Castle Haller it's the first Transylvanian renovated castle, that reflects the elegancy of the old times.
Situated at only 22 km from Targu Mures on the left side of the Mures river, it's on the right side of the E60 national road, from Targu Mures to Cluj Napoca, and 9 km away from the Targu Mures International Airport .
The castle was built on the 17th century in classicist baroque style. In the '90 the castle hosted many institutions with different activities (school, kindergarden, boarding school, mill, bakery etc), and from 2012 it opened the gates as hotel, restaurant and wine cellary.
Castle Haller gives you the best conditions to spend a business or tourist stay , beeing the perfect location for team buildings, company parties, themed parties, conferences, wine tasting but is also an elegant choice for weddings, baptisms, seminars, engagement parties, receptions, festive dinner, concerts.
The restaurant and conference room are at the first floor. The two halls have a capacity for 120 person, for organizing different events.
When it comes to a la carte menu, the restaurant offers enough space for 60 person, a place where we welcome you with delicious transilvanian and international specialties from our kitchen.
For organizing different meeting, the conference room stays at your disposal with a hall for 40 person.
In the Castle's inside, 14 rooms found their place, from which 1 suite and 13 double rooms, all decorated with old fashion furniture.
The rooms take you back to the ancient time of nobility, combining perfectly with the nowadays modern facilities.
In the Castle's basement, there is an ancient wine cellar for 100 person, the ideal place for wine tastings, different evenings and other important events.
During the summer, taking advantage of the beautiful nature, we wait our client with and exterior terace in our garden.
From 2015 we have enriched with a Spa center (natural salt water pool, jaccuzi, sauna, salt room, massage, child pool with slide, exterior salt water pail ), offering our clients a more relaxing experience, a body and soul healing. The interesting thing, is that the salted water is obtained from drilling from the Castle's own yard.
https://castelhaller.ro/

Castle Haller

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The construction of the first castle here was commissioned by Alárdi Ferenc in the 16th century. In 1575, the armies of Báthori István, suzerain of Transylvania, caused serious damage to the castle. In 1610, the Haller family, originating from Nürnberg, commissioned the construction of a new castle, made from the stones of the ruins already laying there. The castle, commissioned to be constructed by Haller István, was eventually finished by his son, János, in 1674. This building was destroyed during the Rákóczi-revolution.
The baroque structure with a U-shaped layout, the ruins of which can be seen today, was raised by Haller Gábor in 1760. The style is very similar to that of the Grassalkovich Castle in Gödöllő. This can be explained by the close connection between the two families. A row of arches stretches along the facade facing the courtyard. The most emphasised feature of the building is along the centre of the building's axis, similar to a pavilion. This was once covered by a spectacular baroque roof, and the whole part was accentuated by a risalit on three axes. The castle was once surrounded by a sumptuous french garden consisting of smaller gardens, small houses, stone tables and ponds.
The Haller family owned the estate up to 1945, when the communist powers took over. Following the deportation of the owners, the castle served as a place for apartments, schools and storage units. Its interiors – furniture, expensive carpets, pieces of fine art – went missing or got destroyed. Eventually, all maintenance of the building stopped and anything of value got stolen. Every wooden part, be it it pillar, door frame or parquet ended up being used up as firewood; the tiles from the roof were stolen, the stoves destroyed. The park has decayed into an unrecognisable state.
Property status: after the changes of 1989 and a decade-long lawsuit, the inheritors of the Haller family: Haller Ilona and her husband, regained the ancestral castle and eventually donated it to the Roman-Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia/Gyulafehérvár.
https://castleintransylvania.ro/

