Macea Castle, also called Cernovici Castle or Csernovics Castle, is a castle located in

Macea Macea ( hu, Mácsa; german: Matscha) is a commune in Arad County, Romania, composed of two villages, Macea and Sânmartin (''Szentmárton'', ''Aradsanktmartin''). The commune is located in the western part of the county, on the border with Hun ...

Commune,

Arad County Arad County () is an administrative division ( judeţ) of Romania roughly translated into county in the western part of the country on the border with Hungary, mostly in the region of Crișana and few villages in Banat. The administrative cente ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. It was built in the 19th century and belonged to two noble families, the Csernovics and Károlyi.

History

The history of the castle is connected with the history of the noble family of Csernovics. They receive the nobility title from the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephe ...

in the year 1720. In the year 1724 Mihail and his son John (Ioan) get several estates including the Macea estate. In the same year begins the construction of a mansion in Macea, finished in the year 1745, which is the year of the death of Mihail. In that period the castle had only one wing, the east one with the two turrets. The wife of Mihail, Anne, becomes the next owner and she will buy the

Curtici Curtici ( Hungarian: ''Kürtös'', German: ''Kurtitsch'') is a town located in Arad County, in western Romania. The town is situated at a distance from the county capital, Arad, in the western part of Arad County. It is the most important railwa ...

and Cutos estates. The nephew of Mihail, Lazarus Csernovics, is granted with the title of

Graf (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...

(or ''Grof'' in the Romanian language) in the year 1793 by the Austrian Crown. In the year 1804 Paul Csernovics will become the owner of the Macea estate. He will take care of the appearance of the mansion. His son, Peter, is the one who will embellish the surroundings of the building. After a journey he made in 1845 in the Near East, Peter will bring diverse species of plants and trees which are then planted in the garden of the castle. He will be as well the last owner of the estate losing the castle and the domain at a card game. From this moment the estate and the castle will belong to the Hungarian family of Nagy Károlyi. The first Graf of Macea was

Gyula Károlyi Gyula Count Károlyi de Nagykároly in English: Julius Károlyi (7 May 1871 in Baktalórántháza – 23 April 1947) was a conservative Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1931 to 1932. He had previously been prim ...

. He starts in 1862 another stage in the improvement of the castle and the expansion of it by building another wing and a 30 meter high tower. With this changes the castle became similar to the French models in vogue at that time. His son, Tibor Károlyi, will take care of the park by expanding it on a surface of 100 holde of planted forest. In the year 1900, the owner was Gyula Károlyi, the one who will bring the photographer Ruhm Odon to take pictures of the castle. One image still exists. Gyula will be the one who adds a metallic terrace to the older wing of the building. After 1912 the castle is neglected, the Graf being absorbed by the estate. From 1920 Gyula Karolyi retires at his residence in Budapest. In 1939 the castle and the park are passed to Adam Iancu, a doctor from Curtici, the owner until the 1948 expropriation. Subsequently, the castle will be used as an orphanage, asylum for blind persons, rehabilitation center for orphan children etc. After the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, from the year 1991 the castle and the park were rent to the Vasile Goldiş West University of Arad, which bought them recently.

Architecture

{{Castles in Romania Historic monuments in Arad County Castles in Romania Serbs of Romania