Medieşu Aurit Castle

Medieşu Aurit (Hungarian: Aranyosmeggyes) is a commune of 7,299 residents in Satu Mare County.

The Lonyai Castle was built between 1620-1657, by Zsigmond Lonyai, in the purest Renaissance style. Similar castles can be found only in Slovakia. The building consists of four wings arranged around a central courtyard, with bastions at the four corners and a tower above the main entrance; the strongholds are Italian type. Elements of fortification as a ditch and a drawbridge are still visible.

The blank arcades under the roof of the tower suggest that there was originally cresting here too. The facade and the details of the castle are severe, with strong architectonic details and pedimented windows of the type that Italian architect Giacomo Resti introduced in other castles.

Servants' rooms, the kitchen and stores were on the ground floor while the first floor was for the landowners. Window frames were decorated with leaves and vines. At the entrance castle was the Lonyai family coat of arms, stolen after the Revolution of 1989. The first floor ceiling was covered with gold, so the name of place became Medieşu Aurit (Golden Medieşu).

After the death of Zsigmond Lonyai, the owner of the castle was his daughter, Anna. She became involved in an action of the "curuţi" rebels in the area, which attacked the German garrison in the city of Satu-Mare. After that, all domain comes in Royal administration. Later, the castle was bought by the family Wesselenyi, then inherited by the Teleki family, and King Carol II of Romania bought in 1920 the castle.

In 1944, the castle was used as a military hospital, and was burned and became a ruin during the retreat of the German Army. Later, locals have demolished the walls and have built houses from castle's bricks. Basically, today there are only a few walls and frames of windows and doors, which are decaying quickly.

Ardud Fortress

Ardud (Hungarian: Erdőd, German: Erdeed) is a town in north-western Romania, in the county of Satu-Mare. Ardud was first attested in 1215, as Herdeud. It is the birthplace of Archbishop of Esztergom, and papal candidate Tamás Bakócz (1442-1521), raised from serfdom to this dignity by King Matia Corvin. Ardud is visited by many people every year, because it has a spa.

The fortress in Ardud was built in 1481 by the Transylvanian ruling prince, Bertalan Drágffy, and it was one of the strongest senioral fortress in the north of Transylvania. It had a polygonal plan with bastions on the corners. The Drágffy family owned the stronghold for a long time, but the fortress they held was destroyed during history.

On the spot of the old fortress, a palace was erected by aristocrat Sándor Károlyi, in 1730. The chapel of this palace was the site of the wedding between the great Hungarian poet Petõfi Sándor and his bride, Júlia Szendrey, on September 8, 1847. Petõfi Sándor is remembered here by a monument, which stands on the shore of a little lake.

The Károlyi palace was destroyed during World War II, and only a bastion can be still seen of it, reinforced by concrete pillars, with some remaining parts of the walls attached to it. The Roman Catholic Church from 1482, rebuilt in 1860 and 1959, preserves traces of Gothic architecture.

Dacia Hotel in Satu-Mare

Belonging to the Secession style, the building of the Dacia Hotel in Satu-Mare (Northwestern Romania) is one of the most beautiful buildings ever built in this style in Transylvania. Built in 1902 on the site of the previous city hall of the town, that dated from the years 1768-1772, the project of the building was prized in a architecture competition in Vienna. The facade, adorned with generous floral ornaments, was made of enameled ceramics. The roof combines two shades of blue, giving a special elegance to the ensemble.

The necessary contrast is given by the White House (so named after the color of the facade), a beautiful Secession-style building, built between 1911-1912 by the project of architects Ede and Miklos Schneider.

Casa Albă (The White House)

As years passed, some well known cultural personalities signed in the hotel's book of honor: N. Iorga, L. Rebreanu, O. Goga, M. Sadoveanu, King Michael I of Romania and all Romania's presidents after 1990.

Though the building with an impressive and stately front makes you think of entering a sumptuously taken care of castle, you find the XX century atmosphere indoors: a 107 places modern hotel complex, in single rooms, in two-bed rooms and in apartments, restaurant with orchestra, day bar, terrace, reception and conference saloon, exchange office, all striving to satisfy the most exacting taste. Due to the high degree of convenience, and to the performed services, the Dacia Hotel has been internationally recognized, receiving the "International Trophy for Touristic Promotion" in Madrid,1995 (Edicoin - Actualidad, Madrid, Spania).

