COLLECTION OF MUSEUM OBJECTS- BRAN-FURNITURE

The Bran Museum is the holder of some valuable and diverse collections of museum objects, some of them belonging to the treasury of the national cultural patrimony. The collections are structured according to the main fields namely history, art history, ethnography, recognized in the thematic of the three departments of the museum: Castle, Medieval Customs Point and The Village Museum form Bran. Of great value is the collection of white weapons and fire arms, underlining the military purpose fulfilled by the Bran Fortress in the Middle Age. Of great importance are also the collections of decorative art (furniture, ceramics and silvery) and fine art (sculpture and wood paintings), having as source the old royal fund, diverse acquisitions and donations.
From the furniture collection:
1. The baldachin bed, manually manufactured at the beginning of the XVIII century from diverse types of wood: lime tree, alder-tree, nut tree, spruce fir and oak tree, having a sculptured decoration specific for the Italian baroque period, was received as a gift by Queen Maria from the actress Marioara Voiculescu. Remarkable are the two panels from the back, a bas-relief sculpture of religious scenes: “The birth of Jesus” and “The pray of the Magus”. The two compositions are flanked by three cable moulded columns with creeping stalks and caps with acanthus leaves. Two similar columns, of enlarged sizes, also surrounded by creeping stalks support the baldachin made up of decorated caskets with sculptured cherubs. The panel from the frontal side of the bed is decorated with a frize of characters in époque clothing, and the motif used on the gable of the bed, with floral ornaments, having an escutcheon with a horse, a vulture and a lion, is also used on the interior of the door, entering the room with painted beams from the second floor of the castle.

2. The chest, dated 1692, sculptured in sycamore maple wood, ornamented in the style of the German Renaissance, belonged to the royal family, decorating during the inter-war period the “Yellow saloon” of Queen Maria from the 1st floor of the castle.

3. The small table made of nut tree wood, with two ornaments of forged iron, blending together under the panel, reminds of the Spanish tables and bears on the traverses the cross symbol of Queen Maria.

4. The neorococo glass case, from the late XIX century, belongs to the saloon set punched by August Bembe from Mainz. The elegant and delicate line of the glass case is completed by the gilded finishing, painted with flowers, landscapes and a feminine character in époque clothing framed in tondo.

5. The neorococo desk, from the late XIX century, belongs to the saloon set punched by August Bembe from Mainz. The beauty and elegance of the piece is conferred by the system of excessive curves and counter curves, inspired by the forms of the shells. The gilded piece is painted with flowers, landscapes and two characters wearing époque clothing. Using colors of great preciousness and beauty, the chromatic range perfectly harmonizes with the ensemble.

The village museum from Bran

The village museum from Bran, organized over more than four decades ago in the park next to the castle, portraits the evolution of the traditional folk architecture in the villages from the Bran area, reported to the main occupations: cattle breeding, and work in the woods, combined with agriculture, domestic wool processing industry and wood processing trades.Conceived as an open air museum, The Village Museum from Bran presents the main types of farmsteads and households, homestead annexes, economical buildings and folk technique hydraulically driven machineries for processing wood and wools.
The household with consolidated ward, typical for the scattered settlements from the Bran area, is represented at the museum by “the house with yard” from the village Pestera, dated 1843, according to the inscription on the joist from “the big house”. The farmstead is made up of the living house with four rooms (the little house – the living room, the big house, the larder and the entrance room), the stables (shelters for cattle) and the cookery room with the bread oven. The inhabited house is connected to the annexes by a small shop, which closes the yard, serving as shelter for tools and carriages.
The second type of household with yard, characteristic for the villages in the Bran area Poarta, Sohodol and Predeal (Predelut), is the household on three lines, represented at the museum by “the Clinciu House”, from the village Poarta, made up of the living house and the barn, placed on two sides of the yard, connected on the third side by a small shop. The household is significant for the constructive-architectural evolution of the household from the Bran area and for the ethnical-cultural interferences from the South-East of Transylvania, marked by the appearance of the barn, coming as a cultural contribution of the German population, colonized in the Land of Bârsa in the Middle Age.
