Transylvania: Bran Castle, Vlad the Impaler, and the Dracula Legends

August 2010
What do Transylvania's Bran Castle, Vlad Tepes (Tepes means Impaler), and  vampire legends have in common?  Actually, very little, but I will try a brief explanation of their connecting points.  Vlad III was born in Translyvania (then part of the kingdom of Hungary) in 1431.  His father was Vlad II who had been inducted into the prestigious Order of the Dragon in Nuremberg.  But the name of this chivalric order did not translate well into Romanian:  Dracul not only meant "dragon," but also "devil."  The son of Vlad II,  Dracul, would be called Vlad III, Dracula.

It was an era of political unrest and cruelty. When Vlad II was dethroned by locals, he formed alliance with the hated Ottomans who put him back on the throne.  But as surety of his loyalty, he had to send two of his sons to Edrine (Istanbul--photo at right). Radu, the younger son, converted to Islam, became an Ottoman officer, and ultimately led Ottomans against his brother.  Vlad III was rebellious in Istanbul and grew in his hatred for the Ottomans.  Vlad III also distrusted his family, but returned to Wallachia (the area around today's Bucharest--see RO Bucharest post) when released by the Ottomans.  His bitterness increased when the Boyars, in alliance with the Hungarians, killed his father and had his older brother blinded and buried alive.

Three times Vlad III ruled the kingdom of Wallachia.  While most of the world shudder when they hear of Vlad Tepes, Romanians remember him as a great national leader.  He brought his court to an outpost which grew to be Bucharest,  fought back the Ottomans and others who tried to conquer Wallachia, expanded their territory, re-established trade, helped the peasants, and restored order.  True, they admit, he was ruthless--but mostly against their enemies.  Those were brutal times, but his brutality stood out above all else.  Vlad III trusted few and fought most everyone.  Those he conquered or invaded (men, women, and children)  he had impaled-- a thick wooden stick run through their bodies and left to rot.  When one of his servants complained of the stench of rotting bodies, Vlad had him impaled.

However, some of the later Saxon and Russian tales of Vlad Dracula exaggerated his deeds and the numbers (no evidence he roasted and ate the victims).  Still, some estimate he may have impaled 40,000-100,000.  At one time he sought alliance with Hungary, but they tricked and imprisoned him in Visegard ( photo at right--see HU Szentendre and the Danube Bend post).  In 1476,  he was finally killed in battle against the Ottomans.  Reportedly, his body was buried near Bucharest and his head was buried in Istanbul.  However, in the early 1900s when Vlad was to be exhumed for "research," they found his supposed grave empty.  Hum.........

I confess I have never read Bram Stoker's Dracula or been very interested in Dracula or vampire movies.  My nephew suggested that I take The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova to read during my Danube Cruise.  I downloaded an audio copy and found myself  immersed in this excellent novel that weaves together the history of Vlad Tepes and the Dracula legends into a suspenseful mystery with a twist at the end.  Like the speaker in the book, I found that I had been pulled unknowingly deeper and deeper into the Dracula tales in my travels.  I had previously traveled to  Istanbul.  Stoker's Dracula  starts in Budapest (see HU Budapest's Glory Days post), Dracula leaves from the port of Varna, Bulgaria, (see BU Varna post), and  is shipwrecked on the cliff's of Whitby, England, where  Bram Stoker wrote his story in 1897. (see UK Whitby posts).  Now I was traveling through the very areas where the real Vlad Tepes had lived.

The Romanians had ancient superstitions about strigoi---the "undead."  There were a variety of kinds and ways one could become undead--such as a child who was marked by the devil because its careless mother might have gone out with her head uncovered.  Those who died before they could marry were considered vulnerable to being undead--so should  be wed to another unmarried dead person of the same age.  Ways of protecting you from the undead included garlic, stakes in the heart, holly, and burying them with a bottle of whisky so they couldn't find their way back.  Some strigoi had magical powers to transform into animals or disappear and gained strength through the blood of victims.  In the nineteenth century, interest increased about Eastern Europe, and legends of strigoi  and stories of Vlad Tepes were circulated.  Although these had never been connected before, Bram Stoker had the genius in  1897 to turn the bloody Vlad into a blood-sucking, undead vampire.  Misty, little-known Transylvania was the perfect setting, and Dracula (dragon, devil) was the perfect name.


