Nicolae Sfetcu

Dracula's Castle

Everyone in the modern World knows about the famous Count Dracula. Here is a picture of the infamous Bran Castle which is considered in folklore to have been his castle. Bran Castle is standing today as seen in the picture.

Dracula`s Castle is located in the eastern side of Europe, in Romania.

It is placed in the middle of the Carpathians Mountains, on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, two of the three historical regions composing Romania.

Its exact position is in the village of Bran, at 30 km / 20 miles from Brasov, the second big city of Romania after Bucharest - the capital.

During the six centuries of its life Bran Castle changed its destination several times: at the beginning it was a fortress, after that - a customs house and local administration office and later, in the first half of the 20-th century, a royal residence. This is why the castle's architecture and functionality changed in several points during the rehabilitation / improvement works.

The castle is built on a rock in the narrowest point of the Turcu river valley. The castle was connected to the side slope of the mountain by a bridge / viaduct, so obtaining a defense gallery. From this position the visibility was very good and even increased when the forest was cut down.

The castle has four towers and the oldest is the Powder house tower, the only one built from the beginning.

In 1622 the Gate's tower was attached; in the meantime, the south wall was strengthened to a thickness of 3.5 m / 11 ft, so it can resist to a cannons attack.

A radical change in the functionality and the decoration took place in 1921 when queen Maria of Romania established her summer residence in Dracula's castle. The royal court architect Mr. Carel Liman changed the destination of a lot of spaces; for example: the gunner's room become the royal chapel, the defense gallery of the tower was transformed into apartments for the ladies of the queen's suite. It was also then that he created the fourth floor which was destined to the queen's secretary. But the most spectacular modification was to install an elevator in the fountain from the interior court; with the elevator and throw a tunnel queen Maria could reach the beautiful park down in the valley.

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