BETHLEN CASTLE

Beclean (Bethlen) first appears in written sources in 1305, in the form Bethlem. Until the beginning of the 15th century, the estate of Beclean was held jointly by the Becse-Gergely kindred and by the Apafi and Bethlen families descended from it. By the 1410s, most of the landowners already belonged to the Bethlen family, who established the centre of their estates here and also derived their noble predicate from this place. In 1438, the sons of János Bethlen (III), Gergely, Miklós and Antal, received permission to build a stone or wooden castle. The castle was probably built only in the second quarter of the 16th century, during the time of Farkas Bethlen (I), since its first written mention dates from 1543.

In 1552, half of the estate of Beclean passed into the hands of the Patócsi family through marriage. The Patócsi family lost the estate after the Battle of Sânpaul (Kerelőszentpál) in 1575, after János Patócsi and György Patócsi sided with Gáspár Bekes and fought against Prince István Báthory. The prince granted the estate of Beclean to Kristóf Báthory. The other half of the estate of Beclean also passed out of the ownership of the Bethlen family, as János Bethlen (VII) mortgaged it around 1572 due to financial difficulties. In 1604, King Rudolf’s commissioners in Transylvania mortgaged the castle and the estate belonging to it to Benedek Mindszenti. From 1616, it was held by the Haller family for four decades, and from 1659 it was held in mortgage by Pál Béldi, commander of the princely cavalry. A tragic event also took place in the castle’s marketplace in the second half of the 17th century: on 17 December 1674, Dénes Bánffy, Lord Lieutenant of Doboka County and Captain General of Cluj (Kolozsvár) who had been accused of disloyalty, was beheaded here.

Pál Béldi lost the estate of Beclean in 1678, and Prince Mihály Apafi I granted it to the Bethlen brothers, Gergely (VI), Farkas (III) and Elek (II). On this occasion, an inventory of the estate was also drawn up, from which a picture of the former castle emerges. The fortification, equipped with four corner bastions, was surrounded by a deep moat fed by the waters of the Someș. The palaces and servants’ buildings were arranged along the walls. The brothers who regained the ancient family estate were members of the Elek principal branch of the Bethlen family. All three were born of the second marriage, to Katalin Kemény, of Ferenc Bethlen, the Lord High Steward who was elevated to the rank of baron in 1651.

At the end of the 17th century, the castle was ordered to be strengthened, and imperial troops were stationed within its walls. During the Kuruc War of Independence, the castle changed hands several times, and in 1705 Ferenc Rákóczi also stayed within its walls for a short time. Following the Peace of Satu Mare (Szatmár), the imperial authorities ordered the demolition of the castle. Its stones were used for the Bethlen family’s later construction projects.

In the second half of the 18th century, when the estate of Beclean was in the hands of Count Lajos Bethlen (II), a two-storey Baroque manor house with a mansard roof was built from the stones of the former castle. One of the owners of the manor house was Count Ferenc Bethlen (X), Lord Lieutenant of Inner Szolnok County, who became famous largely through his public library and his collections of antiquities and natural history. He established an extensive mulberry plantation on the estate, where he operated an excellent silkworm farm.

Of the manor house’s former owners, Count András Bethlen (III) is the most famous, and the present name of the manor house also preserves his memory. Count András Bethlen is known as a prominent politician of the late 19th century. He was born in Cluj, then studied law in Budapest and economics in Brussels and Leipzig. He entered politics at a young age and was already a member of parliament at the age of 26. From 1883, he was Lord Lieutenant of Brașov and Sibiu Counties, as well as Count of the Saxons. Between 1890 and 1894, he served as Minister of Agriculture, and the establishment of the Institute for Plant Experimentation was his achievement. He married Lívia Mocsonyi in 1880. Of their three children, two daughters, Ilona and Margit, reached adulthood. Margit, who became a writer, was the wife of Prime Minister Count István Bethlen.

The manor house was ravaged by Russian and Romanian troops in 1944. Its valuable library was scattered across the courtyard and set on fire. According to accounts given by local residents, the library contained so many books that the pile burned for three days.

Today, the local agricultural school operates in the manor house. The building is in a deteriorating condition. It has been partially renovated with European Union funds, primarily its interior rooms, thus allowing the school to continue operating within it. Additional new buildings stand in its surroundings and are also used by the educational institution.