So why is the medieval Bran Castle in Transylvania now called Dracula's Castle?  It was a mountain fortress mentioned in 1377 in defense against the Ottomans.  Vlad III besieged it in retaliation against the Saxons at one time.  But it never was Vlad's castle, nor is it even mentioned by Stoker.  The Bran Castle mostly served as a customs post and then as a home to local rulers.  Royalty did not live there until after WWI when Transylvania was transferred from Hungary to Romania.  Queen Marie (granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Tsar Alexander II), unhappily married at age 17 to an older duke who later became king, made Bran Castle her home.  She served as a Red Cross nurse in WWI, helped negotiate the peace, and adopted Romanian ways.  Most rooms in the castle reflect the furnishings of her time.  The communists confiscated the castle when they came to power, but it was returned to the royal descendants  when communism fell.

Then in some unknown way, people heard of this remote medieval

castle with a secret passage that reminded them of Stoker's description, and Bran Castle started being called "Dracula's Castle."  The Romanians need tourist attractions, and they welcome, with some amusement, the countless visitors that flock  to the site of "Dracula's Castle."  They have dedicated an upstairs room to the tales of Vlad and Dracula to appease the masses.  The castle is interesting, and the drive through  Transylvania is beautiful.  We arrived on a cloudy, rainy day which added even more to the atmosphere.  However, I had come to the castle hoping to find those difficult "guy gifts," like a Vlad pen or Dracula pencil that are good to show around the office.   There were some nice Romanian craft items, but things related to Dracula were too big, heavy, or tacky.  But if you look around, you might just happen to see a bearded werewolf or a wide-eyed strigoi, disguised in human forms, following you.....

Click link below for slideshow:
Bran Castle and the Dracula Legend
Music:  Overture, Dracula, the Musical

More information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler
http://www.bran-castle.com/en/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigoi

Romania: Ceausescu and the People's Palace

August 2010

In case you are looking for something to add to your conversation someday, you might just ask,"Do you know the largest building in the world?"  I was told, it's not the People's Palace in Bucharest, but the Pentagon in Washington, DC. (I'm not sure if it's the biggest of all categories) However, The Palace of Parliament (as it is officially called), is the second largest, and I'm told it is cited in the  Guinness  Book of Records as the largest civilian administrative building; the most expensive administrative building; and the heaviest building.

 It has 1,100 rooms; is 12 stories above ground with at least 4 underground; used 700 architects; cost over $10 billion to build; and has 480 chandeliers.  The marble, crystals, carpets and most of the building materials came from Romania and were beautifully crafted by their people.   But rather than being the pride of Romania, today it stands mostly empty and still controversial.

The Palace was conceived by Nicolae Ceausescu, who had worked his way up through the Communist party in Romania to become the Secretary General in 1965 and President in 1974.  At first, he reached out to form stronger relationships with the West, but after visits to North Korea and Mao's China, he began more repressive measures, formed an erratic personality cult, and titled himself "The Genius of the Capathians."   Under his party leadership, Ceausescu sought to increase the population with policies that outlawed abortion and provided more benefits to families with 5 or more children.  Mothers with 10 or more children were called "heroine mothers."  Although the population increased, child abandonment also increased as the economy faltered, and many were left in overcrowded orphanages.

After a severe earthquake hit Bucharest in 1977, Ceausescu seized the moment to create his masterpiece: the grandest administrative building in the world that would contain all the branches of the Romanian government--executive, judicial, and parliamentary.  I have heard varying reports as to whether he intended to live in a presidential suite there, but it was not built primarily as his home.  He displaced 30,000 people and demolished a beloved monastery on top of the hill, much of the historic district (which had once been called Little Paris--see Bucharest post), needed hospitals, schools, homes, 19 Orthodox churches, and 6 synagogues in order to create his palace, a boulevard wider and longer than the Champs D'Elysee, and numerous museums and government buildings.

There were reported 29,000 workers (many of the army) working in shifts for 24 hours a day.  As the Romanian economy was struggling, his government borrowed abroad, then tried to pay off the foreign debt by exporting their grain and natural resources.  People were starving; the population was growing; children were abandoned; the economy  was in shambles; gas was rationed (despite their oil fields); electrical blackouts were ordered; and the country became isolated from the world.  Yet, Ceausescu with his wife kept building the palace.

The Palace was almost finished in December 1989 when a protest was crushed in a city in Moldavia, followed by an outbreak in Timisoara, and then a demonstration that turned into riots in Bucharest.   Over several days, about 1,000 citizens were killed.  On December 21 in what is now called Revolutionary Square,  Ceausescu addressed the crowds from the balcony of the Central Committee Building in what was supposed to be a "support mass meeting."  He seemed surprised by the fury of the crowd, as rioters broke open the doors.   Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu fled to the roof where they were rescued by helicopter.  Within days, they were captured by police, given a two-hour trial by an ad hoc military court, found guilty, and executed on Christmas Day, 1989.  Statues in Revolutionary Square honor those who rose up against tyranny to end the hated regime.  A classic building that had been partly destroyed was preserved to remember that moment, but repaired with a modern top.

