Kálnoky Castle, Micloșoara

Summary

A 17th-century late-Renaissance manor with corner bastions in Micloșoara (Miklósvár), Covasna, restored in 2015-2017 with EEA/Norway Grants and now run by the Kálnoky family as the Museum of Transylvanian Life, an events venue and a guesthouse. The Kálnoky family does not own it: it is public property held by the Kálnokys under a 49-year concession.

Legal status

Confiscated 1947; not reclaimed by the heirs of the last owner Eugen Savu; 49-year concession to a Kálnoky family member (late 1990s or 2004, sources differ) ↗

History

The Kálnoky family is recorded as holders of Miklósvár from 1588; Kálnoky István began the 'stone house' in 1648 and Sámuel Kálnoky enlarged it in the late 17th century. The last Kálnoky owner, Dénes (d. 1888), left it to his nephew Ferenc Seethal; the Bittó family inherited it in 1940 and sold it to former finance minister Eugen Savu (1939/1940 per sources). The communists confiscated it in 1947. A porch and stair towers designed by Győző Gyárfás were added in 1902-1905, giving the classicist main façade. It served as a cultural house, the state repaired the roof in 1974, and after 1989 the building was stripped and fell into decay. Savu's heirs did not reclaim it; a member of the Kálnoky family, who came back from Germany, obtained a 49-year concession from the Baraolt municipality (dated to the late 1990s by a tourism site, 2004 in a family interview). With co-funding from the EEA and Norway Grants the castle was restored in 2015-2017 and opened to the public in 2017 as the Museum of Transylvanian Life; the family also runs restored peasant houses in the village as guesthouses.

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