UNIVERSITATEA 1 DECEMBRIE 1918 ALBA-IULIA FACULTATEA DE ISTORIE I FILOLOGIE MASTER MUZEOLOGIE.

CERCETAREA I PROTEJAREA PATRIMONIULUI CULTURAL

THE BETHLEN CASTLE OF SNMICLU

- referat Limba Englez -

student: Irina BOTA

an universitar 2012-2013 an de studii 1, sem. 2

lect. univ. dr. Gabriel BRBULE

UNIVERSITATEA 1 DECEMBRIE 1918 ALBA-IULIA FACULTATEA DE ISTORIE I FILOLOGIE MASTER MUZEOLOGIE. CERCETAREA I PROTEJAREA PATRIMONIULUI CULTURAL

The last third of the sixteenth century represents the beginning of the aristocratic architecture flourishing period. The buildings that mark this phase are the rural aristocratic castles that were built in Aghire, Cetatea de Balt, Vinu de Jos, Cri, Mnstirea, Medieul Aurit, Raco, and finally in Bonida and Snmiclu. The planimetric layout varies. The schemes are either loose asymmetrical compositions (Vinu de Jos, Lzarea, Cri, Mnstirea) or rectangular enclosed plans. The rectangular layout may have an interior patio, as in Medieul Aurit, Iernut, Bonida, Aghire, Raco, or it can be a compact building, without a patio (Deva, Cetatea de Balt, Snmiclu). Usually, the open compositions are later on completed to form an enclosed area. This happened in Vinu de Jos, Lzarea and Cri. Commonly, the ground floor of these residences is occupied by the servants rooms, the kitchen and the storerooms. The main rooms are always placed at the first floor, in a specific layout, almost always the same. Usually, the center is the living room, that most times comprises the main monumental stair. On one side lays the masters room, and on the other side his wifes room, from which the room of the daughters open. The spouses rooms are rarely connected, in which case the living room has a different position. Margit B. Nagy demonstrates how this layout originates in the ancient type of the peasant house. The Bethlen Castle in Snmiclu is built according to the plans of Miklos Bethlen himself, the owner of the castle. He studies architecture in Utrecht and Leyda, and travels through Europe afterwards. The building starts in 1668, but only the basement and the ground floor are finished by 1673, and the rest of the castle is built in the second phase of the building 1682-1683. The Baroque window framings from the ground floor elements bare the marks of architect Franz Schweininger in 1765. The castle was further modified later in 1856 because of the restoration works made by the Brukenthal family who owned the castle at that time. The castle has a compact rectangular planimetric layout, without patio, that preserves the influence of the corner towers from the fortresses in the northern facade. The strong point of this castle is the two-story loggia in the southern facade, facing the Trnava Mic river. This chteau that merges Venetian reminiscences with the local architectural traditions is the most representative Late Renaissance castle in Transylvania. The castle was surrounded by fortification walls with five towers and water ditch and had a splendid garden to the south of the river, but today we only have the castle in poor condition for it hasnt been used or maintained since before the Revolution of 1989.