I remember the outreach to Romania after Ceausescu.  Many orphans were adopted abroad.  I was a counselor in our LDS (Mormon ) Stake Relief Society (women's area organization) when we collected and made items for the orphanages.  Ever since, I have felt I had a very tiny piece in the history of Romania.

But what to do with the People's Palace?  The Romanian Parliament now occupies part of the building.  They hope for tourists to  come to pay some of its expenses.  One can rent  palatial rooms for weddings or banquets--but it's a bit far and too expensive for most.  The paradox:  The People's Palace contains exquisite Romanian craftsmanship and materials, yet its very existence is a bitter reminder of a hated era.  The expenses of heating, electricity, and security for such a massive structure pull needed money away from their economy.  Ceausescu never had the chance to speak to the crowds from the grand balcony.  I understand the first to do so was Michael Jackson in his 1992 Dangerous Tour Concert,  who said he loved "Budapest"  instead of  "Bucharest."  One more (unintentional) insult to the dreams of a dictator.

Click link below for slideshow:
Bucharest: People's Palace
Music:  George  Enestu, String Quartet No. 1 in G major, Op. 22
More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceaușescu
National Geographic Traveler:  Romania

Romania: Port Giurgiu to Bucharest

August 2010

It was at the Romanian port of Giurgiu that I finally parted ways with the Danube River (see Danube Cruise on side bar to see my 13 day cruise).  The Danube would wander its lazy way into the Danube Delta wildlife preserve  and divide before it finally entered the Black Sea through Romania and the Ukraine.  I, and my fellow travelers, would board a bus to move inland to the capital Bucharest in the region of Wallachia.  The port was filled with cranes and barges to move industrial materials along the river.  We passed through small towns with lovely churches and an occasional minaret as well as fields of grains and sunflowers.  There were street side markets and city malls and even a large Marriott as we entered the city.

My photos for this post were mostly taken from a bus window as we moved through the countryside and city---so please bear with the reflections of dirty glass.  I should also have liked to remove the ever present power lines strung along the streets.  But then it would be a place that doesn't really exist.  I will show Bucharest as I saw it.

It was Vlad III, Dracula, Prince of Wallachia, who decided to move his court to this small, but fortified, settlement, which later became the capital of Wallachia and then of all Romania.  There is much history between then and now.  Wallachia  was finally subdued by the Turks who maintained control until it became an independent nation in 1859.  Transylvania was not added to Romania until the end of World War I  when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was defeated.  The Romanian language is Latin based, and, although the people connect with  the Orthodox church, they also feel ties to the people of Western Europe.

Emerging in the mid 1800s, Bucharest turned its eye on Paris as it entered its "Belle Epoque."  Soon Bucharest was known as the "Petit Paris" with its boulevards,  cafes, fashionable houses, concert halls, and neo-classical buildings.  According to our guide, Bucharest was the first European city to install gas street lamps.  It was a fashionable, exotic city, filled with rumors and spies, as World War I began.

The arts flourished.  George Enescu, a famous Romanian violinist and composer, who was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory at age 7, lived and wrote in Bucharest, the USA, and Paris, finally settling in Paris when WWII began.  His music often reflected his Romanian roots.  Although Romania actually grew as a result of the WWI  peace treaty, it struggled in the "between war period" and sided with the Nazis in WWII.  The Allies heavily bombed the oil fields of Romania to prevent their oil from being used by the Nazis.  However, near the end of the war, Romania was negotiating with the Allies, but was put under Soviet control at the Conference of Yalta.

Communist leaders in Romania were brutal.  The Romanians at first felt hope as Nicolae Ceauescu took control in 1965, only to find themselves trapped in an increasingly oppressive dictatorship.  Since Ceausescu  was overthrown in 1989, the country has struggled, but now belongs to the EU and NATO, and a hopeful, young generation is working to create a better future.  We stayed at the modern and elegant Raddison Blu hotel with internet that actually worked.  Our last reception as a group was in a room that Madonna had turned into her gym when she stayed there for a Bucharest concert.  Times have changed.

I did think of Paris when I was there.  It wasn't just the Arc de Triomphe on Charles de Gaulle Boulevard, parks, and buildings, but also the narrow, winding streets with charming shops and cafes.   At La Mama, we sat outside and enjoyed  delicious Romanian specialties on a hot evening before wandering back to our hotel for a tasty gelato.   I liked Bucharest.

The next posts will focus on Ceauescu and his "People's Palace" and Transylvania and the Dracula Legend, so I did not include those photos in this post.
Click link below for slideshow:
Bucharest
Music:  George Enescu, Romanian  Rhapsody #1 
More Information: http://www.romaniatourism.com/bucharest.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucharest