Today I'm back to show you the interior beauty of the Bethlen-Haller Castle, one that you don't see anywhere else. A few days ago I showed you the exterior of this architectural and historical beauty and shared the history of it as well. If you missed my post, you can read it here and please do to see how beautiful it is.
The castle is situated at Cetatea de Balta, Alba county (Romania). It has 3 levels, which means there's a cellar, the ground level and another one. The visit started at the ground floor, with a stunning entrance room.
The castle was built between 1560 and 1624 and what you see above is the old entrance.
Later was added the front part, with the upper balcony and the nice, wooden carved front door, as there's a staircase that handles the traffic theses days, sparing the old staircase for a good reason. I'm going to show you the old one later as it worth seeing.
This is the first room you enter. It is furnished with contemporary furniture and objects that were used back in those days, as well as artworks from different authors.
A hand painted wooden chest can't be missing from the collection as this was the storage unit that was used those days, even for travel.
Clocks were not only to indicate the time, but also meant a nice piece of furniture, to decorate the room.
Please note, the castle had a very chaotic past, had a lot of owners, was lost at the card table and won by others, therefore each owner tried to adjust the castle to their needs. Most of the furniture and objects displayed here are not the original ones. These have been collected carefully, to correspond to those times.
Imagine sitting here, drinking wine from a carved metal cup, while the guards stay there guarding the doors :)
The walls are painted in white, but the door to the original staircase is still intact and you can see the nice carving in stone.
This is the old staircase, the original, which is closed to the public because it's not safe anymore. At the time of our visit, there were renovation works going on.
This is the staircase to the basement, which is original. The staircase made of beams and the railing made of rope, who wouldn't like that? Some of the visitors were so afraid to walk down these stairs.
It was built in a way so the stairs can be covered with these doors that can be shut, to cover them. Obviously these are not in use anymore and are never closed.
This is out tour guide, telling us about the elevator, that was electrified during communist times, the cellar that is in the back and it's full of goodies now. Obviously I could not resist the temptation and I went to take a few shots.
We've been told that they are self sufficient, all you see here was grown by them and it is served at the restaurant. I don't know what it tastes like, but everything looks good.
Pottery, it serves for decoration today but back in those days these pots were used on a daily bases.
This is the restaurant, where lunch and wine tasting happens. It's not a huge place, so there are no events organized here, unless it's a very small one. Although I've been to many restaurants like this, it's always a pleasure to imagine medieval people sit at these table, being served with an endless line of food, one more exquisite that the other.
I took this photo to show you how thick the walls are and this is the original wall, the bricks were only cleaned with the necessary treatment and that's all. If you pay attention, you can see how uneven those bricks are, not like a job done these days.
If I will ever have a basement similar to this (smaller of course) I will want a bottle holder like that. I rarely drink, but this holder looks cool.
This is the view from the upper floor balcony, which was added later. If this is not stunning, than nothing is. We were lucky to get this nice weather, even if it was windy.
This is the entrance to the music room, which played a huge role back in those days. But before we get into details, please notice how thick the wall is here as well.
Because electricity arrived in the mid 60's (1960 I mean) if I'm not mistaken, music back in those days meant simple music instruments, like piano for example.
This piano was found in a shed and was in a very bad condition, but has been repaired, restored and I suppose it's functional now.
When I look at this type of furniture, especially the cabinet, I wish I had 5 more rooms to be able to have such a room full of old furniture. It's fantasy obviously and I don't know how I would feel with my 21st century gadgets among these old pieces, but dreaming is always nice.
Stay tuned as next time I'm going to show you the diner and one of the bedrooms, among other things.
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
