Bran Castle alleged home to the inspiration for Dracula
The castle is marketed as the home of Bram Stoker´s Dracula and inherently connected to the movie. The more interesting story behind the high walled structure is its history in the 20th century after it had already existed for 700 years, built by teutonic knights in the 13th century.
The alleged owner of the property
Let´s skip ahead half a century to the year 2005. The now democratic Romanian government decided to award the castle to the former owners, the Habsburg line of royalty, and gave the castle to the heir of the Austrian Imperial family, Dominic von Habsburg.
What followed was:
The Romanian government tried to take the castle back as the thought laws of restitution were not legal.
The Romanian courts rejected this stance.
Dominic von Habsburg tried to sell the castle back for the mere sum of $80 million.
The government rejected the offer.
Being a prudent businessman Dominic turned the castle into a tourist hotspot. The castle is the first private museum in the whole country of Romania.
No comments:
Post a Comment