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Peleș Castle was the summer residence of Romanian King Carol I. It’s located in Sinaia, Romania, and is beautifully set in the Carpathian Mountains.
History
King Carol I first visited the area where Peleş Castle was built in 1866 and fell in love with the breathtaking mountain scenery. In 1872, he purchased five square kilometers of land and commissioned a hunting preserve and summer retreat.
The foundation for Peleş Castle was laid on August 22, 1873. The castle’s inaugural ball was held on October 7, 1883. Further additions were made between 1893 and 1914. Queen Elisabeth wrote about the construction scenes in her journal:
“Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, the Gypsies were coolies. Albanians and Greeks worked in stone, Germans and Hungarians were carpenters. Turks were burning brick. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech. The Frenchmen were drawing, the Englishmen were measuring, and so was then when you could see hundreds of national costumes and fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled in all dialects and tones, a joyful mix of men, horses, cart oxen and domestic buffaloes.”
After King Michael I was forced to abdicate on December 30, 1947, the castle was seized by the Communist Party. It was opened for a short time as a tourist attraction and used as a resting place by famous Romanians. In 1953, it was declared a museum, but was closed to the public in 1975 by Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918-1989). After the Romanian Revolution in 1989, it reopened as a tourist attraction.
In 2006, the Romanian government returned the castle and other properties to former King Michael I. It’s currently owned by the royal family and is on lease to the government as a museum.
Famous Guests
Peleş Castle hosted Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary in 1896, and artists like George Enescu (1881-1955), Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), Jacques Thibaud (1880-1953), Angelo de Gubernatis (1840–1913), and Vasile Alecsandri (1821-1890) were often guests of Queen Elisabeth. Foreign dignitaries such as Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and Yasser Arafat have all visited in more recent times.
Architecture
Peleş Castle was designed by German architect Johannes Schultz. Additions were made by Czech architect Karel Liman (1855-1929). The design incorporates different European styles, mostly Italian and German. It also has Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival features. The interior is mainly Baroque.
Peleş Castle covers around 3,200 square meters (34,000 square feet). It has over 170 rooms, 30 bathrooms, several secret passages, and is one of the first palaces in the world to have a central vacuum system. It’s also the first palace in the world to be fully powered by its own local electricity plant.
Gardens
A statue of King Carol I stands proudly in the terrace gardens in front of the castle. It was sculpted by Italian artist Raffaello Romanelli (1856-1928), along with other statues in the gardens. There are also fountains, urns, stairways, marble paths and other decorative pieces.