Haller Sastle in Sânpaul

The castel built in 1545 by Gáspár Bogáti in Renaissance style is a rectangular structure with corner towers. It was one of Transylvania's most comfortable castles, with fortress walls and a water-filled moat.
After the Battle of Sânpaul in 1575, István Báthory, prince of Transylvania defeated the nobles fighting along Gáspár Bekes, executed Gáspár Bogáthy and the town of Iernut was confiscated for the treasury of Transylvania. In 1587 the castle was donated by Zsigmond Báthory to Ferenc Kendi, but after two years he was executed too. The new owner of the castle, Boldizsár Kornis was also executed in 1610, but the building remained the property of the Kornis family. After another confiscation, Gábor Bethlen, prince of Transylvania also initiated a series of transformations on the building.
The castle was bought in 1649 by György Rákóczi II, prince of Transylvania, he rebuilt the castle after the plans of the Venetian architect, Agostino Serena. This building phase was commemorated by the inscription on the northern gate: “AUGUSTINUS SERENA ARCHITECTUS VENETUS OPERA FECIT”. After the lost battle of Florești against the Ottomans the castle became the property of the new princess, Anna Bornemissza. The castle was then inherited by his son Mihály Apafi II, then by his widow, Kata Bethlen. During the rule of the prince of Transylvania, Mihály Apafi II, 15 diets of the Transylvanian nobility took place here. The castle was taken from the Habsburgs by Rákóczi's Kuruc troops in 1703. Ferenc Rákóczi II stopped here in 1707, on his way to Târgu Mureş, where he was to be crowned Prince of Transylvania. After the death of the princess, in 1758, the castle became the property of the treasury. In 1764 the building was bought by chancellor Miklós Bethlen from the treasury. In 1802 the castle's shingled roof burned down due to an unintentional firearm shooting of a bailiff. The damaged roof was replaced with a smaller, more simple roof. The castle's new gate building, the Snake House was built in the second half of the 18th century, with snake decorations - motif taken from the escutcheon of the Bethlen family. Until 1885 the castle belonged to the Bethlen family, when Márk Bethlen lost the castle to Count Jenő Haller during a card game. The winner donated the estate to the Roman-Catholic Church of Transylvania. The Roman-Catholic Status of Transylvania bought the estate in 1887 and renovated it partly. They demolished the corrals and (they also) filled the moat with soil. At that time the castle was the property of the Roman-Catholic Church of Alba-Iulia. The estate was nationalized in 1948, and was transformed it into a model farm and an agricultural school during the 1990’s. The separate gate building, the Snake House, was restored in the first half of the 1960’s and became a memorial house.
Today the castle is in a ruinous condition: its walls and roof are falling down. On 18th March 2012 the roof of the bastion burned down.
https://castleintransylvania.ro/

Kornis-Rákóczi-Bethlen Castel in Iernut

On the hill of Ozd, you can see the rectangular castle with corner bastions built in Gothic style in 1682 by Pekri Lőrinc, the man of Rakoczi Ferenc II. In 1732 it was rebuilt, after the attack of the lobons, which burned the castle, leaving only the bastions of the corners untouched. The castle was rebuilt by Radák Ádám, Pekri's son-in-law. The last owner of the castle, surrounded by forest, famous for the park and the lake in front of him, was Baroness Teleki Ilona, who left the country because of nationalization in 1945.
The building housed kindergarten, school, house of culture was and seat CAP, which remained in the castle until its destruction. After89 the castle was returned to Mrs Jude Mária, an heiress from France.
Restitution after she donated castle Bonus Pastor Foundation, which decided to renovate the building and annexes nearby. Renovation comes with substantial external help. The works are in progress.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Ozd Pekri-Radak castle

The fortified church is located on the main street of the village. In the village center a church existed around 1420, which was secured with a ring wall, a gate tower, and three defence towers in the course of the 15th century. Beside the gate tower, the north-eastern tower has also been preserved until today. At the end of the 15th century the church was enlarged with a bell tower, which shows a seven-fold staggered funnel-shaped portal. Shortly afterwards the church was fortified. Above the hall of the church and above the bell tower a defence level rests on buttresses. In the 18th and 19th century it was gradually removed, but the bell tower was rebuilt in 1973. The existing pew in the chancel dated 1533, is one of the most valuable of its kind in Transylvania.
Place and surroundings
Regardless of the moment in which the fortress is looked at, in the fresh morning light, under the bright sunlight in the middle of the day or in the soft fog of dusk, its walls seem to have been made of history and legends. Built on the location of an old basilica, the church impresses due to its dimensions and rich ornamentation. Both west and south portals adorned with high quality stone carvings are counted among the best-made stone art works in Transylvania. Fragments of the once lush mural paintings inside the church, a representation of the Apocalypse, were revealed on the northern wall. An organ built in 1804 by Samuel Metz rests on its wooden gallery. Impressive are the eroded drolleries on the chancel, strange masks that have been interpreted both as saints and as demons.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Băgaciu fortified church

Administration Palace was the first modern building of the XX century situated in the centre of the city. The building was built between 1905-1907 on the initiative of the mayor György Bernády.
The building has a 55 m high tower. The external decorations are covered with colored majolica tiles in shades of green and mustard yellow, which gives palace a particular appearance.
For 55 years the building was the headquarters of City Hall. Also, the building has a significant architectural value, as it is under the umbrella of secession style.
From 1962 until present building has been the administrative headquarters of the County Council and the Prefecture Mures.
https://continental-forum-tirgu-mures.continentalhotels.ro/

