Unseen Romania

Banffy Bontida Medieval Castle - the Versailles of Transylvania

Medieval castles tend to fascinate every human being. We look back into the past when everything seemed to be more romantic than in our time. How can we do that, here, in Romania? The best way would be to visit the large number of castles – small or large-sized – that are all over the country. One of them is the Bontida Banffy Castle, once called the Versailles of Transylvania.

At a distance of almost 32 kilometers from Cluj is a small village called Bontida, famous around these places for the Banffy Castle, with a starting construction date in 1437. The castle was started by the Venetian architect Agostino Serena, and continued by Joseph Emmanuel Fischer von Erlach, who remodelled it in a baroque style, also adding to it two more U-shaped wings. The last wing was added in 1850, by the architect called A. Kagerbauer.

The castle was owned by the Banffy family, one of the most wealthy families at that time, a dynasty that reconstructed the edifice several times, going from the Renaissance style in 1680 to baroque in 1747. The baroque remodelling was ordered by Denes Banffy, the familly head of that time.

The Banffy dynasty appeared at the beginning of the 15th century in Transylvania. One of their greatest palaces was located in Cluj, followed by the one at Bontida. This dynasty was separated in two branches, one that brought a barony during the 1660s and two centuries later, the other became counts. Jozsef Banffy rebuilt completely the courtyards, park and gardens around the year 1820.

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