Dracula's castle may sell for as much as EUR 60 mln as Brasov County Council is seeking to purchase the legendary Transylvanian property to boost tourism revenue. The local government is in talks with the Habsburgo family, who put the fortress on sale seven months after getting it back from the Romanian state.
Dracula's castle may sell for as much as EUR 60 mln as Brasov County Council is seeking to purchase the legendary Transylvanian property to boost tourism revenue. The local government is in talks with the Habsburgo family, who put the fortress on sale seven months after getting it back from the Romanian state.
'We want to get involved in getting back the castle and running it because it would be a very good opportunity to further develop tourism', Aristotel Cancescu, president of the municipality, told Budapest Business Journal.
Built in 1212 by Teutonic knights and located 200 km north of the capital Bucharest, the castle was used two centuries later by the Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker's Count Dracula legend. Also known as Bran Castle, the fortress was handed back to the family of the late Romanian Princess Ileana last May by court order as the government returned assets seized during the Communist era as part of the process of joining the European Union.
The castle's current owner is the Dominic von Habsburg family, who offered to sell it for EUR 19 mln to the local government last month. The central government in Bucharest has the first right of refusal to buy the castle, according to the country's legislation, BBJ said. Should it decline, the local government can make offer. Strikingly, the asking price has tripled in last few weeks.