Bran's Castle



Bran's Castle (Romanian: Castelul Bran) is a medieval fortress located in present-day Romania, which enjoys great tourist attraction due to the popular belief that it was the former residence of Vlad Țepeș the Impaler. Located near Braşov in Transylvania, it is a national monument and one of the hotspots for Romanian tourism due to its antiquity, architectural value and its link with the fictional character of Count Dracula. It is argued that the historical figure Stoker was inspired by, Vlad Țepeș (Vlad Tepes III Drăculea), never lived in this castle and that his true strength was the Poenari Castle, now partially in ruins. Despite its massive and fortified appearance, Bran Castle received few sieges and its military importance was low. It was only permanently inhabited during the 1920s and 1930s, when it served as a summer residence for Queen Maria of Romania.

Description and History
On this site, a fortress was built by knights of the Teutonic Order around 1212, when they were received into the Kingdom of Hungary, after being defeated by the Saracens in the Holy Land, and returned to Europe. The fortress is located on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia and its architecture is unique. Although this small fortification was razed over time and received the attacks of the Tatar hordes in 1241, the current structure was erected by orders of King Louis I of Hungary in 1377, to fulfill a commercial and defensive function against the voivode of Wallachia. This castle is famous for the belief that it had been the home of Vlad Drǎculea (Vlad III the Impaler) in the 15th century. However, there is no evidence that Vlad lived there in person and, by most accounts, the Impaler spent only two days in the castle, locked in a dungeon, on his way to the Budapest prison, when the region was occupied. by the Ottoman Empire. After the end of the First World War, in 1920, the Treaty of Trianon was signed, where the Transylvania region was ceded to the Kingdom of Romania, and with this, Bran Castle came to belong to the Romanian administration.

Owners

 * Dracula