The castle gained its current shape during the time of Wesselényi Miklós the Elder. He was also the one who built the estate’s stable in 1771. There is a statue of a horse inside the stable, which was sculpted by Johannes Nachtigall. The famous stud of horses was the pride of the Wesselényi family, and was passed down from father to son.
Wesselényi Ferenc was Báthory István’s loyal ally and excellent chamberlain. He became the estate’s first lord in 1584, when he received Hadad and Jibou, together with twenty-six villages and the title of baron. The construction of one of Transylvania’s most beautiful baroque castles began in 1778 and lasted for more than thirty years. In 1805, Kazinczy Ferenc made his first trip in Transylvania and met Franz Neuhauser in Jibou. The young artist had been working on the diner’s canvas painting depicting a hunting scene when Kazinczy arrived. The castle gained its current shape during the time of Wesselényi Miklós the Elder. He was also the one who built the estate’s stable in 1771. There is a statue of a horse inside the stable, which was sculpted by Johannes Nachtigall. The famous stud of horses was the pride of the Wesselényi family, and was passed down from father to son. The castle was eventually finished in 1810. The building bears both baroque and classicist elements, its loggia with large arcades, and four corner towers being of particular interest.
After its nationalization, the castle’s interiors were completely changed. Its decorative elements, window and door frames were removed. Every movable piece of furniture or installation was stolen, including stoves, paintings and ornamental pieces. Neuhauser’s paintings were coated over. The castle’s rooms were used as classrooms, the castle first became a primary school, later a boarding school, pioneers’ house, museum, as well as a research centre for nature-loving youths. The English landscape garden became a botanical garden, the stable a cafeteria, and a go-kart track was established in the castle’s courtyard. Currently only the children’s education centre is still functioning. The lion statues that can be seen in the garden had been brought there in the 70’s from the Jósika Miklós Castle. Property status: the castle has been returned to the inheritors.
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Wesselényi Castle

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Porolissum was an ancient Roman city in Dacia. Established as a military camp in 106 during Trajan's Dacian Wars, the city quickly grew through trade with the native Dacians and became the capital of the province Dacia Porolissensis in 124. The site is one of the largest and best-preserved archaeological sites in modern-day Romania. It is 8 km away from the modern city of Zalău, in Moigrad-Porolissum village, Mirsid Commune, Sălaj County.
History
In 106, at the beginning of his second war against the Dacians, Emperor Trajan established a military stronghold at the site to defend the main passageway through the Carpathian mountains. The fort, initially built of wood on stone foundations, was garrisoned with 5000 auxiliary troops transferred from Spain, Gaul and Britain. Even though the name Porolissum appears to be Dacian in origin, archaeologists have so far uncovered no evidence of a Dacian settlement preceding the Roman fort.
In the following decades, the fort was enlarged and rebuilt in stone (possibly under the reign of Marcus Aurelius), and a canaba, a civilian settlement developed around the military center. When Hadrian created the new province Dacia Porolissensis (named for the now sizable city) in 124, Porolissum became the administrative center of the province. Under emperor Septimius Severus, the city was granted municipium status, allowing its leaders and merchants to act independently. Although the Romans withdrew from Dacia ca. 271 under Aurelian, Porolissum may have been gradually abandoned in the course of the 260's.
Even though the city was founded as a military center in the middle of a war, the garrison of Porolissum seems to have lived in peaceful coexistence with their Dacian neighbours – several Dacian villages that were apparently founded after the city of Porolissum have been uncovered by archaeologists on the surrounding hills. There are also some inscriptions mentioning city officials with Romano-Dacian names, indicating close cooperation on a political level.
Excavations
Limited archaeological work at Porolissum began in the 19th century, but it was not until 1977 when Romanian archaeologists began larger-scale, systematic excavations. The excavations by a number of teams are ongoing and have uncovered remnants of both the military installations and the civilian city, including public baths, a customs house, a temple to Liber Pater, an amphitheatre, insula consisting of four buildings and a number of houses. The main gate (Porta Praetoria) of the stone fortress has been rebuilt. A joint American-Romanian team, the Porolissum Forum Project, excavated an area of the civilian settlement from 2004–2011; despite the name of the project, the team confirmed that while this area served a public function, it was not necessarily a forum.
From 2006 until 2011, another project, "Necropolis Porolissensis", was running focused on the cemetery of the municipium Porolissum, on the spot known as "Ursoies". From 2008 to 2011 a Romanian-German-Hungarian team was excavating an underground-building in the centre of the castle, probably a water cistern.
In 2015, archaeologists from Zalău County Museum unearthed a stone sarcophagus containing skeletal remains of a young person. The sarcophagus is unusual because it was not found in the cemetery, rather it was discovered by chance during restoration of another part of the ruins. The limestone lid has carvings that were common in Roman times, and it has a hole that suggests that the grave was robbed in antiquity.
Temple of Nemesis
Nemesis was the goddess of justice, fortune and destiny. It was believed that she influenced the fate of those who were frequently faced with death and danger, so she was worshipped especially by soldiers and gladiators. Thus, the goddess was closely linked to the world of amphitheaters. Places of worship dedicated to her are near amphitheaters or even embedded in the building. The sanctuary of Porolissum was built in the late 2nd century or in the beginning of the 3rd century AD. Probably it was also a place of worship of other deities which were linked in one way or another to amphitheatre activities, especially animal fighting (venatio), such as Liber Pater: god of vegetation and vines, or Silvanus: protector god of forests, pastures and wild animals.
Amphitheater
The amphitheater was built as a wood structure during the reign of Hadrian. Later, in 157 AD, it has been rebuilt in stone.
In popular culture
Porolissum is the primary setting of Harry Turtledove's science fiction novel Gunpowder Empire.