Mikó Castle, Olteni

Summary

A late Classicist (Empire-style) castle at Olteni, Bodoc commune (Covasna County), begun in 1827 by Count Miklós Mikó and known for its interior wall paintings of war and peace scenes. Bought by the county and commune councils in 2014 and restored with PNRR funds, it is due to open as a Székely equestrian museum.

Legal status

Returned to the heirs of Count Miklós Mikó in 2007; sold to the county and commune councils seven years later ↗

History

Count Miklós Mikó (1783-1839), a former cavalry captain of the Napoleonic wars, began the castle in 1827 on the site of an 18th-century manor. A Roman castrum and a medieval fortification are believed to have stood on the same grounds; the foundations of the earlier manor were uncovered in the 1970s. Its murals date from the 1840s and are traditionally attributed to Péter Bodor. The estate passed to the Mikes counts through Eszter Mikó's marriage to Benedek Mikes, and after World War I the Brașov merchant Emil Schmutzler bought it from Count Ármin Mikes. From 1973 it housed a school for children with intellectual disabilities. It was returned to the heirs of Miklós Mikó in 2007, who sold it in 2014 to Covasna County Council and Bodoc council. A 20 million lei restoration co-financed by PNRR has been completed and the castle is to become a branch of the Székely National Museum.

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