Căpâlnaş Castle

Căpâlnaş (spelled also Căpălnaş, Hungarian: Kápolnás), is a village belonging to Birchiş commune, Arad County, Banat, Romania. The village was first mentioned in 1369, as Capolna. Another documentary attestation dates from 1569. In 1965, here were excavated the remains of a medieval fortress with a watchtower.

The Mocioni Castle in Căpâlnaş is the most beautiful in Arad County by the perfect harmony of proportions and simple but elegant decoration of the facade. It was designed by Viennese architect Otto Wagner who raised the castle between 1876-1879. Otto Wagner was inspired by Little Trianon at Versailles, but he did not made a facsimile of the famous model.

The Viennese architect used for the facade grooved columns, which ends with richly decorated capitals. The central stairway climbs into large folds (aesthetic closer rather to Rococo style) to a terrace located in the middle of the main facade. The ascending stairs focuses on the vertical lines of the building. In the upper register of the palace, the main design element is the cornice, artistic enlaced. The access on the terrace is made by three doors, which communicates with the ground floor lounge, where a ladder climb upstairs. The 8 hectares park offers the best conditions for rest and recreation. In front of the terrace there is a fountain in the middle of which is to be found - as in the French castles - the statue of a deer.

The Mocioni family has a rich history. In 1747, Constantine Mocioni, an Aromanian Orthodox priest, left Macedonia and settled in Hungary. The five sons were tradesmen in Budapest, gathering an impressive fortune. Two of them, Andrei and Mihai, were ennobled by Emperor Joseph II and are the ancestors of the two branches of the family: the Mocioni and de Foeni. The history of Căpâlnaş is linked with the evolution of the Mocioni branch of the family, that had initially domains in Tokay, Hungary. Mihai Mocioni's two sons were ennobled by Austrian Emperor Francisc I. Another Mihai (1811-1890) married on 2 February 1836, with his cousin, Ecaterina, from de Foeni branch, unifying the two families. Meanwhile, Ioan Mocioni de Foeni, Ecaterina's father, purchased in 1853 from Counts Alfred, Janos, Gyorgy and Camilo Zichy, 6000 acres of land in Căpâlnaş, for an amount of 260 thousand florins.

Ecaterina and Mihai Mocioni decided to establish here, and they built the French style palace that will be inherited by the last two sons, Alexandru and Eugen. The last owners of the castle were Eugen's children: Petru, Ionel and Ecaterina. Ecaterina married Count Teleki Jeno. In 1948 the castle and estates were nationalized, and later was transformed in a neuro-psychiatric hospital.

Photos from Consiliul Judeţean Arad.

Bulci Castle

Bulci is a village in Bata commune, Arad county, Banat, Romania. Older names: Bulch, Bulchu, Bulciu, Bulcz, Bulţ, Bulţi, Bulczy, Bols, Bolş Bwlch, Wulch, Vulci.

Since the Roman period there was a Roman camp and a castrum belonging to the Legion XIII Gemina. Bricks bearing the inscription of the legion, were used to build a medieval monastery of the Benedictine monks, dating back at least the 13th century, one of the oldest and richest in the Banat. In 1241, many monasteries in Banat were destroyed by Tatar invasions. Attracted by the grandeur of the abbey and church, Tatars attacked them and terrible battles were fought here. Monastery of Bulci was destroyed by the Tatars, and was rebuilt by Bishop Bulcsú, from whose name comes the name of the village. In 14th century monastery became an important cultural center where working clerk, from which was kept a codex containing the texts of the Roman historian Titus Livius. Later in the 16th century (1551-1552), Bulci monastery was subject to the Turkish attacks in Transylvania, and the village was almost entirely destroyed. Who escaped with their lives fled to other cities of the Mureş Valley, living over one hundred years away from their village, but still keeping their Catholic faith. In 1749, the monk Berecky Hiarion founded again Bulci village, seeking the descendants of those who left the village during the Turks and rebuilding the old church. In the mid 18th century Bulci belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

