Miclauseni Castle
Miclăuşeni, Romania
About
Miclauseni Castle, historical monument belonging to the Gothic art, was built between 1880-1904 by George A. Sturza and his wife Maria (born Ghica). The shape of the palace is a cross. It was a hospital during the WWI and a prison for Nazis in the WWII. It was devastated by the Soviet soldiers and the Romanian communists. Now it belongs to the church because it was donated by the last owner. Outside, the building had numerous decorations (including flags inspired Sturdza family crest: a lion with a sword and an olive branch), completed in 1898 in Art Nouveau style by architect Julius Reinecke. Influences are found in neo-Gothic decoration such as towers Gothic, medieval armor, riding school hall, Latin dicta appear on walls, tower bridge entrance with moat water. Inside the castle had central marble staircase Dalmatia, rosewood furniture, elaborately carved fireplaces in terracotta, porcelain and earthenware, made abroad, intarsia parquet with essences of maple, mahogany, oak and ebony, made by Austrian craftsmen and ceilings and interior walls were painted in oil. Castle housed a valuable collection of books and documents, medieval costumes, weapons, jewelry, paintings, marble busts of Cararra, silverware, but also pieces of archaeological, numismatic and epigraphic high value. Collection of books numbered only 60,000 copies, many of them first editions or rarisime.