The house from Bran is presented by the museum at every step of its typological evolution, starting with the unicellular house, the oldest type, subsequently transformed into a temporary dwelling, continuing with the two roomed house with cold entrance room, to which, during the XIX century the third room is added “the big house” (the clean room), giving birth to the three roomed house having the entrance room in the middle. The two roomed house with cold entrance room is represented at the open air museum by the House from Sohodol, from the late XVIII century. The three roomed house having the entrance room in the middle is present at the Village Museum from Bran in two variants that typologically distinguish the dwellings from the two sub-areas of Bran; the house with the entrance room in the middle, with annex (to shelter the cattle), typical for the upper villages of Bran (Fundata, Sirnea, Pestera, Magura, Moeciu, Simon) and the house with the entrance room in the middle, without annex, specific for the downer villages of Bran (Predeal, Sohodol, Poarta), where the barn appears, as a household annex, having a double function: serving as shelter for cattle and as room for flailing and depositing the grains, due to the mixed character of the occupations: cattle breeding and agriculture.
The types of dwellings presented at the Village Museum from Bran are completed by the annex dwelling, proceeding from the village Moeciu de Sus, having a double use: room for the food preparation and dwelling for the older generation; and by the temporary dwelling, from the village Podul Dâmbovitei, from Muscel area, that has permanently kept cultural contacts with Bran.
The annexes are mostly connected with the cattle breeding activity, the main occupation of the inhabitants from the villages in the Bran area, and with the farming activity reduced to the basic consumption needs of the household. The buildings are gathered in a sort of a pastoral complex consisting of: the barn from Simon village, with cattle stables and barn area, for flailing grains; the pen in the Vladusca Mountain serving as a milk processing shop and shelter for the shepherds in summer, when the cattle, gathered in herds, are moved to the pastoral grazing area; and the “cottage-cheese pen” in the Land of Bârsa plain, where “the cattle treasurers” from Bran took the herds grazing from “the cattle gathering moment”, on Saint George (23rd of April), until the end of May, when they went up to the mountainous pens.
A different sector of the village museum from Bran outlines the evolution of the processing techniques of the fundamental raw material: wool and wood, by illustrating the main types of folk technique hydraulically driven machineries: the fulling mill, the pounding mill and the saw mill, all three driven by the force of water. The fulling mill, used to thicken and finish the thick cloth for clothing is associated with the carding comb used for carding wool into bundle that, after being spun (using a distaff or a “spinning wheel”), is used for weaving the interior fabrics and the pieces of the folk costumes. The installation, dating from the end of the XIX century, was transferred into the museum from the Cheia village down the Moeciu valley, the water course being appropriate for bringing into operation the folk technique machineries.
The pounding mill – associated with the eddy – exposed at the open air museum, dates from the XVIII century, belonging to several generations of the Ghica (Gata) family from Moeciu de Jos, well known for practicing the pastoral moving of the flocks. The installation, driven by the hydraulic vertical wheel, consists of a wooden pipe, the inner side being covered with feathers. The wool is thickened in the pipe turned by the wheel and then it is placed on the pipe, passing through the thicket of the brambles, thus being shred. The eddy serves for strengthening and washing the wools.
The passing from the traditional, manual wood processing techniques to the “industrial” ones, still in early stage, is underlined by the saw mill transferred from the Simon village, encountered in the medieval documents under the name “board mill”.
The image of the old village from Bran is also suggested by the sweep fountain from Sohodol village, used for supplying with water the household, the water often being transported from a large distance with the wooden casks, balanced on a yoke.The architecture from the Bran area belongs to the wood architecture ring from both sides of the Carpathian arc. The building is placed on a stone foundation; the walls consist of fir beams, set in horizontal circlets, with the ends joined in “button-holes”; the beams are clay glued and painted with the lime resulted after burning (calcinations) the limestone; it is a four sloped roof (the oldest type) and, beginning with the second half of the XIX century, a two sloped roof. The cover of the roof is made of shingle with troughs, acquired by splitting with an axe the pine tree trunks.The Bran architecture is characterized by ideal proportions between the roof and the wall, of ½, the height of the roof harmoniously framing the house within the mountain landscape, and by asymmetry, at the oldest type, expressed in plan by different dimensions of the rooms and by placing the entrance on one side, in front of the vestibule, as we may notice at the two roomed house from Sohodol. The passing to the three roomed plan of the dwelling, with the vestibule making the entrance into the house in the middle, also marks the passing to symmetrical shapes, noticed in the Village Museum from Bran at the houses from Sohodol and Moeciu de Sus.
The interior architecture of the house from Bran is distinguished by the wooden ceiling, with obvious beams, on which we may notice the indented set, having stylized geometrical and flower elements, as well as the inscription of the craftsman’s name and the year the building was put up. The walls are clay glued and limed and the floor (podina) is made of pine tree boards and very rarely of clay.

