Bran Castle & the fictional Dracula

Whilst in Transylvania in Romania, I was looking forward to seeing Bran Castle, also known as Dracula's Castle. Bran Castle is located southwest of Brasov and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Romania. Luckily we had a pre-booked evening visit to avoid the crowds, also we were having dinner there.

The castle is marketed as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker's Dracula. However the castle was built in 1377 and the book was written in the 1890s. 

Bran Castle was built by the Saxons, who were of Germanic origin. It stands on the Transylvanian side of the historical border with Wallachia and served as a fortress, mainly as a defense against the Ottoman or Turkish Empire. It overlooks a pass in the Bran Gorge. Transylvania had been part of the Hungarian Kingdom, but in 1920 when Hungary lost Transylvania, and Transylvania became part of Romania, the castle became a royal residence for Queen Marie. Marie was the last queen of Romania as the wife of King Ferdinand I. She was born into the British royal family. Her parents were Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Marie's early years were spent in Kent. During her time the castle was renovated. It even had an electric turbine that provided free electricity to the surrounding villages.  

Queen Marie left the castle to her daughter Princess Ileana. She was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The princess and her husband lived in the castle from 1942 - 1948. They then fled the country after Romania became communist and the castle was seized by the communist regime. 

In 2005 the Romanian government passed a law allowing properties illegally expropriated during Communist times could be returned to original owners, and Bran Castle was given to Archduke Dominic of Austria, a son of Princess Ileana. The castle has been refurbished and is now open to the public as a private museum. 

See a detailed account of the history on Wikipedia. 

It is thought that the Wallachian ruler Vlad Țepeș, aka Vlad the Impaler,  doesn't seem to have had any part in the history of the fortress.

Bram Stoker's novel Dracula was published in 1897. Bran Castle is not mentioned in the book. It is thought that during Stoker's research on the region of Transylvania, he came across accounts of the atrocities committed by Vlad III, and used the Dracula name after reading on the subject. Count Dracula was a vampire in the Gothic novel.

Today the village of Bran is dedicated to tourism, as apart from the castle there are numerous guest houses, restaurants and shops all cashing in on Dracula. As you approach Bran Castle from the car park you have to walk past souvenir stalls selling all kinds of Dracula merchandise. 

A model of the castle and surrounding area. Above the red arrow is the remains of the wall marking the boundary between Transylvania and Wallachia -

The rooms have all been done up. I liked the fireplaces, must have been difficult to keep the place warm in winter, even though the walls are up to 1.5 m thick. Some of the doors are rather low.

View looking at the border of Transylvania and Wallachia. The remains of the old wall (which I marked with a red arrow on the photo of the model above)  can be seen at the top of the main grassy area, where the road bends to the right.

Views on the courtyard -

One section of the upper floor is dedicated to the scary myths and legends created by folk stories and more recently by cinema and television.

And Vlad the Impaler is featured in a separate room -

Having negotiated all the narrow winding stairs, we were back down in the courtyard before heading to the restaurant for a delicious dinner -

So although Bram Stoker never visited Transylvania, during his research on Transylvania he learnt about Vlad Tepes aka Vlad Dracula, and used the name for the character in his book, creating Count Dracula, a seductive vampire. Bran Castle later became known as Dracula's Castle as it was considered to be a good fit for an eerie castle.

As soon as I got home, I ordered a (free) copy of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" for my kindle. I have never read the book, although in the 1970s I watched plenty of Dracula and other vampire type films on TV.

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See my blog on the real Dracula, Vlad the Impaler..