The hotel has around 50 rooms, part of it being occupied by the Satu Mare State Philharmonic.

Ioan Petru Culianu

Ioan Petru Culianu or Couliano (January 5, 1950, Iaşi – May 21, 1991, Chicago) was a Romanian historian of religion, culture, and ideas, a philosopher and political essayist, and a short story writer, and an expert in gnosticism and Medieval magic. He long served as professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, and also taught the history of Romanian culture at the University of Groningen.

Culianu was born in Iaşi. He studied at the University of Bucharest, then traveled to Italy where he was granted political asylum while attending lectures in Perugia in July 1972. He later graduated from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. He lived briefly in France and the Netherlands, before leaving Europe for Chicago, in the United States. There, after a stint as visiting professor, he became a professor at the University of Chicago. He took a Ph.D. at the University of Paris IV in January 1987, with the thesis "Recherches sur les dualismes d'Occident. Analyse de leurs principaux mythes" ("Research into Western Dualisms. An Analysis of their Major Myths"), coordinated by Michel Meslin.

Having completed three doctorates and being proficient in six languages, Culianu specialized in Renaissance magic and mysticism. He became a friend, and later the literary executor, of Mircea Eliade, the famous historian of religions. He also wrote fiction and political articles.

Minutes after concluding a conversation with one of his doctoral students, at noon on a day when the building was teeming with visitors to a book sale, Culianu was murdered in the bathroom of the divinity school, Swift Hall, of the University of Chicago. He was shot once in the back of the head. The identity of the killer and the motive are still unknown. Speculation arose that he had been killed by former Securitate agents, due to political articles in which he attacked the Communist regime. The murder occurred a year and a half after the Romanian Revolution and Nicolae Ceauşescu's death. Ultra-nationalist and neo-fascist involvement, as part of an Iron Guard revival in connection on the nationalist discourse of the late years of Ceauşescu's rule and the rise of the Vatra Românească and România Mare parties, was not itself excluded from the scenario; according to Vladimir Tismăneanu: "[Culianu] gave the most devastating indictment of the new union of far left and far right in Romania". As part of his criticism of the Iron Guard, Culianu had come to expose Mircea Eliade's connections with the latter movement during the interwar years (because of this, relations between the two academics had soured for the final years of Eliade's life). The FBI also investigated the possibility of an occult group having been involved in the killing, owing to Culianu's work in that field.

An erudite with a special interest in the occult, parallel universes and the construction of the real, Professor Ioan Culianu shared with his mentor Mircea Eliade the capacity for overarching works in the history of religions. Unlike Eliade however, Culianu's love of academia combined with unrestrained political views about Romanians and their 20th century history. "He castigated not only Securitate but the Iron Guard, cultist nationalism, the Orthodox Church, and Romanian culture. He called for investigation of Romania's genocide of Jews. Any one of these could provoke reprisal in a country that has never confronted its recent past".

Adapted after Wikipedia and other minor sources.

The Baroque Complex in Oradea

The Baroque Complex in Oradea is composed of the Roman-Catholic Bishopric Palace (or the Baroque Palace, described here), the Roman-Catholic Basilica and the Row of the Canons, three splendid Baroque buildings that once belonged to the same architectural complex. Now, the situation has returned, all three buildings belong to the Roman-Catholic Bishopric of Oradea.

The Row Of The Canons (Şirul Canonicilor Street), represents in fact an architectural complex composed of 57 arches that form a long corridor of over 250 meters uniting 10 buildings. It was built between 1750-1875, after the project of architect Franz Anton Hillebrandt. By 1780 there were erected 7 of the 10 buildings, two buildings were completed in 1863, and the tenth was completed in 1875, more than 100 years of starting construction of the first building. In the initial phase in the complex of buildings had included a Roman-Catholic seminary, but that was not built here. They sheltered the canons of the Bishopric.

Even if not unitary from an architectural point of view, a skillful eye can notice the differences in shape and dimension of the windows that give the aspect of a whole thanks to the archway supported by massive pillars and Bohemian-style vaults. The baroque style is the predominant one, even if there are specialists who assert
that it is more a Transylvanian popular classical architecture. The curious
ones can count the 56 vaults of the complex that, when looked at from an end to the other, give the impression of an endless row.

