Bethlen Castle, Sânmiclăuș
Castelul Bethlen din Sânmiclăuș · Bethlen-kastély (Betlenszentmiklós)
sat Sânmiclăuș; comuna Șona, Alba · Str. Principală 68
Wikimapia outline “BETHLENSZENTMIKLÓS - SÂNMICLĂUŞ - BETHLEN VÁRKASTÉLY” (user-drawn, approximate)
Exterior only; hu.wikipedia says not open to visitors, while castleintransylvania.ro lists it as visitable
Summary
A late Transylvanian Renaissance castle in Sânmiclăuș (Șona commune, Alba County), built in 1668-1683 to plans by Count Miklós Bethlen himself. It belongs to the Jidvei company but stands unused and dilapidated, with its interior decoration destroyed and an overgrown park.
History
Miklós Bethlen (1642-1716), chancellor of Transylvania and trained in architecture in the Netherlands, drew the plans and had the castle built in 1668-1683 on the site of an older manor; the square block has no inner courtyard and a two-storey arcaded loggia. Walls, five bastions and a moat were added in 1686-1689 and have not survived, and baroque decoration, attributed to Franz Schweininger, was added in 1764. After Count János Bethlen died in 1851, part of the estate passed to the Brukenthal family, who made the castle an agricultural school, and later to the Saxon University and the Evangelical Church. The state took it in 1945 or 1918 depending on the source and it became part of the IAS Jidvei farm, with uses reported including a kindergarten and a pig-processing plant, and its frescoes and stucco were lost. It is now owned by the Jidvei company (a private family) and has stood empty since the 1990s.
Listed components
- Castelul Bethlen — 1668 - 1673,1682 - 1683 (AB-II-m-A-00323.01)
- Grânar — sec. XIX (AB-II-m-A-00323.02)
- Parc — sec. XIX (AB-II-m-A-00323.03)
Sources & links
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