Administration Palace in Târgu Mureș

The middle-age fortress that can be seen today as well was built in XVII. was built in place of the fortified castle built in 1496 by Báthori István what was destroyed in the tartar-Turkish campaign of 1601. One year later in 1602 started the reconstruction works of the fortress. There were built seven bastions five of them by the town's guilds. The common bastion of the shoemakers, furriers and locksmiths and the coopers, butchers, tailors, the Bathory and the Gate bastion is connected by a 10 m height wall. The 10 m wide and 8 m deep rampart served protective object that was stuffed at the beginning of the XXth century. Inside the wall sometimes there were buildings as well what were ruined in 1962 as they wanted to realize a leisure time center in place of it. They kept only the reformed church.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Middle-age Fortress Targu Mures

In the second half of the 18th century Ugron István and his wife, baroness Anna Bánffy founded the Ugron family branch of Zau de Câmpie, moving to the estate which the baroness inherited. The estate passed from father to son and in 1860 Ugron Sándor (1826-1901) and his wife Rozália Kendeffy of Râu de Mori (1836-1898) became the owners of the estate.
Of their four children, Miklós Ugron (1858-1899) was the first heir of the estate, but after his untimely death the estate passed on to his brother, István, who at that time was the consul of Tbilisi. At the time, the estate of Zau de Câmpie had an old mansion and a guest house made of stone, a park, a family crypt and outbuildings. Nine years after he inherited the property, in 1908 István Ugron initiated the construction of a new castle from Warsaw. István Ugron never married and his reason to build a new castle at such a mature age (46 years) could have been his desire to have a new castle, which would satisfy his needs of comfort and representation of a successful man.
The commemorative plaque located on the front wall of the castle bears an inscription which says that the designer of the castle was himself, Ugron István "éPíTETTE / áBRáNFALVI Ugron Istvan / AUSTRIA Magyarország / ES KöVETE M. R. K. H. MINISZTERE / CS. ES KIR. Kamaras / SóGORáNAK / Baro Losoncz BÁNFFY Janos NAK / Rajz utan / MDCDXI. "(Built by István Ugron of Obrăneşti, Ambassador and Minister of Austria and Hungary, imperial and royal chamberlain, after the drawings of his brother, Baron János Bánffy, 1909). In 1894, Baron János Bánffy (1870-1946) married Rozália Ugron (1874-1953), sister of István Ugron. They moved in Gheja (Mures County) and they perhaps built the castle in the village. Despite the fact that there is no information about the architectural studies of Baron Bánffy, in his letters written in 1908 by " his father-in-low'a castle" it appears that István Ugron had an important role in designing the castle: "I am very glad that the castle project went well, I will visit the boy at the 'midwife' Pákei ". This letter and the plans shows that János Bánffy was the one who developed the concept of the castle, with the approval of István Ugron, and their design has been transposed into a feasible form by architect Lajos Pákei from Cluj (1853-1921). The architect had to work on the design and budget that were fixed in advance, which limited the freedom of his architectural invention.
The first projects of the castle from Zau were several drafts drawn with pencil by the amateur architect (János Bánffy), upon which István Ugron made notes and corrections. In these drawings, architect Pákei made some necessary corrections, especially in terms of achieving terraces and a central hall, then early in 1908 he drafted the final construction plan. Since the partners had a firm design in terms of the planimetry of the castle, it is assumed that the architecture of the castle from Zau, its gothic style is thanks to them, because other castles designed by Pákei had a neo-Renaissance (castle Beldi from Budila,  the Bornemissza Castle from Chinari) and eclectic (the Teleki Castle from Satulung and the Bánffy Castle from Sâncrai) styles.
The construction of the castle began in 1908 in the absence of István Ugron. Engineer György Koncz from Cluj supervised the executions who, accoding to a magazine of the time ('The Entrepreneurs' Magazine') was wrongly named the one who drafted the construction projects. Dániel Handler, an entrepreneur was given the execution of the work: he received the amount for the construction (more than 160,000 crowns) and he subcontracted some of the work to professionals. Among the most important craftsmen who participated in the construction were István Németh, Imre Kapcza and sculptor Lajos Brósz. According to some notes, the construction of the castle was going slow, the construction was completed only in 1912 and it was furnished only in 1918 after the owner retired. In 1925 István Ugron gave the castle to his nephew, Baron István Bánffy (1898-1944) and his wife, Countess Emma Mikes of Zabala (1899-1929), reserving for himself only a few rooms. István Ugron lived more in Cluj, where in 1948 he died in a nursing home.
The castle has an L shape and a 50 meters long wing with two rows of rooms and only one perpendicular wing with a row of rooms. The basement is planimetry-like. At three quarters of the castle towers we can observe various shapes and sizes, and the facade terraces containing various forms as well. Compared to the original conception of János Bánffy, the architect Pakei Lajos tried to design a more elegant appearance for the terraces and porches. The result was a mainly asymmetrical facade. The main entrance, located on the ground floor is preceded by a broken-arched portico, and above the porch there is a terrace, which is accessed through a large arc accolade. Above the arch we can observe a carved Ugron family coats of arm. On the left wing of the portico there is a four-axis wing with Gothic windows, on the corner there is a two-story hexagonal tower. The right wing has only one floor preceded by an arcaded porch. At this corner there is a circular tower. The terrace with a simple parapet and small windows above the porch are less in Gothic in appearance as the facade. Initially, in front of the south facade with one level and articulated with seven axes, there was planned to be a winter garden, but instead Pakei realized a terrace with crenelated parapet. At the intersection of the two wings there are two short symmetrical porches. At the end of the porch there is an entrance. In the center of the facade there is a body with three axes and a gable-like façade.
Downstairs, the central representative element is a large hall including the main staircase. Around the hall there are the former representative rooms of the castle, to the left, there is an oriental lounge, another salon, a dining room with similar dimensions as the oriental, and another lounge. Behind the central hall a buffet and the lobby lounge were designed, after which a series of rooms including the round tower room. The octagonal hall of the shorter wing had a breakfast room and sleeping quarters. The floor was only partially built, the plans included guestrooms, guest lounge and a teacher's room.
István Ugron was one of the most important collectors of that era in Transylvania, with an impressive collection of works of contemporary painters from Poland, Serbia and the Orient, but also precious art objects (Persian, Anatolian, Chinese). These works and collection of weapons and furniture were lost over time. The Castle from Zau de Campie, built between 1908 and 1912 is one of the late historicist castles, in our case combining the Gothic and Neo-Roman styles. Regarding the planimetry and its organization, the castle fully meets the rules of the Hungarian Association of Engineers and Architects from 1907, which attempted to formulate the rules of the ideal castle at that time.
After the nationalization, the valuables were taken by officials. Until 1954, the castle functioned as a grain collection center, between 1954-1959 it functioned as a school and between 1959-1962 as an economic high school. Since 1963 the castle housed a children's home, which was liquidated in 2012. The future of the castle now owned by the County Council is uncertain, its future function is still not known.
https://castleintransylvania.ro/

