The renovation of the Bánffy Castle at the crossroads, funded by European Union funds, is nearing its end, the building complex will be a special jewel and pride not only of Cluj County, but of the whole of Transylvania, announced István Vákár, Vice President of the Cluj County Council, in his Facebook post.
The 644-square-meter castle has an area of 56,128 square meters, which will be landscaped. After the renovation, the castle would function as a cultural center under the authority of the Cluj County Council. Located 26 kilometers from Cluj-Napoca, the castle built in a neoclassical eclectic style was the summer residence of the Bánffy family. It acquired its current form in the second half of the 19th century, but its greatest value is the relatively well-preserved interior coverings. The ground floor walls of the hall are covered with Neo-Renaissance cladding made of oak and ash wood.
Photo: István Vákár/Facebook
The main decoration of the dining room is the green glazed tile stove, on the two side walls of which reliefs depicting important moments of Hungarian history can be seen. An auxiliary school operated in the building, which was nationalized during communism, until 2007, since then it has been out of use.
The works started at the beginning of 2021, more than three years after winning the European Union tender. The EU support was called off by the municipality of Cluj county back in 2017, but it ran into obstacles several times after that.
Photo: István Vákár/Facebook
For a long time, there were "no applicants" for the castle, because the construction companies considered the amount allocated for the intervention, which otherwise required great expertise, too little. Therefore, the county council had to announce the bid for the construction four times, and had to spend several times the amount intended for the investment.
Source: kronikaonline.ro
Cover photo: István Vákár/Facebook
