The Transilvanian castle that inspired Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula should be returned to the State by its present owner, the Romanian Parliament ruled yesterday.
Bran Castle, near the historic city of Brasov, central Romania, is the country’s most popular tourist destination because of its link with the 15th-century Prince Vlad Tepes III, who went down in history as the Impaler for his preferred way of executing opponents. Historians are split over whether he spent several days or years in the castle.
The formidable 14th-century fortress had belonged to Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Queen Marie of Romania, but in 1956 it was seized by Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist regime, which turned it into a museum.
Last year the castle was given back to Queen Marie’s descendant, Archduke Dominic Habsburg-Lothringen, of the Austrian house of Habsburg, under a restitution agreement that included a pledge to keep it open as a museum for three years even if the property were resold. The 69-year-old Archduke, a New York-based architect and designer who lived in the castle briefly as a child, has since put the property on sale for a reported £100 million.
A group of politicians are trying to prevent him from selling the castle, which they consider an inalienable part of their country’s legacy. Their campaign resulted in yesterday’s parliamentary decision, and it is now up to the Constitutional Court to make the final call on whether authorities can repossess the property.
Corin Trandafir, the Archduke’s legal representative, told The Times that the decision to renationalise the castle was a political move and that his client would be suing the Romanian State for €150 million (£105 million).
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