This is not an official Lego site.

I know, I know...the name of the castle drenched in dripping blood is way too melodramatic, particularly since this is not really Count Dracula's main castle in Romania...but I just couldn't resist! The nonagenerian owner of Auchans Castle [which see in Scotland] is reputed to have trained rats to dine with her in her senescent state - and Martin Coventry in the 3rd Edition of "The Castles of Scotland" identifes fully 222 of more than 2,700 castles as having ghosts or bogles - and there were certainly a few famous beheadings in the Tower of London [which see in England], but occupancy by the villainous Vlad the Impaler is very difficult to ignore! Bran Castle is built into and atop a huge 200 foot rocky crag at the narrowest spot in the Turcu River valley to guard Bran Pass from Transylvania into Wallachia. The first known castle on the site was a wooden structure built by the Teutonic knights about 1212. It became the property of the Saxons later in the century, as part of the protection for the nearby city of Brasov. It was destroyed during a Turkish invasion of 1370.
Ludovic I d'Anjou, King of Hungary, soon gave the citizens of Brasov permission to rebuild the castle (at their own expense, of course) and in 1377 construction began on the stone castle. Bran became the possession of Prince Mircea cel Batran, King of Wallachia, in 1395. The castle passed back to the King of Hungary, János Hunyadi [Iancu de Hunedoara], early in the 15th century, but he was the patron and benefactor of Prince Mircea's son, Vlad Dracul, Knight of the Order of the Dragon, and his grandson, also named Vlad, born in 1431. Young Vlad Dracul is presumed to have spent time at Bran off and on during his life. Vlad was commissioned to control the local Saxon peoples and later to be an enthusiastic protector against further Ottoman Turkish invasions. His vigor against the Turks is remembered fondly, but his viciousness towards his foes earned him the name Vlad Tepes [Vlad the Impaler]. His notoriety was such that he became the main character in Irish author Bram Stoker's "Dracula" in 1897.
Count Dracula's vigorous rebuffs of the Turks, in his role as Prince of Wallachia, proved to be for naught. From the mid-sixteenth century until early in the nineteenth the Ottoman Empire ruled much of southeastern Europe, including Transylvania and Wallachia in Romania. While I can find nothing about the castle during that 250 plus years, the castle was in good enough shape when recaptured by the Austro-Hungarian Empire with the fall of the Ottoman Turks that it is listed as an important Austrian border castle in 1836! In 1920 the Brasov Town Council donated Bran Castle to Queen Maria of Romania, grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. Sadly she despised her husband by state-arranged marriage, King Ferdinand, but loved Bran's beauty...and isolation. Maria and her court architect Carl Liman made many of the subtle Italian and German Baroque changes to the castle that are so impressive today. The castle has been a very popular museum and monument since 1947.
The courtyard looking
south toward the
entrance tower/stairs.
The courtyard looking north
with the well.
The cell where Vlad
Tepes may have been
imprisoned briefly.
And the famous Vlad
Dracul himself [AKA
Count Dracula.]
Ground Floor Plan 1st Floor Plan 2nd Floor Plan 3rd Floor Plan 4th Floor Plan

 

Construction of the Lego Model
Begun July 11, 2005
The view from the southeast
on July 14 features the path
leading to the entrance steps.
The northeast view shows the base of
the massive rock into which Bran was
built more than 625 years ago.
The unique staircase to the
entrance is now complete
on July 20...
And the "rock" begins to take shape.
By July 29 the entrance stair
looks all the more forbidding.
The mountainous rock continues to
rise higher and higher...
and you can begin to recognize
the massive western tower.
The courtyard of the castle is
also beginning to take shape.

 

Photos of the Lego Model
Built July-August, 2005

The south view shows
the entrance to the
imposing castle.
The famous southwest
elevation should take your
breath away. What an
incredible fortress!
The northwest view of the
model accentuates the large
oval tower and the huge rock
upon which the castle rests.
The northeast elevation
displays the rock to its
fullest. plus the unique
keep & residential range.
The southeast view of
the castle highlights
the unusual stait tower
as well as the entrance.
The narrow courtyard,
viewed from the north
highlights the security of
this unique castle.
This southwest courtyard view
continues the line of the
circumferencal walkway around
the courtyard.
I added this rooftop
view just to emphasize
the wonderful chimneys
that enhance this castle.

 

The Board of Directors of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra Guild was kind enough to ask
me to show a castle at the "Symphony of Trees" fundraiser. Bran Castle was carefully driven
to the Decatur Civic Center for the event. Here is the newspaper coverage:

 

Dateline January 11, 2007: Bran Castle for sale
for just $78 million!

 

Build Your Own
Lego Plan
Roof Plan
Southeast Elevation
Southwest Elevation
Northwest Elevation
Northeast Elevation
Cross-section through the
north-south axis
Cross-section through the
east-west axis


Other Bran Castle pages:
http://www.brasovtravelguide.ro/bv-en/surroundings/dracula-castle.php
http://www.aboutromania.com/brancastle.html
http://www.draculascastle.com/index3.html

Return to the main castle page.

Castles created by Robert Carney
Page designed & maintained by
Robert Carney