The inner part of the dwelling from Bran represents an ensemble reflecting the functions fulfilled by the house: the heated shelter of man, the place where people eat and sleep, develop diverse domestic activities, welcome guests during common visits, the location where the socials take place, in one word where they live their every day live, as complex as it may be.
The inner part is completed by the heating and food making system, by the furniture and the ornamental pieces (fabrics, ceramics, and icons).
Placing this ensemble in space is made based on two criteria: the functional one and the decorative one.
The splitting of the dwelling from the functional point of view is made on corners:
a) The corner with the heating and food making system;
b) The corner with the bed;
c) The corner with the table;
d) The door corner with the dish shelf.
Of old tradition is the heating and food making system, named hearth, of Dacian origin, taken over from the neighboring peoples, which keep their initial shape and function way until the end of the XX century, when its place is taken by the brick stove, with oven.
Significant for the development stages of the village from Bran is also the evolution of the furniture (chest, table, sofa, and peg) from the one made of carved beech tree wood, with indented set, manufactured by the carpenters who also built the house, to the furniture made of painted pine tree wood, manufactured by the joiners trained in the urban handicraft environment.
Once the clean room (the big house) appears at the end of the XIX century, on the plan of the dwelling from Bran, a new evolution stage for the interiors commences, the accent being put on decorations.
The inner part of the house from the Bran area develops a complex shape, a combination of the Transylvanian interiors (well shaped overlapped registers with reduced chromatics, specific to the Land of Olt) with the Wallachian one, characterized by the abundance of vivid thick wools, covering the entire wall, typical for the Muscel area.
The first register is formed by the furniture (chests, sofas, bed, table) placed at corners, as we mentioned above; at the upper border of the walls, the painted pegs hanging glass cups, narrow-necked tankards and towels form the second register; the third decorative register is formed by the space between the pegs and the furniture, covered by a striped fabric, later on by a “wheeled” carpet, interrupted by the windows, in between being placed an icon. The interior set of the dwelling from Bran is completed by towels gathered in the middle, shaped as butterflies, placed around the icons or on the carpet. In this interior set we encounter two systems underlining, also on this level, the Transylvanian and Wallachian cultural interferences, namely the decoration of the upper side of the room, specific for the Transylvanian decoration style, and the polychromatic decorative fabrics, the hanging type of the towels, the custom of overlaying a mirror, photographs and icons on the wall carpet, reminding of a Wallachian type of interior set.
Throughout the evolution of the interior of the house from the Bran area, the towels pass from the simple striped models to the floral woven decorations; the fabrics gradually turn into carpets, at the middle of the XX century, when we meet the geometrical set, appearing also the carpet with floral motif, an influence of the Moroieni wools which, eventually is applied in baroque shapes on a black background. Remarkable is the tendency towards live coloring, gradually accompanied by the abandon of the traditional painting techniques using vegetal colors. Yellow, orange and violet are introduced and, later on light blue and green, colors accomplished with “shop paints”.
At the middle of the XX century, first in the village Poarta, the “wheeled” carpet with a brown background appears. About the same time the painted furniture gradually disappears, being replaced with the city furniture and, in the last decades with the factory made one.
Synthesizing the evolution of the Bran dwellings, the open air museum from Bran presents the visitors an image of a live museum, due to the presence of the folk creators, arrived from different ethnographical regions of the country. There are present potters from Horezu and Corund, manufacturers of folk instruments from Muscel and Covasna, folk artists is the field of fabrics and folk costumes from the Huedin area, furriers and weavers from Bran, wood carvers from Vâlcea, Muscel and Dâmbovita and many others who, through the demonstrative activities of their skill, confer a spectacle worthy of any museum, where tradition is integrated into the new cultural model, shaped at the contact with the universal cultural values.

