Bran Castle, made famous in Dracula, for sale

Dracula's frightful lair for sale
3 July 2007
The Record


* WHAT'S NEW: An heir of Romania's former royal family is putting Dracula's Castle in Transylvania up for sale, hoping to secure a buyer who will respect "the property and its history."

Archduke Dominic Habsburg put the 14th-century Bran Castle up for sale Monday "to the right purchaser under the right circumstances," said Michael Gardner, chief executive of Baytree Capital, the company representing Habsburg. "The Habsburgs are not in the business of managing a museum."

No price was announced, though Gardner predicted the castle would sell for more than $135 million. He added that Habsburg will only sell it to a buyer "who will treat the property and its history with appropriate respect."

* BACKGROUND: Bran Castle, perched on a cliff near Brasov in mountainous central Romania, is a top tourist attraction because of its ties to Prince Vlad the Impaler, the warlord whose cruelty inspired Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, "Dracula." Legend has it that Vlad, who earned his nickname because of the way he tortured his enemies, spent one night in the 1400s at the castle.

Bran Castle was built in the 14th century to serve as a fortress to protect against the invading Ottoman Turks. The royal family moved into the castle in the 1920s, living there until the communist regime confiscated it from Princess Ileana in 1948.

After being restored in the late 1980s and following the end of communist rule in Romania, it gained popularity as a tourist attraction known as Dracula's Castle. In May 2006, the castle was returned to Princess Ileana's son, Archduke Dominic Habsburg. He offered to sell it last year to local authorities for $80 million, but the offer was rejected.

* WHAT'S NEXT: Habsburg, a 69-year-old New York architect, will keep the castle open as a museum until 2009, when he will gain full control of it. The