Rumanía. Castillo de Bran

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Toniagustí

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Trail stats

Distance: 1.4 mi
Elevation gain: 190 ft
Technical difficulty: Moderate
Elevation loss: 190 ft
Max elevation: 2,510 ft
TrailRank: 44
Min elevation: 2,451 ft
Trail type: Loop

Time: one hour 34 minutes
Coordinates: 142
Uploaded: February 5, 2022
Recorded: February 2022

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near Bran, Braşov (România)

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Romania. bran castle

Bran is a small city located in Transylvania, next to the border with Wallachia in the middle of the Transylvanian Carpathians.

Bran Castle is a medieval fortress located in present-day Romania, which enjoys great tourist attraction due to the popular belief that it was the former residence of Vlad Țepeș the Impaler.

Located near Braşov in Transylvania, it is a national monument and one of the key points of Romanian tourism due to its antiquity, its architectural value and its link with the fictional character of Count Dracula. The historical character that Stoker was inspired by, Vlad Țepeș (Vlad III Drăculea), never lived in this castle and that his true fortress was the Poenari castle, now partially in ruins.

Despite its massive and fortified appearance, Bran Castle received few sieges and was of little military importance. It was only permanently inhabited during the 1920s and 1930s, when it served as a summer residence for Queen Maria of Romania.

A fortress was built on this site by knights of the Teutonic Order around 1212, when they were received into the Kingdom of Hungary, after being defeated by the Saracens in the Holy Land. The fortress is located on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia. That small fortification was razed over time by the Tatar hordes in 1241. The current structure was erected by order of King Louis I of Hungary in 1377, to fulfill a commercial and defensive function against the Wallachian voivode.

According to most accounts, the Impaler spent only two days in the castle, locked in a dungeon, on his way to prison in Budapest, when the region was occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

After the end of the First World War, in 1920, the Treaty of Trianon was signed, where the region of Transylvania was ceded to the Kingdom of Romania, and with this, the castle of Bran became part of the Romanian administration.

Shortly after the city of Braşov became part of the Kingdom of Romania, the municipal administration decided to give the castle to its new queen, Maria. Its new owner, very fond of Romanian decoration and history, soon embarked on a campaign of restorations and transformations to turn Bran Castle into her new summer residence.

In the 1920s, extensive reforms were carried out on the building without losing an iota of its medieval fortress appearance. The surrounding park was also modified and the Tea Pavilion and the Princess Cottage were erected, as well as guest houses, servants' quarters, stables and garages.

seized and returned
The castle, which was the possession of Princess Elena of Romania, who inherited it from her mother, Queen Maria. For many years it was irregularly cared for, but after the restoration of the 1980s and the Romanian Revolution of 1989, it became a tourist destination.

The castle is open to tourists, who can see the interior on their own or a part of it with a guided tour. Outside the castle there are examples of traditional Romanian houses.

All the routes carried out in Romania (CLICK HERE)