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Between 1995 and 2016 I've visited Romania twelve times. I was almost in every area of this country - in Transylvania and Wallachia; traveled from the southern Danube in the Banat to the northern Maramures and Bukovina, and from the Hungarian border in the west to the Black Sea coast in the east...
During these trips, of course I also have explored various abandoned castles and manor houses. Even if I show a lot here, it's not all that I've visited there… But I just show a mix of well-preserved buildings up to ruins.
Some of these buildings are no longer abandoned today (If I know, I'll write the current state in brackets.).
Because of the large amount, I write only brief information about the places.
The photos are partly already older and / or taken without tripod, therefore the quality isn't always the best.
Sometimes I only show exterior shots - because most of the Romanian castles are plundered and empty; some of them weren't accessible either.
In advance a short lesson in Romanian:
Castelul = castle
Conacul / Vila = villa / mansion / manor house
Palatul = palace
Cetatea = castle (fortress)
Herghelie = stud farm
1. Castelul Kornis (emptied and partly collapsed now)
Built in 1573-1593, expanded in the 18th century, later used as a school, destroyed in World War II.
The only Romanian castle with statues of unicorns that I know (there are two of them in front of it).
2. Castelul Brukenthal (in renovation)
Built in 1750-1760, abandoned in 1940 due to a fire.
3. Castelul Banffy (in renovation)
Built in the end of the 14th century, expanded in the 17th-18th century, destroyed in World War II.
4. Castelul Bornemissza
Built in 1848, later used as a hospital.
5. Castelul Bethlen
Built in 1667-1683, later used as school, kindergarten (nursery), prison and champagne cellar.
6. Vila Dobrescu (for sale or already sold)
Built in the 18th-19th century, in the 1930s inhabited by a Romanian lawyer and mayor.
7. Castelul Haller (large parts are collapsed now)
Built in 1610, expanded in 1704.
8. Cetatea Fagaras (renovated and converted into a museum)
Built in 1310, conversion to a fortress in 1538, expanded in the 17th century, later used as military headquarters.
9. Palatul Cantacuzino (has been fenced due to danger of collapse)
Built in 1911-1913, destroyed during earthquakes in 1940 and 1977.
10. Conacul Wass
Built in the 19th century, later used as a school.
11. Castelul Haller
Built and expanded in 1721-1771, abandoned after the extinction of the family.
12. Palatul Spa (demolished now)
I don't know anything about its history.
13. Castelul Zsombory (sold)
Built in 1892.
14. Casa Orthodoxa
The “Orthodox house” was part of a fortified church.
15. Castelul Tholdi (partly burnt down)
Built in 1640, later used as orphanage.
16. Castelul Rakoczi-Banffy (re-inhabited)
Built in 1664-1669.
17. Castelul Lonyai
Built in 1484, expanded in 1630 and about 1850, destroyed in World War II.
18. Castelul Teleky (in use as a barn and storage area)
Built in the 18th century.
19. Castelul Teleky-Wesseleny
Built in the 18th century.
20. Castelul Pekry (in private use)
Built in 1681, expanded in 1732, later used as kindergarten (nursery) and school.
21. Castelul Wass-Banffy (guarded)
Built in 1439, expanded in the 16th century, later used as a school.
22. Castelul Konopi
Built in 1748, expanded about 1800, expropriated and nationalized in 1948, returned to the owner in 2007.
23. Castelul Karoly
Built in 1418, rebuilt in 1730, expanded in 1896, destroyed in World War II.
24. Castelul Karatsonyi
Built in 1793, later used as nursing home and orphanage, abandoned in 1989.
25. Castelul Wass (renovated and re-inhabited)
Built in the 18th-19th century.
26. Ansamblul Castelului Mikes - Nemes - Beldy Pal (Three small castles and mansions side by side. Partly re-inhabited now, partly in use as a barn and storage area)
Built in the 18th-19th century.
27. Castellul Wass-Banffy (partly in use again)
Built as a royal summer residence in 1752-55, expanded 1809, later used as a school.
28. Castelul Bethlen (in renovation for a museum)
The exact time of its construction is uncertain, but probably in the 16th century. After expropriation used as a storage for artificial fertilizer.
29. Castelul Bethlen-Teleky (in renovation, but it works very slowly)
Built in 1625, partly destroyed by fire in 1849.
30. Castelul Apafi / Apaffy (renovated and converted into a museum)
Built in 1552-1556, expanded in the 17th century, later used as a school, abandoned about 1990.
31. Vila a primului-ministru (in renovation)
Built about 1940 as an apartment for the Prime Minister, later used for military and school, as well as a film set in 1985.
32. Herghelie Homorod
Built in 1820-1830, later expropriation, abandoned in 1989.
33. Vila Rosia Montana
I don't know anything about its history.
34. Cetatea Losonczy-Haller
Built in 1295, expanded in 1645-1652.
35. Conacul Buteni
I don't know anything about its history.
36. Conacul Kemeny
Built in the end of the 18th century, expanded in the 19th century, later expropriation and used as a company site and storage facility for fertilizers, abandoned about 1990.
37. Conacul Beldy (Should be sold - for over a million euros...! Of course there was no buyer. Most parts are collapsed now)
Built in 1880.
38. Castelul Martinuzzi-Bethlen
Former monastery, conversion to a castle in 1545-1551, expanded in the 17th-18th century.
39. Cetatea Oradea
The oldest parts were built in the 11th century, expanded different times, later used for military purposes.
40. Castelul Kemeny (renovated and today in use as a cultural house)
Built in 1805, later used as a school, abandoned in 2005.
41. Castelul Bay
Built in the end of the 19th century.
42. Castelul Teleky
Built about 1290, expanded in 1850-1859.
43. Castelul Bolyai (most parts are collapsed now)
Built in in 15th-16th century, later used as a school, abandoned in the 1970s.
44. Vila Lugoj
I don't know anything about its history.
45. Vila Nopcsa
I don't know anything about its history.
46. Conacul General Berthelot (renovated in 2010 and now the seat of the Romanian Academy)
Built in the end of the 19th century, later used as an agricultural warehouse.
47. Castelul Kornis- Bethlen
Built in 1545, expanded in 1650-1660. Later used as a school.
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