs' centers. In 1711, Sándor Károlyi and

János Pálffy Johann Bernhard Stephan, Graf Pálffy de Erdőd (, ; 20 August 1664 – 24 March 1751) was a Hungarian noble, Imperial Field marshal and Palatine of Hungary. An accomplished military leader and diplomat during the time of Prince Eugène of Sa ...

began negotiations for the Peace of Szatmár here. After the peace, Károlyi began the repopulation of the settlement. In 1741, his son,

Ferenc Károlyi Count Ferenc Károlyi de Nagykároly (20 June 1705 – 14 August 1758), was a Hungarian nobleman and soldier. Early life Károlyi was born on 20 June 1705 at his family's castle in Olcsva in the Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Kingdom of Hungar ...

donated fifty plots of land to what became Zsidóköz. From 1780 it was the seat of

and by 1828, the town had 11,000 inhabitants. It was hit by an earthquake in 1834. A casino was established in 1836 and a hospital in 1845. In the middle of the 19th century it held seven national fairs a year. The Swabian,

Ruthenia ''Ruthenia'' is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term ''Rus' land'' referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. ''Ruthenia' ...

n, Romanian and Slovak population became Magyarized in their language during the 19th century.

Current castle

In 1794, the current Károlyi Castle was built in the late

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

on the site of a 15th-16th century castle, based on the designs of Joseph Bitthauser. In 1847,

Miklós Ybl Miklós Ybl (6 April 1814 in Székesfehérvár – 22 January 1891 in Budapest) was one of Europe's leading architects in the mid to late nineteenth century as well as Hungary's most influential architect during his career. His most well-known w ...

carried out renovations for István Károlyi, and between 1893 and 1896, it was rebuilt into a seven-towered knight's castle surrounded by a moat in a

neo-Gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, based on the designs of Arthur Meinig of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. In its layout and spatial organization, it follows the representative spaces of

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

, and continues the fashion of the

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

chateaux spread by

Gyula Andrássy Count Gyula Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka (, 8 March 1823 – 18 February 1890) was a Hungarian statesman, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary (1867–1871) and subsequently as List of foreign ministers of Austria-Hungar ...

. The current atrium was created by covering the square inner courtyard, which also appears as a two-story central hall, a characteristic of historicism. Today it houses a city museum, an exhibition hall, a library with 80,000 volumes and a cultural center. The top of its central bastion is a lookout tower. Its 12-hectare park is an arboretum, and was formed in its current form in 1877. Its oldest tree is a plane tree planted in 1810. On its edge stands a 33 m high romantic-style water tower built in 1888. The castle's former riding school housed a cinema in the 80s and 90s, then was used as a disco, and finally collapsed in the late 90s. Part of it has since been renovated and horses are still bred here. Riding lessons are held for children, and carriages can be rented for various events. The castle was restored between 2009 and 2012 within Romania's Regional Operational Program.

Gallery

Exterior, April 2014

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Interior, April 2014

Centru, Carei 445100, Romania - panoramio (41).jpg Centru, Carei 445100, Romania - panoramio (47).jpg Centru, Carei 445100, Romania - panoramio (48).jpg Centru, Carei 445100, Romania - panoramio (52).jpg Centru, Carei 445100, Romania - panoramio (55).jpg Centru, Carei 445100, Romania - panoramio (60).jpg Centru, Carei 445100, Romania - panoramio (71).jpg Centru, Carei 445100, Romania - panoramio (81).jpg

References

External links

{{Authority control Castles in Romania Museums in Romania

Historic monuments in Satu Mare County Carei