After leaving the Cluj-N.- Dej highway at Răscruci, one can soon observe the rising towers of the Bánffy Castle at Bontida, on the banks of the Somes River. Formerly known as the Transylvanian Versailles, Bánffy castle, Bontida is one of the most beautiful historic buildings in the Carpathian basin.

Although it is probable that a mansion stood on the estate in the 14th and 15th Centuries, written evidence has been found dating only from the beginning of the 16th Century. According to a military report from 1680, fortifications had been built around the mansion, comprising of squared Renaissance ramparts with cylindrical corner towers.  Dénes Bánffy (1638-1674), Lord Lieutenant of the counties of Dăbâca and Cluj, brother-in-law of Prince Mihaly Apafi, had the potential and the power to create such a large and imposing Renaissance castle.

Count Dénes Bánffy(II) inherited the estate in 1735 at the age of 12. He spent his youth in Vienna and returned home as Master of the Horse to Maria Theresa. He began the Baroque reconstruction of the castle in 1747.

The first stage of Dénes Bánffy’s reconstruction addressed the court d’honneur. This was built between 1745 and 1751 on the area in front of the gatehouse. The new buildings containing a riding hall, stables, coach house and dwelling houses for servants were based on the style of the works related to the Viennese experience of the owner.

József Bánffy, ordered the demolition of the gatehouse of the Renaissance castle around 1820, and combined the Baroque and Renaissance courtyards. Stones of the gatehouse were used to build the mill beside the castle.

The park was also transformed. József Bánffy converted the geometrical French garden, inherited from the previous century, into a Romantic landscape-garden with all the appropriate features…

The Castle was unfortunately seriously damaged by the retreating German troops, destroying its furniture, library, and portrait collection in September 1944. The only evidence of its former interiors are the archive photographs.

The consequences of the nationalisation and the inadequate use of the buildings, as well as the lack of maintenance accelerated their degradation.

In the 1960’s the National Direction for Monument Conservation consolidated the main building. The funding of the restoration works was stopped after a short time.

It’s precarious condition has been officially recognised as it appears on the World Monuments Watch’s list of One Hundred Most Endangered Sites for 2000.

The size, architectural and historic value, and degree of degradation of the castle make its restoration and use a complex task, which will only succeed with a proper long-term strategy and international co-operation.

The Romanian-Hungarian Covenant between the Ministry of Culture, Romania and the Ministry for National Cultural Heritage, Hungary signed in 1999 enabled funds to be directed towards the conservation of the castle.

Through the presence of the Transylvania Trust and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, who are the organisers of the Built Heritage Conservation Training Centre set up within the Castle, the high quality restoration and long term protection can be ensured.

In the longer term the ensemble will incorporate commercial units as well, such as restaurant, gift shop, café, hotel, and will also include conference facilities. A commercial activity already exists on the site in the form of the Art Café located in the ground floor of the Bastion attached to the former Kitchen Block, open daily from 10 am to 6 pm. It is hoped that in the longer term such commercial activity can be extended into the Main Building through its conversion to hotel and conference facilities so that eventually the commercial activity and Training Centre can operate in parallel to create a sustainable site.

Until 1944, Transylvania’s most famous parkland enveloped Bánffy Castle.

The earliest documentation relating to the gardens and parkland of the castle date from the eighteenth century when Dénes Bánffy attempted to bring the grandeur of the French garden to Bontida, using Versailles and Schönbrunn as models. Johann Christian Erras reflected the French Baroque concept of estate parkland in his landscape designs for Bánffy Castle.

The formal layouts complimented the fashionable Baroque architecture of this period. Symmetrical avenues, large parterres, clipped trees and shrubs dominated the gardens. Three linden tree avenues, each 1000 meters in length, radiated from the western wall of the castle. These avenues converged at the bridge and a fourth avenue departed northwards.

The park was transformed at the beginning of the nineteenth Century, under the instruction of Count József Bánffy. These works were undertaken in parallel with the major alterations that were being executed at the castle. The geometrical French inspired parkland, was remodelled into the fashionable Romantic style, first by Sámuel Hermann and then again in 1831 by János László.

Originating in England, this romantic style was a reaction to the formal layouts of the French designs. The straight roads and geometric forms were replaced with artificial groves and meandering paths that enabled trees and plants to grow without constraints.

The beauty of the parkland can not be discerned today, the remains are steadily eroding by the establishment of self-seeding plants, the felling /cutting of trees and lack of maintenance. It is hoped that through partnership and international cooperation the parkland will be eventually fully restored, to complement the restoration work being undertaken at the castle.
This will provide a new environment to be enjoyed by local people and visitors, and will restore the setting of the castle.

The statue gallery of the Bonţida castle was the most important 18th century Transylvanian ensemble of statues. It was created in the 1740-50’s, when Dénes Bánffy extended his castle to resemble the Vienna aristocratic buildings, and wanted to decorate it according to his rank. The creation of the gallery, a compulsory element of nobiliar representation in the period, was entrusted to the Cluj sculptor Johannes Nachtigall.

The figures (heroes, gods, titans) with high artistic value were drawn from ancient Greek and Roman mythology and the Metamorhposes of the Roman poet Ovidius.

Three mythological figures were placed on the southern as well as the northern gables of the baroque main building. On the southern façade a huge blazon composition with a griffin was also created. The U-shaped block enclosing the court d’honneur encompasses the main gate of the ensemble as well. The 3 titan statutes on its side facing the village were completed by an embossed family coat of arms held by griffins. On the internal elevation of the gatehouse there stood 7 mythological figures, the middle 3 of them being titans. The statues that decorated the northern and southern wings of the U-shaped barns (4 on each) faced the court d’honneur. The parapets of the stable and riding hall were each decorated by 11 figures of ancient heroes and gods. The elevations facing the village of the riding hall and gatehouse were decorated by 20 richly carved stone urns, sometimes with figurative ornaments. Originally there were 36 of these, but the urns of the stable disappeared prior to 1944.

The gallery of the parapet was completed by representative gates with a statue of a groomsman on a prancing horse at the riding hall, and an embossed horse-figure at the stable. The stable’s drinking fountain was given artistic value by a life-sized statue of a horse blowing water through his nostrils. The park was also decorated by urns and statues.

The gallery of more then 80 pieces became the victim of neglect in the past fifty years. Most of the surviving statues are at Cluj. The broken pieces lying on the ground were taken to the stone deposit of the Transylvanian Museum of History (8 statues and 4 urns) and to the court of the Inheritance Department (13 statues and 4 urns) in 1978. At Bonţida there are 2 statues (Cadmos and Helios) in their original location, on the stable’s parapet, and 5 statues from the main building and fragments of 2 urns in the museum created in the gatehouse, with the torso of the stable’s fountain statue in it its front. It is hoped that in the longer term many of the statues will be returned to the Castle, as the museum develops.

Built heritage is more than just old houses, castles, churches, museums – it is “living” evidence of our past, culture, craftsmanship, history, lifestyle, etc. This heritage was left to us as a legacy by our ancestors, to at least maintain, and to hand over to the next generations.

Start planning your lesson by contacting us at  bhct@transylvaniatrust.ro

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