The Customs House -Bran

The Customs House, historical and art monument situated at the feet of the castle, in the southern part, next to the Brasov – Câmpulung road, is a building put up in several stages, from stone and bricks, with brick vaults and wooden floors masked by mortar, with a wooden framework covered by sharp scaled tiles. The Customs House is an architectural complex made up of several buildings: a central pavilion having a partial basement, ground floor and one floor (with two houses united by a gangway) and three annexes united by stone and brick walls. At the end of the XIX century the customs buildings and the fortress become property of the Forestry Administration until December 1st 1920, when the authorities of the city of Brasov offer the castle, along with the customs buildings, as a gift to the royal family, becoming property of Queen Maria. At this point, some annexes were added and new floor. Out of the information given by Mr. Soare Constantin, lord of the castle of the royal family, who lived in the central pavilion of the house, in the attic rooms, we learn that, before the arrival of Queen Maria, the customs house had only a ground floor with “an attic as the barns have”, being inhabited by foresters having different things and tree seeds, among them being also “an engineer from Brasov, named Albrich”, who worked several times for Her Majesty the Queen, at the arranging works of the forests from the Bran castle.
The restoration and fitting out works were conducted by the same chief architect of the royal house, Karel Liman, who also worked at the restoration of the castle, the modifications resembling those made at the castle, using the “fachwerk” technique, where the wood is used both as construction material and as decorative element. The époque images confirm the architectural adjustments caused by mansard-roofing the attic, also appearing some Neo-baroque architectural elements. After 1929, col. Eugen Zwiedineck, Queen Maria’s aide, “was appointed responsible with the works taking place at Bran”; he requested the amount of 250.000 lei for the expenses for the year of 1929, in order to continue the works began at the “Suite House – a complete house with 6 rooms”. The fitting out works equipped the Customs House with current water supply gotten by collecting some springs from the Magura Mountain. The electric power was introduced in 1932, the same time the small power station on the Turcu river was brought into operation; the small power station supplied the electric power for the castle, for the other buildings belonging to the royal domain and for a series of other households in the vicinity of the castle, in January 1944 reaching a number of 96 subscribers.
From the memories of the Princess Ileana we learn that, during Queen Maria’s age “the entire building had been the headquarters of the people working for her – the aide, the secretary, the post officer – and accompanying her everywhere. The building also had guest rooms set up for the persons who were not her intimate friends, but to whom she wished to offer a mountain vacation, in fresh air”.
Between January 1st and May 30th 1930 “new works” are registered at the dwelling of the lord of the castle: the administration house, an old terracotta stove, 4 double windows, slats for the floors, isolation works for the walls, repair and painting works at a cooking machine, all these works being executed by Josef Schnell, master bricklayer at the Bran castle, and also works at the direct connection of the water installation with the safety hydrant from the yard of the administration buildings. In the same period a series of other expenses is registered for some maintenance works, executed also by Josef Schnell at the dwellings of the suite: 17 m2 of floors are repaired with new boards, the wet soil is removed and replaced with stone and dry gravel, the walls are plastered up with cement, 51 m2 of doors and windows are painted white, 170 m2 of floors are painted and waxed, three windows are repaired, windows are framed and three iron locks are assembled at the gates of the garages, and in July 1930 a door is built to “Mr. Colonel” – the suite entrance – and modifications are made to the pedestal from the “aquarium” in the castle’s yard , the name used for the decorative water pool, and to the one in front of the bathroom inside the customs house.On April 1st 1941 the staff of “The Administration of the A.S.I. Goods Archduchess Ileana” registered General Zwiedinek, assignee, and other three persons for administration, a list of other 14 men “in active service” at the Poeni Estate, and the bellow mentioned 7 persons for the Bran Castle: Soare Constantin, lord of the castle, Schabel Gheorghe, administrator, Toanci A., coachman, Reit Veta, maid, Mocan Nicolae, gardener, Iorgu Veta, worker, Nan Maria, worker, some of them living in the Customs House. Beginning with 1942 Carol Guttmann is appointed administrator of the Bran Castle, thing which caused a series of other new works, to arrange the dwelling of the administrator, probably in the Customs House. In 1944 the customs building would become the house of the Princess Ileana, for the next four years, “exception making some short periods during the summer”, when they could afford living at the castle. In 1948 the royal family was compelled to go in exile, the estate entering the state patrimony. In April 1944 some expenses were made with the”setting up of the downer apartments (The Customs House), as dwelling for Princess Ileana”, the carpentry and painting works being executed by M. Rucareanu, the works at the electric system were done by Ion Fânaru, the ones at the water systems in the bathroom and at the sewers were made by the Fabricius Company from Brasov. They used this opportunity to install a Schmidt terracotta stove and to clean other three stoves, task accomplished by Gheorghe Stefan.
We find a description of the customs building in the memoirs of Princess Ileana: “In the spring of 1944, since the weather was still cold, I took the youngest children to a pleasant building, at the feet of the hill the castle was built on. This building used to function as a customs point, because Bran was situated at the former border between Romania and Transylvania. There were actually two houses with one floor, connected by a wide gangway, we used as a dinning room. The walls were thick, the ceiling down, and the floors were made of wide and dark colored boards. The interior was painted white, as most of the Romanian houses. The windows had flower pots with nasturtiums; it was generally a very enjoyable place for what we considered at the time to be a temporary dwelling. The two bodied house was continued at each end with high walls. At one end they formed a farm-like yard, where we kept some chickens, gooses and the children’s pets – rabbits, including a white Angora rabbit and an orphan deer cub. At the other end, between the high walls, a garage and the watch room were sheltered because, as the custom may be at any royal residence, we always had a small guard and a sentinel at each door.” The époque inventories of the Customs House interiors specify pieces of different origin, most of them disappearing after 1948, only a small part being present in the museum’s collection. We learn from Mr. Constantin Soare that the rococo furniture was placed in the “first room” of the customs house and, according to the inventory from 1938, the neo-rococo pieces were mentioned in the 1st room (shop). In 1948, most of the pieces belonging to these furniture sets were deposited in the Large House (The A.C.F. Colony), at the Customs House remaining only the sofa and the crystal-boarded table, moved into the dressing room.
The paintings chosen for the decoration of these interiors were mostly paintings with marine themes or family portraits, some of them being kept today in the museum’s collection: the oil painting “Princess Elisabeta” by Lucasievici from the children’s bedroom, two paintings by Dimitrie Stiubei from Stefan’s room, with marine themes “sail ship on a stormy sea”, “agitated sea and flying seagulls”, a painting by Lucasievici “Ileana by the stove” and one by C. Constantinescu representing “a sea corner with three boats”, “Princess Alexandra” by Lucasievici from the dinning room, work painted in 1945 and a landscape from Balcic, painted by C. Constantinescu. The painting “Rider with a red flag” signed by Rouband in 1892, was hanged in the room of Princess Ileana. The colonel’s rooms preferred the war scenes signed by Stoica. From 1922 until the end of 1947, in the southern annex with garage, workshop and telephones operated “The Bran Castle Post Office”. The garages were inside the customs, two cars being specified for the Bran Castle on 29.03.1945, out of the 8 cars belonging to the Archduchess Ileana, a Plymouth Livraison, for luggage and persons and a Farge Camion (a truck), inherited from Queen Maria. After 1948 the customs building becomes property of The Ministry of Forestry, in the main body of the building functioning the offices of the Forestry Administration – at the ground floor – and the protocol rooms – at the 1st floor, the rooms for the staff being also at the 1st floor, in the southern part. In December 1957, the projection theme for the repair, maintenance and arranging works for the “Bran Castle Complex”, suggested, concerning the customs building, setting up a museum presenting the commerce, transportation and customs relations, and, as concerns the building of the Forestry Administration, organizing staff dwellings, administrative offices, warehouses and a documentary department to present the history of the Bran Castle. The restoration in a museum of the medieval customs institution from Bran was realized only in 1987, when the exhibition “The Bran Customs Point” was set up in several rooms from the ground floor of the central pavilion.

BRAN CASTLE(1920-1947) - royal residence

On December 1st 1920, the people from Braşov – through the voice of their mayor, Mr. Karl Schnell – have given the castle as a present to the Romanian royal family, in whose possession the castle remained for the next twenty seven years.
After becoming property of the royal family, between 1920 -1930 the castle suffered a series of architectural renovations, aiming to transform it into a modern summer residence. The renovation works were lead by the Czech architect Karel Liman, who also worked at the castles Peleş and Pelişor. Two towers for stairs were added, the bulwarks and the shooting gaps became windows, the stoves and the hearths became modern fireplaces. In order to make it inhabitable by the royal family, the Bran Castle was equipped with all utilities compulsory in a genuine royal residence. The water was supplied by the 57 meters fountain dug in the inner court of the castle. The illumination of the castle was insured by a turbine power station, built by will of Queen Maria in May 1932, to which the communes Bran, Şimon and Moeciu were also connected, “poor and strictly Romanian communes, who wouldn’t have had such an advantage in the near future”, as shown by a thanking letter sent to Queen Maria by the inhabitants of the three communes. The turbine – manufactured by the Voith Company – was brought into operation on August 29th, 1932. A water power station of 85 hp was also built on Turcu River in December 1932, to illuminate the castle and the surroundings.The communication with the exterior was facilitated by the existence of three telephone stations in the castle. The telephone system and the telephone exchange were altered and replaced in 1941 and 1944, at the request of Princess Ileana. Since the castle had – besides basement and ground floor – four floors, it was equipped with an elevator, same as the Peleş Castle. The elevator was set up in order to facilitate the queen’s walk from the park to the castle. A cable way was installed for an easier communication with the Tea House, carrying from the castle kitchen the food the queen and her guests helped. The house was equipped with plumbing for cold and warm water, with electric light and sewerage, being specially fit out for small receptions in a natural frame. The Bran Castle, as many other palaces and castles, is the place where the architectural imaginative view of Queen Maria has fully manifested. Thus, there were built a hunting house, a wooden small church, a wooden house (with seven rooms) and … two bawdy houses (one for the queen and one for Princess Ileana.
The Bran Castle was – next to the Palace from Balcic – the dearest residence of Queen Maria who, due to her imagination, changed the solid and unwelcoming fortress into a warm, modern and comfortable summer dwelling. The queen’s favorite field of interest was the decoration of the interiors, the saloons from Pelişor and Cotroceni baring the stamp of the style imposed by the sovereign. The Bran Castle has also experienced such changes, although the rigid architecture of the castle did not allow too many changes of the interiors. Yet, one might remark: The Large Room, actually a dinning room decorated in the style of the German Renaissance, The Yellow Saloon of Queen Maria, The Music Saloon, The Tyrolese Room of King Carol II, The Saxon Room of Prince Nicolae, all these revealing the sovereign’s taste. In the series of all these changes is enlisted also the building of several outbuildings around the castle: The Tea House, built out of wooden beams (144 m2), The Guest House, built of rough stone (78 m2), the house of Princess Ileana’s children (43 m2), the private new house (176 m2), the staff house (378 m2), the stables for horses and six garages. The castle was inhabited only by some of the members of the royal family, who benefited by separate sweets. Queen Maria stands out between them, occupying an apartment made up of hall, dressing room, two saloons (including the yellow one), bedroom, bathroom and dinning room, apartment where the sovereign collected all sort of art objects (sets of china, icons, statues, paintings, books).
Being a faithful person, Queen Maria set up at Bran – actually, at every royal residence she occupied – a chapel, whose painting works were made in November 1927 by Artur Verona (remunerated with 200.000 lei). The chapel – equipped with an altar sculptured in golden wood, an iconostasis, a chandelier, three pews, three candlesticks, two crosses and two icons – was, next to the wooden little church besides the hunting House, the place where the queen used to meditate in the moments of distress. Bran was also the place where, the fall of 1940, the casket with the queen’s heart – brought from the “Stella Maria” chapel from Balcic - is deposited, by care of Princess Ileana, in a specially made niche in the rock besides the old wooden church.In 1995, a commemorative inscription was set on the crypt’s wall, in order to remind visitors that – for a while – the casket containing the queen’s heart was deposited here. In memory of her beloved mother, whom she loved very much, Princess Ileana succeeds in May 1941 to deposit at the chapel the mortal remains of prince Mircea, thus fulfilling an old wish of her mother. Queen Maria transformed not only the castle, but also the park of the Bran Domain, that was arranged by her plans and taste. Flowers were the queen’s great passion, all royal residences having modern greenhouses being equipped even with central heating for winter time. Such a greenhouse and small rose garden were set at Bran, in July 1922, by the company Klof & Co from Codlea, observing the plans of the architect Karel Liman. The flower transplants (roses, dahlias, chrysanthemums) were also delivered form Codlea but, for some rare species, they ordered from abroad (Erfurt and Reading – England). The chief gardener of the castle was Petre Conrad (who had a monthly wage of 3.691 lei), and the chief of the Bran Royal Park was – until 1938 – Constantin Pamula. The queen considered populating the lake not only with trouts, but also with swans. Colonel Spiess received 3.113 lei, using them to bribe the guardians from the Old Fortress and paid the frontier guards who helped catching the graceful birds. The swans caused great problems to the queen, leading to an actual conflict with the inhabitants of Bran. Once, because a swan was eaten by dogs, the men from the castle shot the pedigree dogs belonging to the private persons from the area, who addressed directly the queen, in a protest. The queen also liked horses, being a horsemanship fan, sport she frequently practiced in the castle’s park or on the riding fields from Braşov.
