Degenfeld-Schomburg Castle, Balc
Castelul Degenfeld-Schomburg · Károlyi–Degenfeld-kastély (Bálványos/Balc)
sat Balc; comuna Balc, Bihor · Str. Petöfi Sandor 51
land (incl. dendrological park) as stated in the 2022 liquidation auction notice
built area of all buildings in the auction lot (not only the castle); type not confirmed
Listed as accessible by Monumente Uitate
Summary
A large historicist castle in Balc (Bihor County), built in the 1890s for Countess Emma Degenfeld-Schomburg and Count Tibor Károlyi on the site of an older bishop's castle. It stands empty and deteriorating inside a dendrological park, and was sold at a liquidation auction in 2022 for a price reported as over 4 million EUR.
Legal status
Listed historic monument (since 1967 per one source); county council declined pre-emption in 2019; sold in 2022 in liquidation proceedings, according to Bihon ↗
History
Balc is first mentioned in 1213, and an earlier castle was built here by Bishop János Pruisz after 1484. The present building dates from the 1890s (about 1896), raised by Count Tibor Károlyi and his wife Emma Degenfeld-Schomburg; their son Imre gave it its Romantic form with a crenellated flat roof before 1914. After 1918 Imre sold it to the banker Iosif Pincas, and the estate later passed partly to the Ghica family until nationalisation. In communist times it served as a grain store, then as a sanatorium and staff hotel. Petrom held it from the 1990s; a spa-hotel plan was abandoned after Petrom's 2004 privatisation and OMV later used it as offices. In 2011 it was sold to ADL Invest SRL, which advertised it again from 2019 at 350,000 EUR; the county council declined its pre-emption right. In 2022, according to Bihon, the company's liquidator auctioned it from 4,039,575 EUR plus VAT, and it was bought by a Cluj-area company.
Transactions & prices
| Date | Type | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| after 1918 | Sale | — | Imre Károlyi sold the castle to banker Iosif Pincas (price not given) ↗ |
| Nationalisation | — | Nationalised under the communist regime (year not given in the source) ↗ | |
| 2011 | Sale | — | OMV-Petrom sold the castle to ADL Invest SRL (price not given) ↗ |
| 2019 | Asking price | €350,000 | Asking price when the county council declined its pre-emption right; the same price was reported for 2017 ↗ |
| 2022-03 | Auction | €4,039,575 | Starting price plus VAT at the liquidator's auction (ADL Invest in liquidation); final price reported only as 'over 4 million EUR'; bought by a Cluj-area company ↗ |
Sources & links
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