Foreign Tour Operators Threaten To Take Romania Out Of Catalogues Over Castle Bran Situation

According to a press release of the association, since late February, the castle can no longer be visited on Mondays and Tuesdays, visiting hours were reduced to 4-5 hours for the rest of the week and the furniture was moved into the castle’s medieval customs building, known as Vama Bran.

The association urged the country’s Tourism Ministry to make a stand and work on a “rescue campaign” of Castle Bran.

"We call on the Tourism Ministry to do its best and redeem the castle. It seems that various sums of money, from 20 up to 40 million dollars or euros, were rumored in this respect. The fact remains that the museum must keep its valuable pieces, the castle and its entire ethnographic structure," ANAT vice-president, Mircea Vladu, told a press conference Wednesday.

Starting May this year, the castle will be administrated by its owner Dominic de Habsburg, who won back the castle three years ago. So far, the Romanian state has paid a rent to keep its collections within the castle, but they will be moved into the medieval customs building, located near the castle.

The Habsburg family also won back the medieval customs domain, but the state has control over the site until 2012.

Castle Bran was returned on May 18, 2006 to Dominic of Habsburg and the Ministry of Culture keeps it as a museum until May 18, 2009.

Dominic of Habsburg, grandson of Queen Maria and son of Princess Ileana, regained the castle nearly six decades after the royal family was forced to leave the country by the communist regime, when Dominic of Habsburg was ten.

Castle Bran, attested since November 1377, is one of the major tourist objectives in Romania. The castle is famous worldwide for its association with Dracula.