Bethlen Castle, which is part of Nagyenyed Castle, will once again be owned by the Transylvanian Reformed Church District, the church district announced on its website on Monday.
The church district claimed the castle back 15 years ago, but its request was rejected by the restitution committee. Following the church's claim, in March of this year, the Supreme Court of Romania annulled the decision rejecting the return and obliged the commission to make another decision regarding the return of the valuable monument.
The new decision has now ordered restitution.
Helga Lőrincz, deputy mayor of Nagyenyed, told MTI: the city does not challenge the new decision and strives to cooperate with the church.
Bishop Béla Kató welcomed the decision. He stated that this would allow the historical buildings in the center of the city to form a unified core. The bishop spoke approvingly of the Nagyenyed city administration, which accepts that the real estate belongs to the rightful owners. He added: the church district has successfully cooperated with the municipality so far, as their common goal is to renovate and utilize the buildings in the downtown of Nagyenyed.
"The church district has not received a significant building back for a long time, so the restitution of Bethlen Castle is a positive step forward in the stagnation of recent years," the church district's website quoted the bishop as saying.
The Reformed Church had already recovered the building complex of the Gábor Bethlen Reformed College in the neighborhood of the castle, and the teachers' apartments in the street of the college. The teachers' apartments and the reformed church surrounded by the castle walls are being renovated.
The recently recovered Bethlen Castle was built on the castle gate. You can reach the castle and the Reformed church occupying the central place of the castle through a tunnel-like vaulted entrance passing through the castle's ground floor. The castle once functioned as a princely palace, and then it also housed the college. After its nationalization in 1948, the city of Nagyenyed established a historical museum in it. Its renovation began in 2011 with funds provided by the Romanian government, but it has not yet been completed.
Speaking to MTI, Deputy Mayor Helga Lőrincz said: the objects of the historical museum are not currently on display. The city is waiting for the renovation to be completed so that the museum can move back. As he specified: the law states that the church must preserve the intended purpose of the restored real estate for ten years.
"We asked the church to enter into a longer-term partnership agreement and to find the necessary resources to complete the renovation," declared the deputy mayor.
MTI
Photo: Bethlen Castle, which is part of Nagyenyed Castle, on November 8, 2021, which will once again be owned by the Transylvanian Reformed Church District.
The recently recovered Bethlen Castle was built on the castle gate. You can reach the castle and the Reformed church occupying the central place of the castle through a tunnel-like vaulted entrance passing through the castle's ground floor. After its nationalization in 1948, the city of Nagyenyed established a historical museum in it. Its renovation began in 2011 with funds provided by the Romanian government, but it has not yet been completed. MTI/Gábor Kiss
