Mikó Castle
The Mikó Castle (Romanian: Castelul Mikó; Hungarian: Mikó-vár) is a fortified castle in Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda), Romania. It is among the city's most important monuments, and today houses an ethnographic museum devoted to Székely heritage.
Work on the castle, which is 75 m long and 70 m wide, began on 26 April 1623 and probably was completed in the 1630s. In style, it resembles the castles at
The first written document to mention the citadel dates to 1631. After Ferenc Mikó's heirs died prematurely, the citadel came into the possession of Tamás Damokos, supreme judge of Csíkszék. On 21 October 1661, Turkish and Tatar troops led by Ali,
In 1735, the Austrian engineer and colonel Johann Conrad Weiss drew up the castle's plan. This is the oldest surviving plan of the building, and has been important to those studying both its history and the stages of its construction. For the rebuilt citadel, the Austrians designed a defensive system involving four Italian-style bastions, remnants of which are still visible on the south side. On the southwest side, they built a gunpowder depot, while converting the south bastion into a chapel. The chapel ceiling is decorated in modest stucco, following a late-Baroque design. The Gothic window frames were placed later on. The ground-floor rooms have dome-shaped cylindrical ceilings with groin vaults. Above the window sills there are tall, narrow, rectangular embrasures. The fortified castle played an important defensive role at the eastern border of the Habsburg Empire.[1]
Through the mid-20th century, the building was used by the troops of various armies. In particular, it served as a barracks for Habsburg troops until 1764. From 1764 to 1848 it was the residence of the commander of the
Gallery
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Bastion -
Panorama -
Inside the castle -
Gallery -
Szekler gates exhibition near the castle
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See also
- List of castles in Romania
- Tourism in Romania
- Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania
References
- ^ a b c d (in Romanian) "Cetatea Mikó" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine at the Ciuc Szekler Museum site; accessed July 20, 2010
- ^ (in Romanian) "Secţii" at the Kájoni János County Library site; accessed July 20, 2010
- ^ (in Romanian) Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2004: Judeţul Harghita Archived 2009-06-17 at the Wayback Machine, p.17; accessed July 23, 2010
