The Origins of Dracula's Castle - Behind The Myth
The fictional character of Count Dracula is known to everyone and is probably the most popular vampire out there. His castle is perched on superlative of a cliff and is as spooky as you lot'd imagine it. A less known-detail is that there's actually a real castle located in Romania which is thought to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker's novel. It'due south called the Bran Castle and you lot can actually visit information technology any time yous want.
The beginning – a castle used as a fortress
And then how much well-nigh the castle and the grapheme is inspired past reality and how much is fiction and myth? In society to be able to answer to this question we need to know about Dracula's castle, the one from Transylvania.
Its story starts in 1388. That's when the construction of the castle was completed. At that point the edifice served a double purpose. It was a fortress meant to stop the expansion of the Ottoman Empire towards that item region but it also served as a custom business firm for the unabridged Transylvanian expanse. At first, the castle was inhabited by mercenary soldiers.
In 1723 the starting time renovation was completed. That'south when the Northern belfry was added. Starting with the year 1836 the castle no longer served as a custom house and its function was purely administrative. In 1886 an ample restoration process focused on repairing the damage suffered during the revolution of 1848 besides every bit that done past floods and the passing the time.
Adjacent pace – a royal residence
Then followed a 30 year period (1888-1918) during which the prestige of the castle weakened. Inhabited by wood rangers and inspectors, information technology didn't stand up out too much. Things inverse in 1920 when the Bran Castle became the favorite residence of Queen Mary of Romania. She requested a complete restoration and remodel which was washed past architect Karel Liman. The unabridged procedure was completed in 1932 when the castle became a royal residence.
The museum
When the queen died in 1938, she left the castle to her daughter who lost information technology in 1956 when the communist regime transformed it into a museum. The castle was once more restored betwixt 1987 and 1993. In 2006 it was given back to the princess'due south family and in 2009 its rightful owners gained full rights over the property. They chose to keep it open and to make it the first private museum in the country.
Why Dracula'due south Castle? What's the connection?
The history of the Bran castle doesn't actually suggest much in terms of vampires and all the other fantastic elements described in the novel…so what's the connectedness and why is it known as Dracula'south castle? Well…that has a chip to practice with Vlad the Impaler who ruled Transylvania for a flow and was known equally a very cruel person. His bad reputation was influenced by the horrible way in which he handled a conflict in 1459 when he killed hundreds and burned downward entire villages.
Vlad the Impaler didn't have a pregnant part in the history of the castle which back then served as a fortress. It was really his father who's surname was Dracul that actually inspired the proper name of the fictional character we're all familiar with. The author avoids making a clear correlation between his fictional graphic symbol and the Romanaian ruler, a number of details point towards them being one and the same.
Dracula became the main grapheme in Bram Stoker's novel which was published in England in 1897. He was described as a beingness a count in a region chosen Transylvania who lived in a castle perched on top of a alpine cliff in the Carpathian Mountains. Fifty-fifty though the author never visited Romania prior to releasing the novel and the castle described in the book looks nothing like the Bran Castle, this building is the only one that vaguely matches the description so it became the existent life Dracula'due south Castle.
The architecture and pattern of the existent life Dracula's Castle
In its initial form, the castle served every bit a fortress and had the shape of an irregular tetragon. Numerous modifications were made to both the construction and the blueprint of the castle. In 1622 the Southern tower was added following plans by prince Gabriel Bethlen and later on a rectangular tower was also added to the East. After that, in the period betwixt 1883 and 1886 the roof of the castle was covered with tiles. The most of import restoration was done during 1920 and 1929 when the castle was transformed into the royal residence of Queen Mary and her family unit. The art and furniture collected by the queen were preserved and later displayed in the museum.
The castle of today
Today, the Bran Castle aka Dracula'south castle is a popular touristic destination and a beautiful example of medieval history. Every year visitors from all over the world come up to encounter the castle that supposedly inspired the myth of Dracula and the cracking novel information technology's based on. The flow around Halloween is specially popular because of the theme of this entire legend.
Source: https://www.homedit.com/dracula-castle/
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