Ugron Castle in Zau de Câmpie

The church in Curciu has remained almost unchanged since its construction in the beginning of the 14th century. The remarkable value of the three-aisle basilica with polygonal chancel lies in its outstanding stone masonry. In the chancel the well preserved mullioned windows with tracery can be admired as well as the typical Gothic windows in the tower. The sculptures ornamenting the portals, tower, windows, buttresses, as well as the capitals, keystones, sedilia and the door of the sacristy date back to around 1427. At the beginning of the 19th century the side aisles were heightened, thus obtaining a cross section of a hall church. At the same time both the main nave and the side aisles were covered with a flat, stuccoed ceiling. The tower’s defence level was demolished and replaced in 1913 by the present, with zinc sheet covered spire. Today the ring wall with the gate tower initially used as entrance, as well as a Gothic chapel integrated in this wall still stands as part of the fortified ensemble.
Place and surroundings
A special treasure among the Transylvanian villages is Curciu. This romantic place is situated in the wine-growing region northeast of Mediaş, between hills and forests. The place owes its lush green vegetation to the location between the two rivers Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică and has been nicknamed “Mesopotamia”.
The fortified church of Curciu was built on a hill in the centre of the village. The entrance leads through the gate tower. The chapel inside the fortification has an ossuary, a room in which the bones of the deceased were kept in the past.
The church of Curciu contains many typical for the Mediaş region beautiful architectural sculptures from the 15th Century. The richly decorated western façade shows a bird, a mask and a monster with a human head between the paws.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Curciu fortified church

