Károlyi Castle from Carei, Satu Mare

Karolyi Castle from Carei is by far the most visited tourist attraction of Satu Mare. A restoration made to the highest standards, combined with a superb architecture located in the center of a valuable beautiful arboretum in combination with a colorful historical past has made this former residence of the big Count, become very attractive destination for tourists.

The impressive construction, perhaps one of the most beautiful in Transylvania and Romania, Karolyi Castle, was the ancient home of scholars such as Grigore Maior, poets Petőfi Sándor and Ady Endre, but also of certain royalty as Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria or King Ferdinand of Romania. The prestige gained through these personalities can not be compared with the notoriety gained by Karolyi Castle through the legends woven around the families Rakozi and Karolyi - the first known residence in the late fifteenth century.

At the end of the next century because of the rise of the Turkish danger, the residence made of natural stone was converted into a complete fortress with moat and wall fortification and four corner bastions. Due to its strategic position and solid form in the eighteenth century the fortress of Carei, it's part of the fortifications against the Turks. To successfully deal with a possible attack, the fortifications of the city are expanded between 1661 and 1666 and after recovering, here is assigned a German garrison benefiting from its own artillery. The Turkish attacks failed to destroy the fortress, but had caused some severe damages that have been repaired by the works from 1678.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the fortress was repeatedly the venue for some important diplomatic meetings. Among other things, there have been negotiations for the drafting and the signing of the Peace Treaty of Satu Mare in 1711.

The castle has hosted around 60 people, of which 30 were counts and their descendants, the remaining were servants. The castle has rooms reception Ballrooms, rooms for leisure activities, for guests and a library with 2,000 volumes in Romanian, Hungarian, German and Latin.

The Karolyi family emblem is a hawk that keep in his claws a heart, surrounded by a dragon. Over time, the castle was turned into a military garrison, being occupied by the Nazis, then became TB sanatorium and a zootechnical highschool . All riches, paintings, furniture, were stolen, just a few of them have been recovered.

Today, after renovation, the castle has furniture from previous centuries, showing as before.

(Photos by: Georgescu Dragos Photography)Less