In Queen Maria’s time, the Bran Castle reached its glory as a royal residence. The Bran Domain was extended by the queen, by buying or transferring property rights over the hay fields around the castle. In 1934 the queen bought the Forest Măgura. Another domain that belonged to the queen was Copăceni and she also owned the riding fields in Braşov.The total surface of the Bran Domain – evaluated after the queen’s death – was 134.5 hectares, plus 105.6 hectares of forest (beech trees and pine trees), 53.7 hectares of grassland and 1.15 hectares of hay field.As long as the queen stayed in Bran, she constantly tried her best to help the surrounding villages and their inhabitants. A large number of villagers worked by day on the Domain, in the park, in the gardens or at diverse works that were done at the castle in that period, being remunerated for their work. After the power station was initiated, three villages from the area (Bran, Şimon and Moeciu) were connected to the new network, the Vocational School from Bran benefiting from illumination for free. The tradition of helping the surrounding villages was kept by her successor at the castle, Princess Ileana. In June 1939, she agreed to let a House of Culture for the inhabitants of the Bran commune function in four rooms of the ground floor from the castle. During Queen Maria’s period the castle was not only a summer residence, but also the place where royal receptions and feasts took place. For example, in 1934, the menu of such a feast contained: one rabbit, seven doves, fifteen chickens, one hundred twenty eggs, ten kg sturgeon, seven kg melons, etc.
Queen Maria passed away on July 18th 1938, thus ending a glorious age in the history of Romanian monarchy. Although she had arrived in the country only the day before, the queen manifested her will of going to Bran and Balcic, her favorite residences. The King Carol II noted in his diary “She tells us how happy it makes her to have returned home and how she wishes, after a short rest here (at Pelişor), to go to Bran and Balcic”. Unfortunately, her last wish could not be fulfilled.
The queen elaborated a will and a letter addressed “to my country and my people”. The text of the Letter addressed to the country constitutes an emotional moral will – a supreme testimony of the queen’s love for the people she was chosen to lead. In the same document Queen Maria expresses for the last time the passion she used to build and set up her two favorite residences – Balcic and Bran – , manifesting her wish that her heart should be “brought and placed in Stella Maris, the church I have built by the sea”. Through her second will, Queen Maria left the Bran castle to Princess Ileana. The Princess – who lived with her husband, Anton of Habsburg, in the Castle from Sonnenberg (Austria) – will not arrive in country in time to find her mother alive. She will still participate to the funeral that took place at Curtea de Argeş. “For me – she will later remember – she was my mother, my queen and the best friend I ever had”.On August 3rd, 1938, after the queen’s death, the architects D. Antonescu and Eugen Dimitriu have issued the evaluation document of the Bran domain. The castle was evaluated at 4.967.500 lei, the land at 5.800.000 lei and the other buildings belonging to the complex at 9.264.500 lei. Altogether, the Bran Domain was worth 20.032.000 lei. After a week, on August 11, the official partition was made, the castle becoming property of Princess Ileana, who will permanently return to the country only after the abdication of King Carol II, in September 1940.
The Bran Castle had a different evolution during the nine years when it was property of Princess Ileana. Things developed quite normally, but the ostentation and the rigor imposed by Queen Maria were gone. Until 1941 general Eugen Zwiedineck, former master of Queen Maria’s court was appointed to administrate the domain. After 1941 he was replaced by Carol Guttman, the ex administrator of the Balcic Palace.
Breaking the tradition of the matrimonial alliances her brother and sisters had made with members of the Balkan royal families (Carol got married in 1921 with Princess Elena of Greece and Marioara with King Alexandru II of Yugoslavia, in 1922) – which made Queen Maria be known as “mother in law of the Balkans” – Princess Ileana will marry on July 26th 1931 the archduke Anton de Habsburg (1901-1988). The ceremony took place at the Peleş Castle from Sinaia, after which the bride and the groom made a trip to the Bran castle. It was the last marriage of a member of the royal family to take place in Romania.
The joy of the two spouses of spending more time in Romania was short because – under the pretext that the presence of a Habsburg on the territory of Romania might cause unpleasant incidents in Transylvania – King Carol II did not hesitate to ask her sister to establish her residence abroad. At first, even the diplomats from the Romanian Legacy in Vienna were forbidden to get in contact with Princess Ileana, trying to completely isolate her. It was a subtle way of estranging her from her family and especially from her mother, Queen Maria, situation that deeply affected the Princess.
Not having permission to enter the country except for special ceremonies of the royal family requesting her presence, Princess Ileana will comfort herself with the idea of losing her native places and will try – together with her husband, Anton of Habsburg – to set up happy home, although she confessed that “I had enough reasons to remain constant in my old loyalty towards Romania”.
A comfort for this sensitive soul came in 1934, when the two spouses bought the four hundred years old castle from Sonnberg, situated at fifty kilometers from Vienna, who “became our most beautiful house”. The princess lived at the Sonnberg Castle together with her and the archduke Anton of Habsburg’s six children: Ştefan (b. 1932), Maria-Ileana (Minola) (b.1933), Alexandra (Sandi) (b. 1935), Dominic (Niki) (b. 1937), Maria-Magdalena (Magi) (b. 1939) and Elisabeta (Herzi) (b.1942).
During the Second World War – while her husband serves in the German army, being taken prisoner – Ileana works as a nurse, the way her mother once did, during the First World War. Near the Bran Castle she sets up a hospital (where she will care for the wounded) she will name “Hospital of the Queen’s Heart”. She will write a book of memories about this episode of her life: Hospital of the Queen’s Heart, published in New York, in 1954. Decades later, when she returned to her homeland, in September 1947, Princess Ileana – now Nun Alexandra – will visit the Bran Castle, finding the hospital in ruins and the little wooden church pulled down. Once King Mihai I abdicates on December 30, 1947, Princess Ileana – along with her husband and children – will leave Romania, leaving the Bran Castle in the custody of the Romanian state, who transformed it into a museum (1957).

