Bánffy Castle in Bonțida

Bánffy Castle stands in the village of Bonțida, seat of the commune of the same name in Cluj County, in the Someșul Mic valley, about 30 km north-east of Cluj-Napoca on the road to Dej. The ensemble was nicknamed "the Versailles of Transylvania". The Bonțida estate passed to the Bánffy family in 1387, as a grant from King Sigismund of Luxembourg. Between 1668 and 1674, Dénes Bánffy, counsellor to Prince Michael I Apafi, fortified the old manor house with curtain walls, round corner towers and a gate tower. Between 1747 and 1751, Dénes Bánffy IV rebuilt the ensemble in the Viennese Baroque style, with a U-shaped cour d'honneur containing the riding school and stables and decorated with statues inspired by Ovid's "Metamorphoses", carved by Johann Nachtigall. In the 1830s the eastern wings were remodelled in the Neoclassical style, and in 1855 the western façades of the main building and the kitchen building were redone in the Neo-Gothic style. In the 1930s the writer and politician Miklós Bánffy, the last owner before nationalisation, restored the western façade. In 1944, retreating German troops looted and burned the castle, destroying its furniture, library and portrait gallery. After the war the buildings were used by the collective farm and fell into ruin. In 1999, at the request of the Transylvania Trust Foundation, the castle was placed on the World Monuments Watch list of the 100 most endangered sites. Since 2003 the foundation has managed the castle and led its restoration, and since 2005 the castle has housed the Built Heritage Conservation Training Centre, which received a Europa Nostra award in 2008. Visitors can see the courtyard around the main building and the kitchen building; some parts of the ensemble are temporarily closed because of the works. Every summer the castle park hosts the Electric Castle festival. Bánffy Castle is a category A historic monument, LMI code CJ-II-a-A-07534. The castle was returned to the Bánffy family in 2007 and is managed by the Transylvania Trust Foundation under a long-term agreement. Did you know that in 1963 the castle was used as a set for Liviu Ciulei's film "Forest of the Hanged"? For a scene with fire, the set designers lit one of the buildings, and the blaze caused heavy damage to the ensemble.