Posted on 01/20/2007 10:18:39 AM PST by lizol
Dracula's castle on sale for 60 mln euros
Bucharest (ANTARA News) - Bran Castle, better known as Dracula's Castle, has been put up for sale for 60 million euros (75.6 million dollars) and local authorities in Romania are considering buying it, officials said Wednesday.
"Bran Castle is very important for our province's tourism industry. We have set up a commission with five members of the council that will examine the possibility of buying it," Aristotel Cancescu, president of Brasov province's council, was quoted by AFP as saying.
The castle was returned in December 2006 to Dominic Habsburg, the grandson of Queen Mary of Romania, 58 years after it was seized by the communist regime.
Habsburg, 68, initially agreed with the culture ministry that the castle would remain a museum for at least three years and could only be sold to the state.
But the same month, Habsburg announced he was going to sell the castle anyway and he submitted a letter of intent to the Brasov council.
Culture Minister Adrian Iorgulescu said Habsburg's asking price was "indecent and exaggerated compared to the castle's real value."
Before it was returned, the ministry estimated the estate was worth some 25 million euros.
The castle, which was built in 1212 by the Teutonic Knights, once belonged to the cruel 15th-century prince Vlad Tepes, who notoriously impaled his victims and inspired the character of Dracula in Bram Stoker's novels.
Given in 1920 by the people of Brasov to Queen Mary, who turned it into her summer residence, the castle remains a vital attraction for Brasov's tourism industry.
Apart from the castle, the estate includes three smaller buildings and an art collection. (*)
I believe old Vlad was cruel only toward the Muslim invaders.
Been there. Not worth $75 mil.
It's too dark and there's a whole bunch of heavy oblong boxes in the basement that need to be removed.
Seriously, though, it is too dark.
Looks like a fun place.
I wish I could buy it.
I saw a documentary where they speculated that Stoker used the name Dracula but the stories about a Transylvanian lesbian noblewoman who would drink and bathe in the blood of young virgins because she believed it would make her younger. Truly sick stuff.
That bites. Although the upkeep must be a cross to bear, I'd gravely consider selling it. The family must not have much stake in their history.
I'll bet Hillary could use a summer place.
They should keep it in their bloodline. Fangtastic location though. Undeadly ground as well.
That was Erzebeth (elizabeth) Nadazdy a 16th Century noblewoman in the Austro-Hungarian region.
"When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are..."
If you don't Count the story of the beggars he invited to a banquet in a big wooden building, where he had his soldiers nail the doors shut and set the place on fire.
Vlad said this new government program was intended to eliminate poverty.
Charming.
It's my understanding that earlier on were Vlad was hailed as a hero in Romania, Hungary, and even Poland for holding back the tide of Ottoman expansion; later on there was much embellishment about his cruelty toward just about everyone.
Have not done much reading on this so do not know which is the more correct picture of the man.
However, I'm pretty sure he didn't sleep in a coffin at night.
I was there some 20 year ago, and I do not think that any investor will make a decent ROI if the price tag is 75.6 million dollars. A lot of improvements and supplementary investments are needed. Maybe if the price is 1/10 of what they are asking.
The story is that he impaled his own men and had them displayed around his castle so that the enemy would realize how truly bloodthirsty he was, and they would be psyched out.
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