Lónyai Castle, Medieșu Aurit

Summary

Ruined Renaissance castle at Medieșu Aurit (Satu Mare), rebuilt from 1630 by Zsigmond Lónyay on the site of a medieval fortress. Roofless since the Second World War, it is a class A monument of national importance with no restoration under way.

Legal status

Restitution request under Law 10/2001 filed 2002, file redirected to Satu Mare County Museum (2015) ↗

History

A fortress at Meggyes is documented from the 13th century and passed from the Kaplony clan to the Meggyesi and Móricz families. The Báthory family seized it in 1493 and held it until 1626, after which Zsigmond Lónyay rebuilt it in Renaissance style, with a Latin inscription dated 1630. His daughter Anna Lónyay inherited it in 1643; after her part in a revolt against the Szatmár garrison the estate was confiscated, the bastions were blown up in 1670 and the remains burned in 1707. Baron Ferenc Wesselényi redeemed the estate and built a manor house on the site in the 1730s, and it later passed to the Bethlen and Teleki families. Accounts say King Carol II bought it in 1920; it served as a military hospital in 1940-41 and was destroyed in 1944, with sources disagreeing on whether German or Soviet troops were responsible. Locals later took stone and brick from the walls, and a 2002 restitution claim by Carol II's descendants was reported unresolved in 2015.

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