Castelul Bran

History

Built in 1377 by Transylvanian Saxons under a charter granted by Louis I of Hungary, Bran Castle was raised on a narrow mountain pass to guard trade routes between Wallachia and Transylvania and shelter German colonists from Ottoman raids. Its reputation as "Dracula's Castle" is a modern marketing invention: Vlad the Impaler never lived here, and Bram Stoker — who never set foot in Romania — never actually names the castle in his 1897 novel. Since 2009 it has operated as Romania's first private museum, run by the descendants of Queen Marie of Romania, and displays the furniture, art, and personal effects she collected while living here in the 1920s.