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©Image by rafaelutza from Pixabay

Bran Castle, the inspiration of Bram Stoker

Located near the city of Brasov, in Transylvania, this medieval fortress is popularly known as Dracula's Castle due to the belief that it was the former residence of Vlad Țepeș the Impaler. The castle, a national monument in Romania, impresses with its particular and striking architecture and its countless towers and turrets. Built on top of a 200-meter-high rock, it’s considered one of the key tourist spots in the country due to its history, antiquity, and architectural value.

Although the castle has its own merits to attract the attention of visitors and tourists, the aura of mystery and legend that relate it to Bram Stoker's novel Dracula has aroused special interest in it, especially for those who follow Dracula's Route through Transylvania. The Irish writer allegedly modeled the fictional character Count Dracula based on aspects of the historical character Vlad Drăculea; Vlad Țepeș the Impaler. Without ever having set foot in the region, Stoker represented Dracula's imaginary castle, probably based on descriptions of Bran Castle existing in some text of the time.

Of great historical and architectural importance, Bran Castle is an important tourist focus in Romania, increased thanks to the legend that relates it to Count Dracula.

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©Image by Jorge Fernández Salas from Unsplash

View of the inner courtyard of the castle.

The truth is that this beautiful castle never was the residence of Vlad Drăculea, whose true fortress was the Poenari castle, today partially in ruins. However, the success of Bram Stoker's novel has served for fiction to contaminate reality, presenting Bran Castle as Count Dracula's Castle. Located on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, its origins date back to a fortress built between the 13th and 14th centuries by knights of the Teutonic Order with the function of protecting the borders of the then Kingdom of Hungary and stopping the advance of both the Ottoman Empire and of the Wallachian vovoidate, of which Vlad Drăculea was precisely.

Due to its strategic location, Bran Castle has been the scene of important episodes in the region's history, disputed by the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires and their various vassals. Its defensive and customs importance was maintained until the mid-19th century, when the borders moved further south. After the First World War and with the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, Transylvania would be ceded to the Kingdom of Romania, passing the castle of Bran to belong to the Romanian administration. During that time it became a royal residence until the end of the Kingdom of Romania in 1952, when it became state property. Starting in the 1980s, it was opened to the public, becoming a museum and an important tourist destination for its role in the country's history. In 2006 the Romanian government returned it to its rightful owners, maintaining its status as a tourist attraction.

The castle houses approximately 60 rooms, connected by winding narrow stairs. The construction rises around a central courtyard, with different galleries, terraces and towers of irregular construction that denote its constant expansion over time. The rooms, richly decorated with numerous pieces of medieval furniture, weapons and armor from the 14th to the 19th centuries, constitute the central axis of the visit, since many of them still preserve the splendor of bygone eras. Among the rooms that can be visited are the kitchen, the royal rooms, the bookstore, the dungeons, as well as a room dedicated to the legend of Vlad the Impaler and the myth of Dracula, as well as a room dedicated to the imaginative instruments of torture that became fashionable at the time.

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