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| BRAN CASTLE REOPENED TO THE PUBLIC 01/06/2009 |
| (2009-06-01) |
| Last updated: 2009-06-02 16:08 EET |
Bran Castle, one of the most important tourist venues in Romania, known across the world because of the association with Dracula, the famous character invented by the Irish writer, Bram Stoker, was reopened to the public officially on June 1st. Two weeks ago, the person who inherited the castle, Dominic of Habsburg, grandson of Queen Maria and son of Princess Ileana, took official possession of the castle almost six decades after his family was forced to leave the country by the communist regime, when he was only ten. Bran was nationalized in the communist period, and turned into a museum, and it was only returned to its former owners in May 2006.
Restoration works improved not only the castle, but also Queen Maria’s Tea House, Princess Ileana’s House, the park, and two ponds. Built in 1212 by the Teutonic Knights, and documented as early as 1377, Bran Castle was donated in 1920 by the local administration in the city of Brasov to Queen Maria of Romania, grandmother to Dominic of Habsburg, in recognition of her contribution to the Great Union of 1918. The queen modernized it and left it to her daughter, princess Ileana, King Carol the 2nd’s sister, and mother to Dominic. On the same day the museum opened, June 1st, there was another grand opening, that of the Medieval Customs Museum, which is part of the National Bran Museum, with almost 6,000 exhibits representing several centuries, from 1290 to 1930.
The director of the Museum, Ioan Dorin Narcis, said that the Customs Museum has only a few hundred exhibits in nine rooms. Visitors can enjoy two ceramics exhibitions, one European and one Persian, the Bidermayer salon, a neo-Baroque living room, paintings and small decorative objects, King Ferdinand’s bedroom, Queen Maria’s bedroom, the neo-Rococo salon, a silverware collection, and pieces of furniture from the old royal living room. Bran’s present owner announced a few future projects as well: setting up an apartment in the round tower to be just as in the inter-war period, available for those who want to spend a night at the castle, renovating Queen Maria’s tea house, restoration works in the castle park, which has 28,000 sq. m., and opening a garden next to the guest house. The Romanian ministry of tourism said that it would continue to promote Bran as a major tourist attraction.
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2025-04-03
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