The first known owners were the Varadi family (early 13th century). In the 15th century, the domain belonged to Goroy Jobt, and had approx. 1500 inhabitants. In 1664 it was owned by Janka family. In 1717, Bata had only eight houses. In 1798 it was rented by Kormelycs Karol. The castle in Bulci was built in Neo-Classical style in the early 19th century by Baron Fechtig-Fechtenberg, the owner of the domain since 1838, but received the current form around 1860. The domain was bought in March 30, 1858 by Austrian Baron Anton Mocioni (or Mocsonyi) de Foen. Subsequently, it was inherited by his son Zeno (1842-1905), who payed as a compensation to his brother Victor (who has spent his life abroad) an annual rent of 10 000 gold florins. The next owner was Baron Antoniu Marius Mocioni de Foen, MP, minister and grand master of hunting of the Royal House of Romania. The castle experienced an intense social life, so King Carol II often came here for hunting. The domain was inherited by the adoptive son of the Baron, Ionel Mocioni-Stârcea, secretary of the King. After 1940, here have been arranged rooms for Queen Mother Elena and King Michael I. Castle of Bulci was nationalized and transformed in 1949 into the seat of an agricultural association. Subsequently, here was arranged a TB preventorium. The castle was claimed by Michael Stârcea, nephew of Ionel Mocioni-Stârcea.

Located in a huge park, on the bank of Mureş River, Bulci castle is one of the most impressive buildings of its kind. On the facades of the building are two terraces with family's coats of arms carved in relief, which survived to destruction after the Second World War. Central body has a beautiful room of weapons, with a magnificent fireplace, and the park was a greenhouse. Besides the castle, Antoniu Mocioni built a church and a school for children in the village.

Săvârşin Castle

The Royal Castle of Săvârşin, Arad County, Transylvania, Romania, is the country seat of King Michael I of Romania. I didn't manage to find an exact history of the castle, so here are some alternatives...

According to 10.1 - The World of Ten, at Săvârşin there was a hunting area and the location was a hunting manor, built in 1650. Brunswick family received the domain as a donation from the Austrian Emperor. Around 1800, Franz Brunswick's daughter, Iulia, married Count Forray Andras and the castle belonged to the Forray family until sometime in the 19th century. Franz Brunswick had another daughter, Tereza Brunswick, and a very good friend: Ludwig van Beethoven. The German composer came at Săvârşin in 1807 and fell in love with Tereza. The story appears in the Săvârşin village monograph including the fact that the famous composer dedicated 'Apassionata' to Franz Brunswick and 'Sonata no. 78' to his beloved Tereza.

According to Virtual Arad, Săvârşin Castle was built between 1650 and 1680, as a manor. Subsequently, the Empress Maria Theresa donated the domain to Count Eidenchpacher. In 1780, the entire property came into possession of Count Forray. On June 9, 1784, here was kidnapped Viscount Forray Andras Sr. by the haiduci (outlaws) led by Petre Baciu. The head of the county administration was released only after the Austrian Emperor Josef II satisfied the claims of the outlaws. On November 9, 1784, the castle was burnt during the uprising of Horea, Cloşca and Crişan. Returned from exile, Count Forray managed to restore much of the building. During the Revolution of 1848, the castle was burned and destroyed.

It subsequently became the property Count Nadajdy. One of the count daughters married with a son of Karol Hunyadi. In 1860, Nadajdy and Hunyadi have employed an Austrian architect who added a new storey and designed the side wings in Neo-Classical style, works finished in 1870. In 1941, the sole heir of the family, Hunyadi Ferenc, became Minister of Interior of Hungary. How the law forbade him to own properties in Romania, in May he made a deal with Baron Ioan Mocsony-Stârcea, grand hunting master of the Royal Court. Castle of the Săvârşin came thus in possession of Mocsony, in exchange for a property which he owned near Budapest. Between 1941-1943, there were performed modernization works.

According to Wikipedia, in 1925, when he was 16 yo, Ionel Stârcea (or Styrcea) was adopted by Austrian baron Anton Mocsonyi of Foen, a family friend who had no direct descendants. On the death of Baron, Ioan Mocioni-Stârcea have received the properties and its title, becoming the owner of a large area on Mureş Valley, between Deva and Arad (including Săvârşin and Bulci castles). He became one of the richest men in Romania.

Queen Elena of Romania fell in love at first sight of the castle. As a gesture of appreciation towards the Royal Family, Baron Mocsony-Stârcea, who was also the godfather of King Michael I, gave him the palace as a gift (according other sources, the Queen bought the castle). It was in 1943 and since then many of the most beautiful memories of King Michael are related to the castle in Săvârşin. On January 3, 1948, King Michael left Romania and the castle was nationalized.

