Dracula's Castle

During the Hippie era, many American vagabonds traveled Europe with knapsacks or backpacks (author included). Many of these arrived in Transylvania,... more

by Alan Lance Andersen

Title

Dracula's Castle

Artist

Alan Lance Andersen

Medium

Painting

Description

During the Hippie era, many American vagabonds traveled Europe with knapsacks or backpacks (author included). Many of these arrived in Transylvania, and of course they always asked about Dracula. During the Communist regime, Dracula was banned. Then at the turn of the 1980s, Alexander Misiuga and Nocolae Paduraru, both tourist officials in Romania, were fascinated by the increasing numbers of foreign tourists who wanted to visit the fictional places in Transylvania mentioned in Bram Stoker's novel.

Amazingly, Misiuga managed to get funding from Romania's brutal and repressive Prime Minister Nicolae Ceausescu (who was also Chairman of the Communist Party!) to build a lavish "Castle Dracula" tourist hotel in the remote Borgo Pass, which features prominently in the Stoker novel. Fortunately, a real gothic graveyard was near to hand to lend authenticity. This has since become a popular tourist destination.

Uploaded

May 8th, 2016