Peleş Castle (Romania)

The castle was laid in 1873 on an order of Romanian king Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (Carol I). He personally chose Sinaia for his summer residence – a wild but scenic place. The name was given to the castle by a beautiful mountain river flowing here.

According to wishes of King Carol and Queen Elizabeth (Carmen Sylva, her real name), architects Wilhelm Doder from Vienna and Johannes Schultz from Lvov used a combination of styles. The main construction of the castle began since 1875 under their leading.

The official grand opening of the castle took place on October 7 of 1883.

In the castle features of German Neo Renaissance predominate: vertical and sharp towers, asymmetry of structure, abundance of carved wood and complete matching the surrounding landscape. Other styles were also involved: Italian Renaissance, German Baroque, Rococo as well as Spanish and Turkish styles.

The architects used numerous decorative elements of wood to ornament both the outward and the inner parts of the castle. These elements make it especially beautiful.

The castle is surrounded by seven terraces, has a central 66-meter high tower and includes 160 rooms with precious collections of pieces of art, armory and furniture. Its magnificence is underlined by gardens in the Italian Renaissance style with statues and spring fountains.

The collection of armory in the castle consists of more than 4 thousand European and Oriental items of XV-XIX centuries, which have artistic, historical and documental value.

Beside that, there is an extremely precious collection of German equipment of XVII century in the Peleş Castle as well as the only collection of Maximilian equipment for horses and knights.

Each one of the 160 rooms of the Peleş Castle is unique in its own way. The finishing of the Florence room is done with ebony wood. The finishing of the Turkish room is draped with silk. The French room is done in the style of Louis IV. Theater (in 1906 it is here that the first film projection in Romania took place), concert and study rooms, the king’s apartments, library and living hall are also of note.

The entry hall, the armory hall, the reception hall, where pictures and wooden models depicting 16 castles of the Hohenzollern Dynasty are exhibited, the canteen, the imperial apartment, the council hall, the Florence hall, the concert hall are also characterized by special beauty.

The spiral staircase in the main reception hall is also impressive. Collections of decorative art are presented by works of glass, china, precious metals, different kinds of medals and coins of high memorial and documental value.

Among other precious items are statues, ceramic items, golden and silver plates, Meissen and Sevres porcelain items.

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