A castle break in Miclăuşeni

The Sturdza castle in Miclăuşeni, Iasi county, is ready to receive visitors after spending almost ten years undergoing restoration works. The castle can be found in the park of the same name and its reopening is part of the Travel to 1900 project, which aims to gather further funding to continue works on the edifice.

The Sturdza castle, property of the Moldova and Bucovina Metropolitanate, is now a Neo-Gothic construction built between 1880 and 1904 by Gheorghe Sturza and his wife Maria. The ensemble on site includes three monuments, all of them historical monuments: the 1787 Buna Vestire church, the castle and the surrounding 19th century park.

The castle dates back to the 17th century, it was rebuilt in 1752 and again in the 19th century. The Miclăușeni park was first documented in 1410. Simion Stroici built here a mansion at the beginning of the 17th century, the ruins of which could still be found on site at the beginning of the 20th century. By the end of the 17th century the domain enters the property of the Sturdza family and in 1752 Ioan Sturdza rebuilds the mansion. His son, Dimitrie Sturdza, built between 1821-1823 a church close by. Alecu Sturdza Miclăușanu, the son Dimitrie, sets up a 42 hectares surface around the mansion as a park, landscaped in English style, with ornamental trees and alleys surrounded by flower beds. A late Neo-Gothic style castle is built on the site of the former mansion between 1880 and 1904, after a project of architects Iulius Reinecke and I. Grigsberg. The castle is inspired by the Princely Palace in Ruginoasa and the Culture Palace in Iasi.

The castle can be visited Saturday and Sunday, between 12:00 and 17:00. Accommodation is available close by at Casa Macrina.

Miclăuşeni is 66 km away from Iasi, on the DN28.

Photo: Wikipedia.