The manor house was reclaimed by relatives of the Bethlen family’s heirs. The application was submitted late, so ultimately they did not regain the building. The manor house is currently owned by the Romanian state.

The Bethlen András Manor House in Beclean is a Late Baroque building which, according to the stone plaque bearing a coat of arms on the vaulted gatehouse, was built in 1768. Today, only the year of construction can still be discerned on the mutilated stone plaque. The manor house is presumably the work of József Leder, a master builder from Cluj, who also worked on the Bánffy Palace and the Teleki Palace in Kolozsvár during the 1770s and 1780s.

The two-storey manor house has an L-shaped ground plan. The main façade of the manor house faces south, and at its centre is a first-floor balcony spanning three bays and supported by columns. The building’s main entrance opens beneath the balcony and is reached by a stone staircase. A carriage ramp was located in front of the staircase. The first-floor windows are accentuated by shouldered surrounds and prominent curved hood mouldings. Semicircular plaster decoration can be seen above the ground-floor windows. The façades of the manor house are otherwise pierced by windows with straight lintels. On every façade, the first-floor windows are emphasised by hood mouldings with curved terminations.

A projecting arcaded porch is located on the eastern façade of the manor house, above which a balcony once opened. Only its ruins remain today. A small balcony with an undulating outline, supported on consoles, opens from the shorter wing of the manor house extending northwards. The balcony railing is a finely crafted work of wrought iron, with András Bethlen’s monogram at its centre.

Ilona Wass, wife of Edmund Siemers provides a vivid picture of the estate at Beclean; this is how she remembered the time spent here: “The beautiful, spacious Bethlen manor house was furnished in a modern and comfortable manner by the standards of the time. It had several bathrooms with hot and cold running water. Electric lighting was used. The spacious rooms were kept clean and in good condition, and contained tasteful and comfortable furniture. A generously designed park surrounded the manor house; the broad, well-maintained lawn was bordered by beautiful trees, which nevertheless allowed glimpses into the depths of the garden. The attraction of the park was the Someș, which crossed the grounds. We swam tremendous distances and had wonderful bathing parties at Beclean.” Nothing remains today of the once vast park surrounding the manor house, and the area has been almost completely built over.

Beclean is the ancestral seat of the Bethlen family, where several noble residences preserve the memory of the family. Several Bethlen manor houses are recorded in the settlement, commonly known by the name of the family member who owned them at the beginning of the 20th century. The earliest of these is the Pál Bethlen Manor House, whose antecedents can be traced back to the 17th–18th centuries. This was followed by the construction of the András Bethlen Manor House and then the Béla Bethlen Manor House. These buildings were significantly altered over the years and have therefore largely lost their former splendour.

The Pál Bethlen Manor House, in its present form, was built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries at the commission of Count Pál Bethlen (VII), Lord Lieutenant of Beszterce-Naszód and Szolnok-Doboka Counties. Its foundations date from the 17th–18th centuries. The building was subsequently altered several times, and its former appearance is documented by archival photographs and postcards. For a long time, the mayor’s office of the town of Beclean operated in the building; it currently stands empty.

The Béla Bethlen Manor House was commissioned by Count Béla Bethlen (III) and was completed by 1928. In terms of its dimensions, it is a modest building and may be regarded more as a mansion. Béla Bethlen is considered one of the significant figures of the 20th-century Hungarian community of Transylvania. From 1940, he was Lord Lieutenant of the counties of Beszterce-Naszód and Szolnok-Doboka, which had been reincorporated into Hungary, and in 1944 he served as the civil government commissioner of Northern Transylvania. In 1946, the Romanian authorities charged him and sentenced him as a war criminal to five years of imprisonment. He was released in 1952. In the meantime, his estates were nationalised, his mansion in Beclean came into the use of the Ministry of Health, and psychiatric patients were moved within its walls. The building was subsequently renovated but was completely stripped of its decorative elements. It continues to operate as a hospital and is owned by the state.

Zoltán Bicsok – Zsolt Orbán, „Isten segedelmével udvaromat megépítettem…” Történelmi családok kastélyai Erdélyben. Gutenberg Publishing, Miercurea Ciuc, 2012.