While the castle was seized from the Royal Family by Communist authorities, in 2000, a Romanian court ordered that the building be restored to King Michael I. It entered in the touristic circuit since 2003 and was restored between 2005-2007. The King wants mostly to bring back to life the settlement through a tradition and local arts encouraging programme. Apart from founding workshops, an exhibition space (the Yellow House), and a restaurant, the Royal House wishes to transform the park according to the Highgrove Garden, as arranged by Prince Charles. The works are done on a collaboration basis with a number of London's Writtle College representatives, who thought of developing an eco-horticulture area, of modernizing the green houses, and inventorying the plant species and fauna in the Săvârşin Park.

The dendrological park (arboretum) around the castle was established by Viscount Forray Istvan, who called a renowned landscape architect from the Empire in order to create the park by the year 1857. This park covers an area of 6.5 hectares and contains several rare species of trees and shrubs, monuments of nature, and a beautiful lake.

Dezna Fortress

Dezna (Hungarian: Dézna) is a commune located in the Dezna River Valley (about 7 km from Sebiş) in Arad County, Romania. The first documentary record of Dezna dates back to 1318. According to a legend, László Nagy Peretseny (1817) says that the village name derives from the name of Dacian king Decebal.

The most important historical monument of Dezna is the citadel situated on the Ozoiu Hill (390 m). Dominating the region and the access road to the heart of Codru-Moma Mountains, the fortress was built probably at the end of the 13th century in the center of a Romanian principality (cnezat). First attested in 1317, it was for a long time an important Royal citadel. In 1318, the domain was donated to the Losonczi family.


The fortress had a most important role in 16-17th centuries, in 1552 being part of the defense system of western Transylvania as a boundary fortress, especially after the fall of Ineu, conquered by the Turks (1566). Since 1565 belonged to Ioan Sigismund. The citadel was strengthened with new reinforcements, among which the north-eastern bastion; the architecture in Renaissance style is somewhat similar to the Şoimuş Fortress. Probably in this period in the more vulnerable sectors of the citadel were added rows of parallel stone walls, then filled with river stones, bricks and high-strength mortar.


Conquered by the Turks in 1574 and recaptured by 1596, the fortress was between 1599 and 1601 in possession of the captain of Michael the Brave, Gáspar Kornis, who facilitated the passage of the ruler by his way to Prague. Between 1601 and 1658 know had more owners, and in 1619 was donated by Transylvanian Prince Gabriel Bethlen to Marcu-Cercel Vodă. In 1658 it was conquered again by the Turks, together with Ineu fortress, and in coming decades Dezna disappeared as fortification.


The Dezna Fortress is part of a simpler family of fortifications. The remaining walls suggest a simple construction with one tower. The polygon shaped precincts have a single tower, still standing, seemingly the only outstanding feature of this fortress. Over the years have survived three major walls of the main bastion. Equally, can be distinguished the footsteps of the other walls, the contour of the inner court and fragments of the city ditches. In spite of the modest construction type it was owned by royal and important noble families.


One story says that the Turks had gathered in the citadel a large number of girls, for the harem of a military leader. Unable to escape, one of the girls to avoid the sad fate waiting them, managed to blow up the deposit of gunpowder. Recent research does not exclude an essence of truth of this legend, because some signs shows that the destruction of the citadel by explosion is very probable.

Şiria Fortress

Şiria (Hungarian: Világos, German: Hellburg) is a commune in Arad County, Western Romania, near Zărand Mountains. Documentary certified for the first time in 1169, the village of Şiria was the residence of local landlord (mid 14th century). In the next century belonged to a vast area held between 1444-1445 by Ioan (or Iancu) de Hunedoara (aka Ioan Corvin or Corvinus, English: John Hunyadi, Hungarian: Hunyadi János).

The ruin of Şiria's fortress is one of the most important touristic sights of the commune. Located on the Fortress Hill (496 m high), the citadel dates from the 13th century and was enlarged in the 15th century. The citadel is built in Romanesque style, with a massive dungeon, provided with 2-3 floors and to the top has battlements. It was considerated to be an important strategic and economic point of the region, with 110 villages subordinated.


