Surrounded of one mystery will have and of legend, the castle of Bran owes its reputation A are charm single and with the myth creates by the Stoker writer around tell Dracula.
The castles of Bran formed part of a whole of citadels on the border.
In XVème century (1377) contemporary time of Louis 1er from Anjou king of Hungary.
This one was built on a rock with 60m height, a fitting exceptional, of the secret parts and the narrow corridors, in make a true labyrinth.
This castle was intended to be a strategic point, soldier and commercial.
In the court interior, there is a fountain of 57m of depth, undergrounds a baker's oven and a prison.
In 1920 the Marie queen, niece of the queen Victoria de Grande Brittany received this castle in gift of the town of Brasov. This one acted as residence of summer.
The legend says that the heart of the Marie queen kept in one limp of money and was discovered in a secret niche.
Working and traveling thru Europe it happened to me to be asked different things about Count Dracula. Sometimes just heard about the movie or saw it, other times they have heard about Transylvania or the vampires.
So here we have the most frequent asked questions about Dracula:
1. By far on the first place there is the question asking if Dracula really existed.
Answer: it depends if we are talking about the warlord that inspired Bram Stoker for its novel, yes it exists. His name was Vlad III Dracula and he lived in the XV-th century in Transylvania and Wallachia.
If we are thinking about a supposed vampire as he appears in the novel, no, there has been no vampire with this name, at least as far as I know.
2. Are there vampires in Transylvania? (yes, I have been asked even that)
Answer: No, there are no vampires, neither ghosts there.
3. Few days ago (February 2007) I have been asked if is true there are a lot of castles in Transylvania.
Answer (exactly the answer I gave to my colleague in Milan): Yes, absolutely. In order to explain a little I have to talk briefly about the history of Transylvania. As you probably know it has been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for centuries. In the 13th century the emperor brought the Saxon population at the south-eastern border and gave them some lands in order to defend the empire. As the middle age in Transylvania was all but not a calm period, they had to build fortifications in order to defend themselves. The most of the Castles date from the 13th – 14th and 15th century. Bran Castle as well as Râsnov are such examples of middle-age castles.
4. This is from two nice Americans I guided through Romania two years in a row: we were really in Sighisoara when they asked me how is Vlad seen in Romania: as a bloody criminal or as a hero.