The Ascension of the Holy Virgin Roman-Catholic Cathedral (Şirul Canonicilor Street) is located inside the park that still shelters the Ţării Crişurilor Museum (the Baroque Palace). The access to the cathedral can be done either on the main gate or on the gate that leads to the nave. It is the masterpiece of the Viennese architect Franz Anton Hillebrandt, the one who accepted Bishop Paulus Forgács’s proposal of building it. It is worth mentioning the fact that, from 1750 until May 1, 1752, when the head-stone was laid, the name of the Austrian architect was omnipresent, but, from that moment on, he disappeared and was replaced by the Italian constructor Giovanni Battista Ricca. A sad fate hung above those whose names were linked to this worship establishment. The Italian Ricca died in 1756. The arrival of a new bishop, Adam Patachich, gave a new impulse to the construction. He arranged that the cathedral be built by the Austrian Johann Michael Neumann under the supervision of the same Franz Anton Hillebrandt, who meanwhile had become chief architect of the Imperial Court. In 1761, Ricca’s plans were replaced by new ones and that is why, instead of a north-Italian Baroque basilica a late-Austrian Baroque building was erected. After several modifications to the plans and hold-backs, works ended in the summer of 1779. One year later, on the 25th of June 1780, the halidom was dedicated.

The altars of the basilica are of classic, reflecting the preference for sobriety and simplicity specific to the late phase of the Baroque. The dimensions of the cathedral are the following: length 68 m, width 30 m, height of dome 24 m, height of tower 61 m. The cupola fresco represents "The Triumph of July heavenly Christ" by John Schopf, in a style called "II Correggro" (1778), others are the work of painter Francis Storno (1878-1880). The main altar is of Carrara marble, carved by Italian foreman Triscornia after the plans of Stefan Toth, in Neo-Renaissance style (1897). The two statues, executed in 1897 by Francis Eberhardt, represents St. Stephen and St. Emeric. The main altar painting, titled "Raising at Heaven of the Virgin Mary" was painted in 1778 the Austrian artist Vincent Fischer, in the style of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The two paintings in the secondary naves, representing St. Ladislaus and The Holy Family, were realized by painter Vincent Fischer.

At the side entry of the cathedral there are several funerary monuments from 15th and 16th centuries, in Gothic and Renaissance styles, which belonged to the ancient cathedral of the city. The organ dates from 1780, is the work of Fridolin Festl, and has been given to the cathedral by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The Basilica houses the relics of St. Ladislaus.

The Sturdza Castle in Miclăuşeni

Around 1410, the ruling prince of Moldavia, Alexandru cel Bun, (1400-1432) gave to the boyar Miclăuş (1380-1440), member of the Prince's Council, a large estate, located near Siret River meadow. The estate became known as Miclăuşeni after the death of the nobleman. On April 25th 1591, Miclăuş's descendants sold the estate to treasurer Simon Stroici (1550-1623). He built a mansion whose ruins could still be seen at the beginning of the twentieth century. Through a last will of 5 June 1622, treasurer Simon Stroe bequeathed the Miclăuşeni village to Lupu Prăjăscu. In 1697, the descendants of Lupu Prăjăscu bequeathed the estate to brothers Ion and Sandu Sturdza, their distant relatives. On April 19 1699, Sturdza brothers have divided the possession, Miclăuşeni being awarded to Ion Sturdza.

In 1752, boyar Ion Sturdza (1710-1792) raised here a cross shaped landlord's mansion here with a basement and ground floor. The manor had 20 rooms, ten on each floor. The manor had stables with pure race trained horses. Concerned about extending the estate, the son of Ion Sturdza, Dimitrie, built during 1821-1823 a church in the yard, near the castle. He endowed it with a beautiful baroque iconostasis and many valuable religious objects. Dimitrie Sturdza wrote in 1802 the first draft of the Republican Constitution of the Romanian. Son of Dimitrie, Alecu Sturdza Miclăuşanu, arranged on a surface of 42 hectares around the mansion a beautiful English-style park with ornamental trees and many species flower alleys. He handled the purchase of several books and rare manuscripts collections that have enriched the manor's library. He died of cholera in 1848 and is buried in the church manor. After his death, his widow Catincathe administrated the estate and she left the it to his son, George A. Sturdza, in 1863.