The central body is built on a rock of irregular ovoid shape with different levels. The western wall is 24 m long, very tall and with holes. To the north are seen the remains of a dungeon, that had a basement room and communicate in the outer court through a door. The outer court is 36-38 m long and has walls almost intact, 1.3 m thick and 3.5 m high. At north is an opening that was one of the citadel's gates. Over the ditch of the fortress there was a drawbridge. The tower and the surrounding wall are the oldest parts of the fortress. The dungeon was 109 m long and 18 meters wide, and before the central body is a protective wall at a distance of 2.5 m, closing a barbicane. The surrounding wall has a length of 28 m, with only an entry from the west. The ditch surrounding the fortress had in some portions a depth of 10 m and a width of 14 m, but some parts were less steep. Underground tunnels have a height of 1.9 m and 1.8 m wide at the base. The main gate on the northeast side, have 2.9 m and two adjacent openings - a large one for the vehicles and a small one for the pedestrians. The gate in the protective was for the access over the ditch more than 12 m wide and 6 meters deep; there are another two gates, one on the western side wall of the outer court and one in the central body. Construction materials used were quarry stone and Roman bricks with the stamp of the Legion XIII Gemina. The stages of implementation of construction works were:

- The tower, with annexes, the wall surrounding the central body part (after the Tatar invasion in 1241, the second half of the 13th century);
- The central body and the thickening of the walls with buttresses (during the reign of Ioan de Hunedoara).
- Fitting the central body, the outer court and the protective wall in front of the central body (during Báthory family rule - second half of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century). Under Ottoman rule the walls were strengthened increasing safety.


A particularly important role in its life had the Romanian voivodes and cneaz (princes, rulers of a large area). For example, a document of 1440 speaks of a certain prince Ştefan of Şiria. Corvinus's possession at the start of the second half of the fifteenth century, passed in the years 1461-1464 under the rule of the Báthory family. During the revolt of Gheorghe Doja (Hungarian: Dózsa György), the city is temporarily occupied by its peasant bands. Under Ottoman rule (17th century), the fortress was conquered and was Mihai Viteazu's (Michael the Brave) military garrison between 1599 to 1600. Subsequently, the city was occupied again by the Ottomans in 1607 and held by them until 1693. For strategic reasons, Hapsburg troops destroyed the citadel in 1784.

Another important event in the history of this locality was in 1849, when the library of the Bohuş Castle was used as a place for the negotiations between General Görgey Arthur, the commander of the Hungarian revolutionary army, and the Russian general Frolov, completed by the surrender of the first.

Fortress of Arad

The Fortress of Arad was built by order of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, after the plans of the Austrian general and architect Filip Ferdinand Harsch. The construction took 20 years, from 1763 until 1783, and was carried out by thousands of serfs.


The construction of the new fortress, located on the south bank of the Mureş River, marked the history of the town deeply. A team of military engineers directed by Ferdinand Philipp Harsch has designed a Vauban-Tenaille fortress, the most advanced variant of the Vauban-type fortifications. It has a six-pointed star shape and was provided with three rows of pillboxes underground and more rows of trenches, which could be flooded. The fortress has a circumference of 3180 meters, alternating knight-type and detached-type bastions, is flanked by two pentagonal redoubts provided with 296 shooting holes for artillery. On a lower level in front of this constructive system, were the pillboxes.


The fortress has a history of its own. The permanent garrison consisted of the Infantry Regiment 33, participant at all major military actions of the Empire. Inside, the main gate and buildings were built in Baroque style. In the center of the Fortress there is a Catholic Church and in buildings around it were hosted Franciscan monks. The last four monks dedicated to Saint John of Capistrano lived in the convent until 1861, when it became exclusively a military hospital.


Until 1918, the fort also was one of the largest military prisons of the Empire. In 1752 the emperor Franz Joseph I visited the fortress himself and lessened the sentences of the imprisoned officers. Here were imprisoned also Horea, Cloşca and Crişan, and between 1790 and 1815, many French prisoners of war.


During the revolution in 1848/49, the fortress played a crucial role. Under siege of the Hungarian republican army, the garrison bombed the town every day for nine months. In the summer of 1849, the Hungarian revolutionary army succeeded to occupy the fortress for 46 days, before it was encircled by the Russian and Austrian armies and forced to surrender. The Hapsburg troops used it once more as a prison and incarcerated here Eftimie Murgu and 500 officers of the revolutionary army, the majority of them sentenced to death. Among the executed were the 13 generals of the revolutionary army who were hanged respectively shot on October 6th 1849 in the outer pill boxes.


In the next decades, the Arad Fortress was a prison for Turkish soldiers, taken prisoner in 1881 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and for Gavrilo Princip, assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Hapsburg in 1914, in Sarajevo. Between 1914 and 1918 a camp has been improved in the outer pillboxes hosting civilian and military prisoners from Bosnia-Herzegovina, over 1,000 Russian and Serbian prisoners of war. In November 1918 the fortress has been occupied by French and Serbian troops and in July 1919 the Romanian army took it over.

