Bran Castle, made famous in Dracula, for sale
Dracula's frightful lair for sale
3 July 2007
The Record
* WHAT'S NEW: An heir of Romania's former royal family is putting
Dracula's Castle in Transylvania up for sale, hoping to secure a buyer
who will respect "the property and its history."
Archduke Dominic Habsburg put the 14th-century Bran Castle up for sale
Monday "to the right purchaser under the right circumstances," said
Michael Gardner, chief executive of Baytree Capital, the company
representing Habsburg. "The Habsburgs are not in the business of
managing a museum."
No price was announced, though Gardner predicted the castle would sell
for more than $135 million. He added that Habsburg will only sell it
to a buyer "who will treat the property and its history with
appropriate respect."
* BACKGROUND: Bran Castle, perched on a cliff near Brasov in
mountainous central Romania, is a top tourist attraction because of
its ties to Prince Vlad the Impaler, the warlord whose cruelty
inspired Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula." Legend has it that Vlad,
who earned his nickname because of the way he tortured his enemies,
spent one night in the 1400s at the castle.
Bran Castle was built in the 14th century to serve as a fortress to
protect against the invading Ottoman Turks. The royal family moved
into the castle in the 1920s, living there until the communist regime
confiscated it from Princess Ileana in 1948.
After being restored in the late 1980s and following the end of
communist rule in Romania, it gained popularity as a tourist
attraction known as Dracula's Castle. In May 2006, the castle was
returned to Princess Ileana's son, Archduke Dominic Habsburg. He
offered to sell it last year to local authorities for $80 million, but
the offer was rejected.
* WHAT'S NEXT: Habsburg, a 69-year-old New York architect, will keep
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