In 1869, George Sturdza married Maria, daughter of writer Ion Ghica, and moved then to the estate. Between 1880 and 1904, George Sturdza built at the site of old mansion a beautiful palace in the late Gothic style, a copy of Western feudal castles and recalling the Palace of Culture, but also the Royal Palace of Ruginoasa. Construction plans have been made by the architects Julius Reinecke and I. Grigsberg. The castle was in those days a proof of high cultural level of its owners that brought among the Moldavia hills models of existence, of construction and of environment that Sturdza have found during his trips along the Southern and
Western Europe.

Outside, the building had numerous decorations (including emblems inspired by the Sturdza family crest: a lion with a sword and an olive branch), completed in 1898 in Art Nouveau style by architect Julius Reinecke. This was helped by Maria Sturdza, who illustrated many of the poems of Vasile Alecsandri, neighbor and a close family friend. Neo-Gothic influences are found in decoration such as Gothic towers, medieval armors, tower entrance with bridge over a water ditch, riding school hall, Latin dicta on walls. Inside, the castle has a central staircase in Dalmatia marble, elaborately carved rosewood furniture, fireplaces in terracotta, porcelain and earthenware, made abroad, intarsia parquet with essences of maple, mahogany, oak and ebony, made by Austrian craftsmen and painted ceilings and interior walls.

The Sturdza's family vast library of 60,000 books contained at the time exquisite books, published in the European space, the theological ones being directly ordered as soon as they were published. Out of all these, quite few ones were preserved; over 50.000 of them disappearing after the II World War.

The castle with the church (and now including the monastery and pilgrim and aging people centre) of Miclăuşeni comes in support of this idea belonging to the Metropolitan Orthodox Church of Moldavia and Bucovina and is waiting for Europe to discover it as an integrated part, not only since the third millennium but from the beginning of XXth century.

Thanks to Jurnal Românesc for the ideea!

Melik House

Situated on 22, Spătarului Street and built somewhere between 1750-1760, Melik House (Romanian: Casa Melik) is the oldest civilian building from Bucharest that was preserved in its original form.

Nobody knows who the first owner of the house was, but it was sold in 1815 by its heirs to an Armenian merchant named Chevorc Nazaretoglu – his real name being Nazaretian. Chevroc Nazaretian and his wife moved in the house in 1822. Agop Nazaretian, Chevorc’s son, dowered the house to his daughter Ana,at her marriage with the architect Iacob Melik. Melik, who studied in Paris and participate actively in the revolution of 1848, wass bound to go into exile in France and Turkey. In return, after nine years of exile, he found the house in ruins. After repairs in November, will live here with his wife. The name of the house comes from Iacob Melik who lived here together with his family and who repaired the house many times.

Ana Nazaretian Melik, who died in 1913, bequeathed the house to the Armenian community from Bucharest, with the wish to found an asylum for the poor widows of the community. Eugen Melik, descendant, attacked the will and got the property for a short period of time, but the Armenian community won the trial and an asylum was arranged that functioned between 1921-1947. During this period, different tenants lived in the house and it suffered modifications and degradations.

Towards the end of the 1960s, Gheorghe and Serafina Raut, husband and wife, negotiated with the authorities of Bucharest the donation and partial redemption of the art collection they owned. While a student in Paris, Theodor Pallady lived in one of the Raut family apartments, in Place Dauphin. Raut family maintained a special relationship with the painter and the main condition of the donation was to provide a valuable display space for their art collection, who included many Pallady's works, and to host the Pallady Museum. Casa Melik was thus selected to house the valuable collection.

Last renovation of the house was in 1979. Between 1970-1994, the National Art Museum from Bucharest used it as a place to deposit valuable works of art that were going to be restored or those being in transit. In 1994 it has gained its final destination – Casa Melik, Serafina and Gheorghe Raut Art Collection and Pallady Museum – museal complex.

The size of the rooms, the breadth of the windows and the width of the doors were preserved inside the house, the pieces of furniture are entirely pieces of collection. The closed veranda hosts every Saturday morning courses of initiation for children in the art of drawing and color.

Ideea and images: Jurnal Românesc. Infos: Romania Explorer. Thanks!