On the main square of Blaj stands the former Bagdi Castle, which since 1738 (with a small interruption in the 20th century) functions as the Greek Catholic Archbishop's Palace. The castle was built in 1534-1535 by György Bagdi, who designed a T-shaped residential tower with three floors. The entrance was reinforced with a fire-line.
In 1617 the building was known as the hunting seat of Gábor Bethlen. The Prince of Transylvania reconditioned the castle and the church standing in the garden as well and in 1619 donated it to Simon Pécsi, Chancellor of Transylvania. The new owner started renovating the castle and repaired the nearly one hundred years old Protestant Church too. The inscription of a marble plaque right above the church doors is an excellent evidence for this: „Hic iter est, veniant sitientes bibere, lymhos, post quas non ultra concutit atra sitis. A.D. 1629” On December 14th, 1664 Anna Bornemissza, the wife of Mihály Apafi (Prince of Transylvania) moved into the castle. On October 27th 1687 a very important agreement had been signed in this building between the Habsburg Empire and the Transylvanian Parliament, pursuant to which Transylvania was officially attached to the Habsburg Empire. On this occasion Charles, Duke of Lorraine represented the emperor and Mihály Teleki, Chancellor represented the Transylvanian Assembly.
In 1737 Charles III donated the estate to the Greek Catholic Church and in the next year Inocentiu Micu Klein used the building as the bishop’s residence. Since then the castle had undergone various construction projects, in 1842 it was expanded with a north wing as well.
https://castleintransylvania.ro/

Bagdi Castle (Blaj)

Once in Cetatea de Baltă, Alba County, on the banks of Târnava Mică and discovering Bethlen-Haller Castle that seems to guard the entire horizon, we cannot fail to notice the new life that it has. Our hearts are filled with gratitude, noticing that we can easily get lost in a landscape similar to France or Italy. The beautiful reborn Bethlen-Haller Castle, its details, the order and the surrounding air.
We are guided with good energy, smiles and a lot of passion by Bogdana. As we love the places that breathe through their people, we understand from the beginning that we will be very happy to return.
The journey at Bethlen-Haller Castle begins with a tour. It has a troubled history, unknown sometimes. Similar to the styles in which it was built (Renaissance, Baroque, avant-garde and extravagant) so are its days, owners, stories. Typically Renaissance built, the four-tower Bethlen-Haller Castle was built between 1615-1624 by Miklos Bethlen, Chancellor of Transylvania. However, it has undergone numerous transformations over time. Between 1769-1773 it was renovated in Baroque style. It was bought from the Tax Office, sold, bet and lost at card game, passing from the possession of Bethlen family to Haller family. It was like this starting with the second half of the 19th century, until the year of expropriation, 1948.
During the communist period, Bethlen-Haller Castle became vinification section, while the original furniture, decorations and collectibles disappeared or were destroyed. After 1989, it was claimed and returned to Haller family, then bought by Necşulescu family, who restored it. It became after a symbol of Jidvei and in 2020 the family opened it completely for the public.
We are grateful for the generous tour, for the small imperfections we observe, which make Bethlen-Haller Castle more beautiful. In one of the towers there is an old wooden staircase. Hanging on the walls surrounding the staircase we see old clocks, one for each birthday celebration of the owner. Also it is said that at the base of the stairs, the old door would have been the passage to a secret tunnel that connected the two castles of the Bethlen family. It is this one and the one in Sânmiclăuș.
We also find out that the current objects and paintings inside Bethlen-Haller Castle have been collected over time from various collections. Some of the rooms have been painted by students from the University of Arts. However, one of the painted walls has only an outline, without a completed model, a symbol of the beauty of imperfection, the specificity of this place. We stop next to an old piano, the only object left in the castle from the period when it became a warehouse. Made in Vienna, today it looks tired, completely out of tune, but with a symbolic beauty, that only a trial can offer as gift. We can feel the emotion while touching it.
Bethlen-Haller Castle is, therefore, a story. It needs to be discovered in peace, understood, valued. It has many corners, windows, details that are worth sniffing in a personal rhythm. We arrive to our room, one of the four currently available and renovated. Time travel, tall windows under which a beautiful field and sunset appear, perfect furniture, white bedding, painted walls and an elegant bathtub, romantically surrounded by a transparent curtain. For a moment you are there, back in time.
On the first day we better understood the history and current story of Jidvei wineries. We were glad to find out so many new things. Jidvei has 2500 ha of vineyard, the largest single-owner area in Europe, processing over 25 million kg of grapes annually. At the same time, it inaugurated the first gravitational winery in Europe and today it produces 54 different labels. Jidvei has four wineries, in Jidvei, Tăuni, Blaj and Bălcaciu. The storage capacity is over 35 million liters. Jidvei winery, built in 1974, has the largest storage capacity, with a modern fermentation technology, fully automated. Blaj, founded in 1989, hosts the oldest wines. Bălcaciu (1958) has the sparkling wines and wine distillates. Established in 2014, Tăuni is unique, thanks to fermentation and storage tanks, equipment and facilities, modern technologies. It uses gravitational energy, for minimal intervention in the winemaking process.
https://romanian-romance.com/