Coming soon - Dracula Land

Romanian Minister for Tourism Matei Dan has announced that a Dracula Land theme park will be built near the medieval Transylvanian city of Sighisoara.
The privately-financed tourist attraction will celebrate the 15th century ruler Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler, the model for Bram Stoker's fictional anti-hero, Count Dracula.
Vlad Tepes was born in Sighisoara in 1431, and gained his bloodthirsty reputation from his habit of impaling Turkish prisoners alive on wooden stakes.
It is hoped that when the park is finished in 2003, it will attract one million visitors a year.
As well as being the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, Sighisoara's good transport links were a key factor in the choice of location for Dracula Land.
The northern Romanian city of Bistrita, which appears in Stoker's novel, had also been in the running.
German backing
Mr Dan said he expected German tourists to form the majority of foreign visitors to the park, which is expected to cost $32m.

It is hoped that it will create 3,000 jobs.
Two German firms, Westernstadt Pullman City and Siemens are expected to build and provide the park's infrastructure, with contracts due to be signed shortly.
Westernstadt Pullman City runs an American cowboy theme park in Bavaria.
Sighisoara has strong Germanic traditions, dating back to the 12th century, when German artisans settled in the area.
"Dracula's myth exists. We want to package it nicely and sell it to tourists," said Mr Dan.
He said there are also plans for a Dracula Institute, consisting of several conference rooms and a library.

The Most Evil Men In History - Vlad The Impaler

The Castle of Bran "Between myth and reality"

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.

Vlad Ţepeş Documentary 1 , 2 , 3

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Did Dracula really exist ?

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.