DRACULA`S CASTLE- BRAN HISTORY

BRAN CASTLE (1377-1920)


The Bran fortress was built on a cliff between Măgura and The Hill of the Fortress, its position conferring an outstanding view towards both the hills of Moeciu and the ones from the Land of Bârsa. The building of the fortress was imposed by strategic and economic reasons. The strategic reasons underlined by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire which, by the end of the XIV century, began threatening the south-eastern borders of Transylvania; the economic reasons, given by the fact that the commercial road, one of the most important access ways connecting Transylvania to Wallachia, crossed this area. All these reasons determined the Hungarian king Louis I of Anjou to develop strengthening works of the Bran pass.jointly interested in raising the fortress were also the people of Braşov, aiming to secure their geographical position on one hand, and the economic one, on the other hand, by supervising the commercial road passing through the valley. These mutual actions materialize on November 19th 1377, when Louis I of Anjou grants the people of Braşov the privilege of building the fortress “unforced and unbound, but willingly they have generously and unanimously promised to build a new fort in Bran, on their own efforts and expenses, and to cut the forest thereabouts”. It was remarkable the fact that, by the death of the Hungarian king in 1382, the fortress was already built. After finalizing the construction, the fortress becomes property of the Hungarian royalty, who settles here a garrison of mercenaries, made up by archers and ballista men. In order to fulfill the needs of the fortress, the king grants it a domain formed by the villages Baciu, Cernatu, Satulung, Turcheş, Tărlungeni, Zizin, Purcăreni, Crizbav, Apaţa, Zărneşti and Tohan (the latter two until 1395), with permission to exploit the forests and waters, to hunt and fish, and to use the mutual fields and hay fields. The Hungarian royalty assumes its right to appoint a lord of the castle to run the fortress. The Szekler committee was sometimes entrusted with this prerogative, this position being mostly taken by the Voivodes of Transylvania. Yet, by the act of 1380, it is specified that, generally, a Saxon can be appointed in this position. The lord of the castle fulfilled several military tasks (command of the garrison, organization and supervising of borders) and also administrative – jurisdictional tasks (as lord of the mansion, he checked the incomes resulted from the fees owed by the inhabitants of the domain, as well as from other economic activities related to the city of Braşov).
About the same time, a customs point was built in the vicinity of the fortress, collecting a duty of 3% from the value of the goods being transited on the commercial road connecting Transylvania to Wallachia. At the beginning of the XV century, as product of the collaboration between the Hungarian king Sigismund of Luxemburg and the Wallachian ruler Mircea cel Bătrân with respect to the anti-Ottoman politics, the Bran fortress is transferred to the possession of the Wallachian ruler and to his descendants, with the purpose to strengthen the Transylvanian – Wallachian border. With this occasion, the customs point from the feet of the fortress was moved to Braşov.
Mircea cel Bătrân replaced the lord of the castle with one of his chief magistrates, appointing him with the supervising of the commercial road. On August 6th 1413, he grants the people of Braşov the well known commercial privilege, emphasizing “the establishments left by their forefathers for customs purposes through the boroughs from Wallachia and on the road from Braşov through the Bran pass up to Brăila”. The descendants of Mircea cel Bătrân disrespect the commercial privileges conferred to the people of Braşov, driving them to the Hungarian king with a complaint. This state of facts, corroborated with the persistent Turkish attacks (culminating with the one in 1421, when the Turks rob The Land of Bârsa) determine Sigismund of Luxemburg to entrust the Bran Fortress, on February 3rd 1426, to the Prince of Transylvania, entrusting him to appoint the lord of the castle. In exchange for granting new privileges to the people of Braşov, these had the obligation of supplying the fortress with food and informing the Transylvanian prince in case of imminent Turkish danger.The summer of 1427, Sigismund seems to have personally come to Bran in order to check the defense works and yet, in spite of all safety measures taken, the Turks penetrate The Land of Bârsa through the Bran pass and rob it again
The summer of 1441 the Turks initiate a new incursion in Transylvania, but are defeated in the district of Bran by Iancu de Hunedoara, prince of this province, who paid an extreme attention to the Bran Fortress and to the commercial road passing through this area, confirming the old commercial privilege granted to the people of Braşov by Mircea cel Bătrân and confirmed by Sigismund. Within the first months of the year 1459 the armies of Vlad Ţepeş, a Wallachian ruler, attack the city of Braşov through Bran, burning the suburbs and the old church of Bartholomew; this action came as a consequence of a commercial litigation between the Wallachian ruler and the merchants from Braşov. Bran was also the pass used by the armies of prince Ştefan Bathory, when supporting Vlad Ţepeş in his second reign (1456-1462). The acts of abuse committed by the lords of the castle from the fortress Bran caused inconvenience to the commercial activity of the city Braşov – which had become one of the most important commercial centers of Transylvania – making the people of Braşov try to get into its possession. In order to achieve this purpose the people of Braşov needed, besides the approval of the king, the actual owner, also the consent of the Transylvanian prince who, being appointed with the defense of the borders as representative of the Szekler committee, had military authority over the fortress of Bran. The arrangement seems to have been made only between the people of Braşov and the King of Hungary Vladislav II Jagello, and on the 1st of January 1498, the latter pledging by himself the Bran fortress to the people of Braşov “along with all possessions and rights of usage” for ten years, in exchange for 1000 florins. In 1508, after expiration of this term, the Hungarian king renews for another twenty five years the pledge contract for the domain and the fortress of Bran, in favor of the city of Braşov. At the end of this period the royalty had to pay to the people of Braşov the amount of 6300 florins, as ransom, or else the fortress remained property of the city of Braşov. In 1513, King Vladislav Jagello issues an act by means of which he removes the Bran fortress from the jurisdiction of the prince of Transylvania, and grants it to the people of Braşov “to keep and administrate” for twenty five years, should they always be truthful to the king, ensure keeping the fortress and support the spies in Turkey. By means of this document the city of Braşov gains possession over the fortress and domain of Bran, having absolute rights as possessor. Once the Bran fortress became property of the city of Braşov, the duties of the serfs grew ruthless and more numerous, making the serfs often complain and rise up against them. In addition to all that, by a decision ruled by the king, dating from the beginning of the XVI century, they were bound to perform the military duty for the city of Braşov and, in need, to take up arms at its request. This provision made the serfs from the villages in the Bran domain run away. This state of facts concurs with the riot of the Transylvanian villagers from 1514. The serfs from the Bran domain refused to rise up against the rebels – as presented in a letter from the voivode of Transylvania addressed to the king of Hungary – and above all that, “they refuse to pay their regular duty to our citizens from Braşov. This major disobedience came close to causing a riot of the common people even in our city of Braşov and in the Land of Bârsa”. The position of the villagers from Bran vexed the leaders of Braşov who, at first, did not dare take any actions, waiting for the denouement of the riot. Only after the riot was repressed the people of Braşov had the courage to ask the king for his support. By rule of the king, Ioan Zapolya, the prince of Transylvania, set off to Braşov, in order to punish the rebels. As a consequence of this action, Braşov was reinstated by use of weapons. As expected, the Bran fortress had also been involved in this political