Since then, it used to be a military base for the Romanian Royal Army, and the Wehrmacht. Soviet Red Army was stationed in here ‘til 1957. Now it is still a Romanian Army base, but in the future the fortress will become a museum complex.

Hodoş-Bodrog Monastery

The Monastery of Hodoş-Bodrog is one of the oldest monastic institutions belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is situated in Bodrogu Nou village, Felnac commune, Arad County, in Western Romania.


The monastic establishment was first recorded in a charter document of the Arad chapter of the church, dated 1177. The document specifies that it was constructed on the foundations of the earlier monastery, which had been called the Cenad Monastery and which had been erected on one of the banks of the Mureş River about the year 1000. Unquestionable documents dated 1216, 1233 and 1278 mention its existence in the following period.


According to some local legends passed, the monastery was built on the very place where an icon of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) had been found. It is believed that this icon appeared from under the dust of the ground while a bull was scratching it with its horns. The horns of this legendary bull can be seeing inside the church, above the entrance door.


The initial wooden church of the holy establishment, erected in the 12th century, disappeared in later years. Consequently, the present stone church, which can still be seen today, was built around 1370, according to a triconch plan (having apses with semi-domes on three sides of a square chamber), at a time when this architectonic type was spreading in all the provinces inhabited by Romanians. The belfry tower dates from the 14th century.


The Hodoş-Bodrog Monastery was also under Ottoman domination between 1556 and 1699. The Ottoman rule was briefly interrupted for a short time by the struggle for the independence and unification of the Romanian countries, led by Michael the Brave (1595). It is likely that, during the military operations, the monastery suffered serious damages. In the following decades, although continuing to suffer under the Ottoman rule, and even the hardships induced by the Transylvanian nobility, the monastery housed the residence of the bishops who shepherded this area. Among these were Sofronie, who visited Russia in 1651, and Isaia Diacovici, who stayed at Hodoş-Bodrog around 1694 (he would later established the Hodoş-Bodrog as the seat of the diocese of Ineu and Timişoara). From the last decade of the 17th century until 1864, the monastery was under the jurisdiction of the Karlowitz metropolitans (Serbia) and was the only contemporary orthodox monastery of the Arad diocese that faced great difficulties.


The church underwent several restorations throughout the centuries. The original structures were altered to some extent. After the 17th century restoration, a baroque helmet was added to the dome. The frescoes in the monastery date from the first decades of the 17th century. Several sacred objects dating from earlier centuries add new values to the artistic treasure of the monastery.


The monastery was rebuilt at the beginning of the 18th century, thanks to bishop Sava I Brancovici, who resided in Lipova and later in Ineu. The outbuildings situated on the eastern side of the monastery, the Abbot’s house, were constructed in the second half of the 18th century. Since then the monastery has added a new church, an outdoor summer chapel, and other buildings. The monastic cells and the monastic chapel, situated on the western side, were constructed between 1904 and 1907. The old paintings into the church, which necessitated special restoration work, were reconditioned by master-painters Anastasie Damoan and Constantin Cenan in 1938; the outside walls were painted in 1967. The sculpture of the iconostasis was executed in 1940, and represents the creation of Father Ieronim Balintoni, the abbot of the monastery at that time.


The holy establishment performed its monastic activities without interruption until 1959. On that occasion, its official monastic status was withdrawn by the Communist authorities, and consequently the monastery was transformed into administrative headquarters, which were to be annexed to the Diocese of Arad. Fortunate opened in 1975, and it underwent extensive consolidation and restoration works between 1979 and 1985. After 1990, a new church and a group of monastic cells were constructed. Other outbuildings, such as a refectory and monastic house used as a refuge-place in case of inundations, were added to the monastery; throughout the year, this refuge-place serves as a guest-house. As the holy establishment is situated in the immediate vicinity of one of the banks of the Mureş River, it is often threatened by the frequent overflows of the river. Today, the monastery is within the boundaries of the Mureş Floodplain Natural Park, but the land and monastery are still owned by the Romanian Orthodox Church.


The monastic establishment shelters a rich collection of icons, old painted religious books, and other liturgical exhibits of great patrimonial value, which date from the 14th to the 19th centuries. Within the monastery there is a necropolis were the bishops were entombed.