It seems that everyone wants to know more about castles in Transylvania, Romania and seems that there have been some requests for another post on castles.
Since I have already done posts on both Bran Castle (Dracula’s castle) and
Cachtice Castle (Elizabeth Bathory’s castle), for this post I chose Magna Curia or Bethlen Castle, as it is more commonly
known.
Bethlen Castle was built in 1582 by
the Hungarian captain Ferenc Geszty at the foot of a hill. This is not
exactly the most strategic place to build a castle. Most castles are built on
top of a hill, not at the foot of one. Its style is based on the original castles,
called Motte and Baileys castles. These castles were fairly basic-looking keeps built at the top of a hill. The cool thing was that they built some of the hills from the dirt
that they dug up from the where they put the moat. This put them on higher ground, giving the defenders the advantage if they were attacked. This
historical context made it even harder for me to understand why anyone would build
Brethen Castle at the foot of a hill. It would be the worst place for a
castle from a strategic point of view. Then again, this castle was built during the Renaissance, when people building castles were more concerned with
how a castle looked and not what strategic placement it had.
One of the men who lived in this
castle was Sigismund Bathory. Sigismund joined the ranks of
Christian princes fighting against the Turks in 1588, and it was he who
signed the treaty that brought Wallachia under the sovereignty of Transylvania. Sigismund became Prince of Transylvania, ruling from 1599-1608.
Gabriel Bathory also lived in Bethlen Castle. He ruled as Prince of Transylvania from 1608 until 1613. I find it interesting that two members of the Bathory line ruled as Princes of Transylvania during the life span of Elizabeth Bathory and that Gabriel Bathory died the year before Elizabeth Bathory was found out and put to death.
Gabriel Bathory also lived in Bethlen Castle. He ruled as Prince of Transylvania from 1608 until 1613. I find it interesting that two members of the Bathory line ruled as Princes of Transylvania during the life span of Elizabeth Bathory and that Gabriel Bathory died the year before Elizabeth Bathory was found out and put to death.
It was Gabriel Bathory who renovated
Bethlen Castle. After the renovation, the building became known as Magna Curia.
It was these renovations that made the building a good candidate to become a
museum, and it was converted into one in 1882. Specifically, it became the Museum of Dacian and Romania Civilisation. Part of the reason
Magna Curia was made into a museum was because it is located in Deva. The city
of Deva was the capital of Transylvania for a period of time. The museum
contains ethnographic, numismatic and natural science exhibits. I like the
fact that some of the old castles of Transylvania have been turned into
museums. This means that not only can people see the exhibits being shown, they
get to see the castles themselves. It also means that the castles are maintained and will not just fall into ruin like some castles in other
countries.
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