action. Thus, at first, after the denouement form Mohacs, the people from Braşov, supporting Ferdinand of Austria, adopted a hostile attitude towards Ioan Zapolya, who had succeeded to take over Transylvania. This explains why, in 1529 when Lăudat, the commander of the Wallachian armies, tried to cross to Transylvania to help Ioan Zapolya, he came up against the resistance of the garrison from the Bran fortress, lead by the lord of the castle Ioan Hock. Although the siege lasted several days, the fortress could not be conquered. The year to come, the Bran fortress stands up against Mehmed Beg, stopping the Turks attempt to break into Transylvania, aiming to support the same Ioan Zapolya. In 1531, seeing that their resistance against Zapolya caused only prejudices, they cross to his side, being sworn in faithful to him. In exchange, the prince reinforces their privileges and grants them possession of the forests from the Transylvanian part of Buzău.Even after 1541, when Transylvania becomes an autonomous principality under Turkish suzerainty, the Bran fortress remains property of the city of Braşov. Yet, the serfs belonging to this domain are bound to pay the Turkish yearly toll until 1602, when the prince suspends it in favor of the people of Braşov. In December 1596 Mihai Viteazul, on his trip to Alba Iulia used the road passing through Bran and his wife is likely to have stayed in the fortress for three days. In the year 1600, the son of Mihai Viteazul, Nicolae Pătraşcu, tries to penetrate The Land of Bârsa through the Bran pass, aiming to punish the people of Braşov, who had revolted against the domination of the Wallachian ruler. Unable to conquer the fortress, they had to withdraw. In the decades to come, the prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bathory, temporarily occupying the Bran fortress, contested the property rights of the city of Braşov over the fortress. This action caused major economic damage to the people of Braşov, by cutting the commerce with Wallachia, as well as political and military prejudices. In 1613 the people of Braşov regain the property rights over the Bran fortress, consequential to a treaty signed with Gabriel Bathory. The same year, during the campaign of the Turkish army lead by Ali Pasha Maghiaroglu, aiming to install Gabriel Bethlen as prince of Transylvania, the Pasha requests the lord of the Bran castle to use their cannons, in order to prevent the “Tartar sultan” from passing through Bran. The permanent tendency of the city of Braşov to interfere with the Transylvanian politics determines Gabriel Bethlen (in the meantime prince) to raise the question of verifying the endorsed possession rights over the Bran fortress and the inherent domain. In 1625 the Transylvanian prince agrees to let the Bran fortress and the domain remain property of the people of Braşov.
The spring of 1651, on 25th of April, Braşov signs with the prince of Transylvania Gheorghe Rackoczi a sale-purchase contract according to which the city “irrevocably and for ever” bought the Bran fortress and the inherent domain, including the villages belonging to the castle, as well as the communes: Purcăreni, Zizin, Tărlungeni, Satulung, Cernatu, Turcheş, Bacifalu, Crizbav and Apaţa, becomming owner with full legal rights over these estates. In exchange for yielding the rights over the fortress and the domain, the people of Braşov had to give up, besides the amount owed by Vladislav II, also the amount of 11.000 florins (paid to the exchequer), along with several villages being up to that point in their possession. The sale-purchase contract for the Bran domain was confirmed by the Transylvanian states through the law Approbatae constitutiones regni Transsilvaniae III, title 84, paragraph 1. After a constant and tenaciously fought fight of over one hundred fifty years, the city of Braşov succeeded to consolidate its lawful rights over Bran.
At the end of the XVII century, as a consequence of the defeats suffered by the Turks, first at the siege of Vienna in 1683, then at Zenta in 1687, The Habsburg Empire gets dominion over Transylvania. Since the “Leopold Diploma” from 1691 confirmed all privileges and donations made by the princes of Transylvania, acknowledging the old laws of the country, the old administrative and judicial stabilities, the old privileges granted to the Saxons and the Szeklers, the city of Braşov also remains rightfully owner of the Bran fortress and domain, in conformity with the contract from 1651. The Habsburg economic politics and military strategy in the XVIII century lead to a diminution of the fortresses purpose, hindering the commerce of the people of Braşov with Wallachia, and even the lords of the castle in fulfilling their responsibilities on the Bran territory.
This way, on May 1st 1706, a customs officer is appointed to administrate the Bran customs point, a clerk of the Austrian Treasury who, besides the task of collecting the customs duties, took over from the lord of the castle also the table lands and the paths in the mountains Bucegi and Piatra Craiului, in order to prevent the illicit commercial activity and the illegal crossing of the border. To the same purpose, the Austrian state set up a sanitary cordon along the mountains Carpaţi, establishing, middle of the XVIII century, a quarantine office at Bran. Planning to strengthen the Bran pass, the castle was restored in 1723, as results from an inscription on the inner wall. The basic purposes of the fortress were practically reduced to those of head office of the domain administration and residence of the lord of the castle. Yet, it still constituted a defense residence which could possibly face a potential attack.
In spite of all these impediments, the Bran fortress continued to be mentioned in chronicles and also to partially fulfill its military and customs point role. Carol XII, king of Sweden, after being defeated in Russia, passes through Bran on the way to his country, accompanied by his armies that took refuge at the Turks. In 1737 an Austrian army company passes through Bran, attacking the Turks in Câmpulung.
During the Russian-Austrian-Turkish war from 1787, the Bran pass was invaded by the Moslem armies, who attacked the fortress, but failed to conquer it.
The amplification of the economic crisis from the second half of the XVIII century made the Austrian state stiffen the taxation policy, introducing the so-called “cadastral registers” in Bran too.
The major decline in the living conditions of the tenants from Bran generated several riots. The most important one, in the context of the events that took place in the years of the uprising led by Horea, Cloşca and Crişan, was in July 1785, when the tenants from Bran refused to pay their taxes to the city of Braşov.
The XIX century brought the decay of the last military tasks of the Bran fortress. The fortress failed to remain an efficient keeper of the border, due to the change in the military strategy and to the spreading of the performing fire guns.
In 1836, along with the transfer of the Transylvanian borders with Wallachia upper in the mountain, at Pajura, the Bran fortress loses its task as customs point at the border of the Austrian state and, along with that, the control over the commercial transit from the area.
The activity of the fortress becomes exclusively focused on the administration of the domain, which will generate numerous abuses coming from the land agents and lords of the castle. In the context of the rebellious movements from 1848, these abuses lead to a local riot, when the inhabitants of Bran organized themselves in “national guards”, acting against the lord of the castle and the garrison, banishing them from the fortress.
The imminence of the Russian-Romanian-Turkish war from 1877 determined the Austrian army to execute defense works along the eastern border of Transylvania. In this context, the Austrians occupied the Bran fortress, replacing its roof (easily exposed to any shelling) with faggots, thing which caused its severe decline.
Taking into account all that the city of Braşov asked the Austrian authorities to restore the fortress. Eventually, they accepted to support the expenses made within the period 1883-1886, and on July 22nd 1888, they handed it over to the city of Braşov.Not long after the city donated the fortress to the Forestry Administration from Braşov. From that point, the fortress was inhabited by forest keepers, foresters from Bran and, at times, in the expressly fit official chambers, by the forest inspectors came from Braşov. The Forestry Administration had the fortress in possession until 1918.