
The Iulia Hașdeu Castle is a
folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
built in the form of small castle by historian and politician
Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu in the city of
Câmpina, Romania. Work on it began in 1893, after Hasdeu's daughter,
Iulia Hasdeu, died at the age of 19, an event that dramatically shook Hasdeu's life. He claimed that his late daughter provided the plans for building the castle during sessions of
spiritism
Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Ri ...
. The building was completed in 1896.
The Castle, which needed a lot of repair even when Hașdeu was alive, was affected by the First World War and in 1924 the People's Atheneum of Câmpina "B.P.Hasdeu" tried to take it for restoration. The castle was affected again by the Second World War and stayed in a damaged state till 1955, when its name was written in the Listing of Historical Monuments.
Since 1994 the Iulia Hașdeu Castle has housed the "B.P. Hașdeu” Memorial Museum which displays furniture and personal belongings of the Hașdeu family including photos, original documents,
manuscripts, Hasdeu's reviews and pictures made by
Nicolae Grigorescu and
Sava Henția.
See also
*
List of castles in Romania
References
External links
The Castle built by the Teenage Poet's Ghost
{{Castles in Romania
Houses completed in 1896
Castles in Romania
Folly buildings
Buildings and structures in Prahova County
Historic monuments in Prahova County
Museums in Prahova County
Biographical museums in Romania
Câmpina
1896 establishments in Romania