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Situated at 30 km from Brasov, between
the Bucegi and Piatra Craiului Mountains, Bran Castle is an important
national monument and landmark of the Romanian tourism, due not only to
the beauty of the Castle and the lanscape but also to the legend of Count
Dracula.
The first documentary attestation of the
Bran Castle is the act issued on November 19, 1377, by Ludovic I D'Anjou
giving the inhabitants of Brasov the privilege to build the Citadel "on
their own work and expense"… In exchange for this, the king confirmed
the subordination of 13 localities to Brasov town and conferred the leadership
of Bran Fortress to a lord of a castle who had also jurisdictional attributions.
The permanent garrison was numerically restrained to 12-24 soldiers: archers
and ballisters. Between the years 1419-1424 the Fortress returned in Sigismund's
possession.
At the end of the XV-th century, the Bran
Fortress was subordinated to the authority of the Szeklers Committee,
responsible for the defense of the South-East of Transylvania, and since
the reign of Iancu de Hunedoara, the Fortress passed under the rule of
the Voivode of Transylvania.
On December 1st, 1920, the Brasov Town
Council donated the Bran Castle to Queen Marie of Great Romania, as a
symbol of gratitude for her contribution to the achievement of the "Great
Union" of 1 December 1918.
Between 1920-1927, the Bran Castle was
restored under the guidance of the Royal Court architect, Carol Liman.
He transformed it into a beautiful summer residence, surrounded with a
park, fountains, a lake, walking alleys and halt terraces and built the
"Tea House" of Queen Marie. In 1938 Queen Marie left with will the Bran
Castle to her daughter, Princess Ileana.
After the expulsion of the royal family
from the country in 1948, the Bran Castle became the property of the Romanian
tate, being abandoned and ravaged for a period. Since 1956 the Castle
was opened as a museum of history and feudal art. Being in a serious degradation,
a new restoration process of the Castle started in 1987. The repair, by
and large was finished in 1993. The conclusive museistic organization
will be done taking into account new criteria, result of the researches
from the last years.
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