Calendar Castle Photo: Andreea Dogar and Cosmin Meca radiocraiova.ro and greatnews.ro |
Istvan is
said to have fallen in love with one of Czar Nicolai II’s daughters. But when
the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, the entire family and the love of his life
were killed. The Baron was so heartbroken that he withdrew from public life to
mourn his loss.
Istvan commissioned
the castle and construction began in 1911. According to radiocraiova.ro, the
construction in medieval French style, lasted three years and the castle served
as Baron Ugron’s summer residence.
Located in
the village called Zau de Campie, state of Mures, Istvan’s castle is known to
the locals as the Calendar Castle, because all the details were constructed to
reflect our modern measurements of time.
Istvan’s
Calendar Castle has 365 windows, 4 towers like the seasons, 52 rooms like the
weeks in a year, 7 balconies like the days in a week, and 12 hallways like the
months in a year.
While the
communists ruled Romania with an iron fist, the castle served various purposes.
As it was always the case, communists in power were fond of appropriating things
they did not own, private property and wealth they deemed bourgeois. So the
communist leadership confiscated the castle’s furniture and sent it to Turda,
the capital of the state at the time.
Following
confiscation, the castle became a sanatorium for people infected with
tuberculosis, a school, a grain depository, and, most recently an orphanage.
Presently,
the Calendar Castle is listed as a historical monument and is part of the
patrimony of the state of Mures. In a terrible state of decay, neglected during
the communist era and now, it awaits restoration.
According to
Andreea Dogar, the authorities are seeking EU funds to restore this
architectural jewel. http://greatnews.ro/castelul-calendar-din-romania-are-365-de-ferestre-52-de-camere-si-7-terase/
The
occasional tourist can appreciate the exterior, the façade, the turrets, and wander
around the courtyard.
There are so
many beautiful places in Romania that are decaying more each day while awaiting
restoration. A beautiful art deco building in my home town of Ploiesti, which
was used as a marriage house during the communist era, is now oozing rust,
decaying with neglect; and the courtyard is covered in weeds up to the rooftop.
It is where I got married in 1977 on a beautiful fall day.
The powers
that be don’t seem to be extremely preoccupied with the preservation of Romania’s
rich historical past and its beautiful buildings, but are concentrating on a
hurried quest for globalism.
I hope you are putting all your articles into book or perhaps several according to object. You are such an amazing writer and so all of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Irish Dancer. No more books for me, life is too overwhelming right now and publishers are hard to find. But thank you for your kind words.
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