Peles Castle

Located on Peles brook valley, on the spot named Pietrele Arse (the Burnt Stones), the Peles Castle, the most famous royal residence in Romania, was built between 1875 and 1883 - when it was officially opened.
It is said that sometime in august 1866 king Carol I arrived in the neighborhood, and spent the night at the monastery of Podul Neagului (as Sinaia was known at that time). He liked so much the wild and picturesque landscapes that he decided to built here a castle. So he bought the land in 1872, and then hired the German architect Wilhelm Dodderer to make the plans for the construction. That is why, in what concerns the exterior architecture, the main elements are specific to the German neo-renaissance style.

Pelisor Castle - Sinaia.
As a matter-of-fact, the construction began in 1873, but the basement of the castle dates from 1875. After its official opening in 1883, some development plans followed, the present shape of the building being finished in 1914. Mainly it is about some buildings that were annexed, like Camerele Gardianului (the Guardian’s Rooms), Economatul (the Bursarship), Foisorul (the Foisor Hunting Chateau) (the hunting house), Grajdurile Regale (the Royal Stables) and the Power Station. Over 300 craftsmen, from all over the world, worked here during this period.)

Queen Maria’s Bedroom - Pelisor.
Between 1889 and 1903, architect Karel Liman, who was in charge of the construction, built Pelisor Chateau - a modern and smaller replica of the main building - the residence of King Ferdinand I of Romania and of Queen Mary. The royal couple also lived in the Foisor Hunting Chateau for a while, building that was destroyed in a fire and was rebuilt again in 1933. A brief estimation shows that between 1875 and 1914 there were spent over 16 million golden lei for Peles.

Peles Castle - The Entrance Hall
Valuable collections and a secret door
Both, at the end of the 19th century and nowadays, the Peles Castle was and is considered to be one of the most beautiful castles in Europe, and the first to be entirely electrified on the continent. Its own power station was located on the bank of Peles Brook. Otherwise, the building had, even at that time, an interior elevator, vacuum cleaner and central-heating system. The castle has 170 rooms, out of which only 10 can be visited by tourists, and shelters various valuable collections of paintings, sculptures, armours, carpets, furniture, tapestries, statues, potteries, gold, silver and china dishes, stained-glasses.
The Entrance Hall is magnificent, with walnut tree carvings, covered with bas-reliefs and statuettes. The movable glass ceiling, activated by an electric engine or by a manual system, was a surprise element for the king’s visitors, who could admire the sky on cloudless summer nights.
The rooms included in the touristic circuit have suggestive names, like Sala Maura (the Moorish Salon), the Florentine Room, the Columns Room, the Music Room, and the Armoury.

Peles Castle - The armouries.
The Royal library attracts especially those who are keen on rare books, with leather covers engraved with golden letters. There is an attraction point even for those who are not familiar with the universe of books, namely the secret door, a way of access behind a book shelf through which the king could becalm in various rooms of the Castle.
The armouries, arranged between 1903 and 1906, shelter more than 4000 European and Eastern pieces from the 14th and 17 centuries. The most valuable are considered to be the German armours from the 16th and 17th centuries and a complete armour for horse and knight, unique in Romania.
The Music Room became a musical soirée salon at Queen Elisabeth’s wish. The furniture from this room was a gift from the Maharajah of Kapurthala.

Peles Castle - Maura Salon.
The Florentine Room, also called the Great Salon, impresses with its ceiling sculptured out of linden trees, gilded, with two great chandeliers, and its ornaments in the Italian neo-renaissance style.
Maura Salon is the work of architect Charles Lecompte de Nouy, having Spanish-Moorish elements and an indoor Carrara marble fountain, replica of a similar piece in Cairo.
The Playhouse has 60 seats and a royal box, being decorated in Louis XIV style.
At first floor there is the Concert Room, arranged in 1906, where one can find a harpsichord made in 1621 at Antwerp, a Bluthner piano with vertical tail and a Rieger organ with two keyboards.
The Imperial Suite was also arranged in 1906, for the Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Josef, invited at King’s Carol I celebration of 40 years of reign.

Peles Castle - Concert Room.
Other rooms that offer the tourists various surprises are: the Council Room, which resembles one of the rooms of the mayoralty in Lucerne – Switzerland; the Work Cabinet where there is an imposing writing table and also an audience desk; the Dining Room, where there are exhibited some very valuable silver pieces, is at the first floor and has a rustic, Briton furniture from the 18th century; The Turkish Parlor which shelters a collection of Turkish and Persian brass pots; the Bedroom which is lighted by a Bohemia crystal chandelier.
The stained glasses from Peles Castle were bought and set up between 1883 and 1914, most of them being brought from Switzerland and Germany, dating from the 15th and 17th centuries. The castle also has seven terraces decorated with stone sculptures, fountains and Carrara marble decorative pots.

Peles Castle - The Dining Room.
After the Bran Castle, Peles Castle is considered to be the second most visited museum in the country. Only in 2006 there were over 250 000 visitors from our country and also from USA, Australia, Japan and New Zeeland. The importance of the castle is also underlined by the existing security measures: military guards, supervisors and video cameras.
In March 2007 the Romanian Government gave back the Peles castle and Pelisor Chateau and the afferent lands to the Royal Family. Then, after a memorandum signed by the representatives of the Royal House and of the Government, it was agreed that the Peles Castle and the Foisor Hunting Chateau remained “forever”, as museums, in the property of the Romanian state.

Peles Castle - Sinaia.
Bugaboo for Ceausescu family
A story famous in the 80s said that the Ceausescu would have liked to have a protocol residence at Peles (the building was closed for the public between 1975 and 1990). Because it was well known that they had the habit of ordering all kinds of demolishing and renovations, the persons in charge of the museum scared them by saying that inside the Castle there is a fungus that attacked the wood and that it was very dangerous for man’s health. The truth is that there was indeed a fungus that affected the girders of the building because of the dampness and lack of airing. Cautious, Ceausescu husband and wife spent only one night at the Castle, sleeping in the Foisor. That is the reason why they started the restoration works, the resistance structure from the Honor Hall and the ground floor dining room being replaced.
It is also said that Elena Ceausescu was the one who ordered the six pillows embroidered in silver and gold for the castle. At that time, the value of one pillow was that of a Dacia car, meaning 70 000 old lei.

Peles Castle - Sinaia.
How to get there?
Castelul Peles (the Peles Castle) is located in Sinaia (44 kilometers far from Brasov and 122 kilometers far from Bucharest), and one can choose between the European road E60 and the national road DN1. In what concerns the railway, there are many trains that go from Ploiesti to the Valea Prahovei (Prahova Valley), and Sinaia Resort is one of the destinations.
Visitors receive an extensive tour of the rooms at the ground and first floor, with guide in five foreign languages. On November, Castelul Peles (the Peles Castle) is closed for general cleaning.

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.