A Beautiful Castle in Transylvania

Posted: July 28, 2020 by Ovi

Peles Castle

Peles Castle (Peleş) is one of the most beautiful castles in Europe located in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, Romania.

Peles Castle won the 2015 Travellers’ Choice Award by TripAdvisor.

Commissioned by King Carol I in 1873 and completed in 1883, the castle served as the summer residence of the Romanian royal family until 1947.

Queen Elisabeth during the construction phase, wrote in her journal:

“Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, the Gypsies were coolies. Albanians and Greeks worked in stone, Germans and Hungarians were carpenters. Turks were burning brick. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech. The Frenchmen were drawing, the Englishmen were measuring, and so was then when you could see hundreds of national costumes and fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled in all dialects and tones, a joyful mix of men, horses, cart oxen and domestic buffaloes.” – Wikipedia

One of the most memorable visits was that of Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary on 2 October 1896:

“The Royal Castle amongst other monuments, surrounded by extremely pretty landscape with gardens built on terraces, all at the edge of dense forests. The castle itself is very impressive through the riches it has accumulated: old and new canvases, old furniture, weapons, all sort of curios, everything placed with good taste. We took a long hike in the mountains, afterwards we picnicked on the green grass, surrounded by the Gypsy music. We took many pictures, and the atmosphere was extremely pleasant.” – Wikipedia

Interesting Facts about Peleş Castle

Peleş Castle was the first castle in Europe to have central heating and electricity.
It has 160 rooms.
Cordoba leather-covered walls.
Murano crystal chandeliers.
The furniture in the Music Room is carved of teak.
Paintings by Gustav Klimt and Frantz Matsch.
4,000 pieces of arms and armour.
The highest mirror from the castle is a 5 meters high Venetian mirror.
The castle was featured in the 2009 film “The Brothers Bloom”.