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Just out of interest..................


Romania returns Dracula castle to royal bloodline.

By Hannah Cleaver in Berlin
(Filed: 11/04/2006) Independent newspaper, UK.

The Transylvanian castle that inspired the Dracula legend is to be returned to royalty decades after Romanian Communists confiscated it.
In a move designed to clear up unfinished business before the country joins the European Union in 2007, the Romanian government is giving over ownership of the Bran Castle to Dominic von Habsburg.
The New York-based architect, a grandson of Princess Ileana of Romania, will be given formal title of the castle near the town of Brasov in a few weeks, the Romanian culture minister, Adrian Iorgulescu, has announced.
The castle, estimated to be worth €25 million (£17.4 million), was built in 1212 by German knights and later used by Prince Vlad Tepes of Wallachia, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler, as a base for his incursions into Transylvania.
It was stories about Vlad that inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula, taking the name from a different Romanian family.

Very interesting indeed!

But Romania won't join the EU in 2007, the Romanian government and the EU have worked out a support deal based on subventions to eventually make a joining of the country possible, but at the moment the financial situation of Romania is one great catastrophy, in fact Romania is the poorest country in all of Europe and building the country up to EU standards is financially utopical at the moment.
But the plan is to have Romania ready in 2007 to start negotiations about a joining in 2010/15.

interesting information never heard about this here in the states

Thank you for sharing that. My exboyfriend moved to Budapest to marry a Romanian girl who makes tons of money with a company that deals with the US - and he loves it there; however, learned quickly how it works there - money talks .......

Hehe it's would be cool to own it wouldn' it?

Hey thanks for the info I love learning new things

Theres a romanian kid in my class whos been inside that castle >.>

Another interesting fact is tat the castle Stoker used in his novel wasn't used by Vlad Tepes. He never even set foot in it.

lets hope that he keeps the castle and restores it instead of selling it to the highest bidder.

If he does then VR members can all chip in to buy it !!!!!!!!!!!....NOW THAT'S A THOUGHT .

Hmm, though I love to approach the impossible, this time I don't think there's a possibility.

The Bran/Corvin castle is one of the most presigious objects in all of vampiric history and a possible selling of it would draw the millionairs of the World to Romania as the moth is drawn to the flame.

We are many but we haven't got the financial power to face a large bidder and this would be the tactic such a bidder would use against us.

But we might be able to purchase a limited partnership in the castle, if we all put some cash into a VR - Castle fond and work out a deal with a larger bidder to buy the castle together we'd in fact be partners in ownership.

But that idea is dangerous because if our partner in ownership should ever misfinance the whole thing we're in the line of liability too and if we then had to come up with a lot more cash fast the financial weight might crush the VR.

But in general I'd be interested in such a deal, owning a part of Vlad Tepes's castle has it's very own stile ^^

I personally am from Romania, but from south east, not north west were all the castles are and I visited all those places. One particularly interesting one is the house of Vlad Dracul in the town of Sighisoara were every year a medival festival is organized. Really nice. I'll check for some pictures and give you the link...

Just a few, I hope you like them:

http://www.ici.ro/romania/en/turism/c_bran.html

http://www.aboutromania.com/dracula.html

http://www.romaniatourism.com/medieval.html

http://www.sighisoara.com/ (click on GALERIE FOTO, unfortunately the site is not yet translated in English)

I gotta visit Romania sometime, for sightseeing and culture the country is just great

Thanks for sharing this info!

have a nice glass of red wine while you are there.

Would like to journey there.

Oh, wow... I didn't know that. I would love to travel there just for the history that it must carry withen it's walls. ^^

I think it would be a wonderful experiance to visit or even stay there for awhile...... I could definately sink my teeth into something there.......

i would only go for wine lol

Wow..very cool.!!!

ive always wanted to visit vlads castle

Thanks for the information. I have been obsessed with learning all I can about these castles and your links helped quite a bit

This news is one of the news I`d rather never know about! Giving up the castle without any compensations is another stupidity of the Romanian government, just in the hope that this will make them look good in front of the American Government or other foreign officials!
I personally don`t agree with this, as a romanian, but what can I do?
We might be poor, but our strategic position will allow us enter the EU sooner than 2010...
On the subject, the castle from Sighisoara was used more often than the Bran castle as a residence by Vlad Tepes...
It sounds interesting...Dracula`s Castle, but the fact is Vlad Tepes used a lot of hide-outs and small castles as a residence than the Bran castle.

Vlads castle. i loved to visit this place- it was so impressive. however- these are good news.

the sking is supposed to be pretty good there, and you can buy property very cheaply out there, was thinking bout starting a hotel.

The castle is now nothing more than a tourist attraction.
There's a gift shop for pitty sake.

Why are such things cheaped by such things?
Oh the pains of capitalism.

The Romanian economy fell with the Sovjet Union, today every Cent invested into the country is a badly needed one so after all, as long as the souvenir shop doesn't damage the castle structure itself it's alright with me.

aww Romainia the place i long for

Romania looks and sounds very kool. i would love to vist the castles and drink the pretty wine.

Romania is a very beautiful country with a very interesting and misterious history; too bad it`s inhabited!!!

Oh, that is news. I thought that castle had crumbled into ruins ages ago. Hm, shows how much I know.
Shadowgirl

Wow thanks for the info never knew that.

I wonder if Dominic needs a date to attend the castle "opening"....

I always wanted to date a prince.

;)

I hope the recent flooding in Romania doesnt affect the castle.

Thanks for the information! Ahhhhh wouldnt it be nice to have that sort of cash lying around.

very informative. sources of info in this place cease to amaze me...

nice thread shows there is still things for show and tell ; well done.

thanx for the info, i enjoy learning new thngs...

Awesome Info

That is very interesting..well if he does own it i hope he has a fun time searching it and learning about its history..cause i sure would. :-)

Very interesting information. I would love to visit there one day

im still there for the wine

That's very cool information. I think I would literally die if I could go there. I think I would like sell my soul to see it. Well maybe not that extreme but it would rock if I could.

If the prince is smart he will "renovate" and open it to the public for pricey little vampire tours.

Drac will be so happy!

Very interesting I actually had the chance to visit the castle this past summer but had to decline due to probationary standards.