PELES CASTLE

Peleș Castle is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova

County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built
between 1873 and 1914. Its inauguration was held in 1883. It was constructed for King Carol I.

The complex is northwest of the town of Sinaia, which is 48 kilometres (30 mi) from Braşov and
124 kilometres (77 mi) from Bucharest. In the southeastern Carpathian Mountains, the complex
is composed of three monuments: Peleș Castle, Pelișor Castle, and the Foișor Hunting Lodge.

When King Carol I of Romania (1839–1914), under whose reign the country gained its
independence, first visited the site of the future castle in 1866, he fell in love with the magnificent
mountain scenery. In 1872, the Crown purchased 5 square kilometres (1.9 sq mi) of land near
the Piatra Arsă River. The estate was named the Royal Estate of Sinaia. The King commissioned
the construction of a royal hunting preserve and summer retreat on the property, and the
foundation was laid for Peleș Castle on 22 August 1873. Several auxiliary buildings were built
simultaneously with the castle: the guards' chambers, the Economat Building, the Foișor hunting
lodge, the royal stables, and a power plant. Peleș became the world's first castle fully powered
by locally produced electricity.
The first three design plans submitted for Peleș were copies of other palaces in Western Europe,
and King Carol I rejected them all as lacking originality and being too costly. German architect
Johannes Schultz won the project by presenting a more original plan, something that appealed to
the King's taste: a grand palatial alpine castle combining different features of classic European
styles, mostly following Italian elegance and German aesthetics along Renaissance lines. Works
were also led by architect Carol Benesch.[2]Later additions were made between 1893 and 1914
by the Czech architect Karel Liman, who designed the towers, including the main central tower,
which is 66 metres (217 ft) in height. The Sipot Building, which served as Liman's headquarters
during the construction, was built later on. Liman would supervise the building of the
nearby Pelișor Castle (1889–1903, the future residence of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of
Romania), as well as of King Ferdinand's villa in the Royal Sheepfold Meadow.
The cost of the work on the castle undertaken between 1875 and 1914 was estimated to be
16,000,000 Romanian lei in gold (approx. US$ 120 million today). Between three and four
hundred men worked on the construction. Queen Elisabeth of the Romanians, 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.

Construction saw a slight slowdown during the Romanian War of Independence against

the Ottoman Empire in 1877–78, but soon afterwards the plans grew in size and construction
was quite rapid. Peleș Castle had its official Royal Ball of Inauguration on 7 October 1883. King
Carol I and Queen Elizabeth lived in Foişor Villa during construction, as did King Ferdinand and
Queen Marie during the construction of Pelișor Castle. King Carol II was born at the castle in
1893, giving meaning to the phrase "cradle of the dynasty, cradle of the nation" that Carol I
bestowed upon Peleș Castle. Carol II lived in Foișor Villa for periods during his reign.
After King Michael I's forced abdication in 1947, the Communist regime seized all royal property,
including the Peleș Estate. The castle was opened as a tourist attraction for a short time. It also
served as a recreation and resting place for Romanian cultural personalities. The castle was
declared a museum in 1953. Nicolae Ceaușescu closed the entire estate between 1975 and
1990, during the last years of the Communist regime. The area was declared a "State Protocol
Interest Area", and the only persons permitted on the property were maintenance and military
personnel.
Ceauşescu did not like the castle very much and rarely visited. In the 1980s, some of the timber
was infested with Serpula lacrymans. After the December 1989 Revolution, Peleş and Pelişor
Castle were re-established as heritage sites and opened to the public. Today, Foişor Castle
serves as a presidential residence. The Economat Building and the Guard's Chambers Building
are now hotels and restaurants. Some of the other buildings on the Peleș Estate were converted
to tourist villas and some are now "state protocol buildings". In 2006, the Romanian government
announced the restitution of the castle to former monarch Michael I. Negotiations soon began
between the former king and the government of Romania, and have not concluded yet. The
castle is on lease from the royal family to the Romanian state. Peleș Castle receives between a
quarter and almost a half million visitors annually.
Throughout its history, the castle hosted some important personalities, from royalty and
politicians to artists. One of the most memorable visits was that of Kaiser Franz Joseph
I of Austria-Hungary on 2 October 1896, who later wrote in a letter:
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.

Artists like George Enescu, Sarah Bernhardt, Jacques Thibaud and Vasile Alecsandri visited

often as guests of Queen Elizabeth of Romania(herself a writer also known under the pen name
of Carmen Sylva). In more recent times, many foreign dignitaries such as Richard Nixon, Gerald
Ford, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and Yasser Arafat were welcomed at the castle.
The castle was featured in the 2009 film The Brothers Bloom. The exterior of the castle is used to
represent a large estate in New Jersey, the home of an eccentric billionaire played by Rachel
Weisz.[3]
The castle was featured in the Netflix original film A Christmas Prince. It was also featured in the
2011 Hallmark Channel movie A Princess for Christmas and 2018's Royal Matchmaker.