BÁNFFY CASTLE

Nușfalău (Szilágynagyfalu) is one of the largest settlements in Sălaj County, and according to tradition, its history can be traced all the way back to the Árpád era. Its first written mention dates from 1213, when it was referred to in the sources as Villa Nog. In the 1259 description of the boundaries of Șimleu Silvaniei (Szilágysomlyó), the neighbouring Nușfalău is mentioned as Noghfaw. Since the new administrative reorganisation of 1876, Nușfalău.

It was initially a royal estate, and in 1249 Béla IV granted it to Pál of the Geregye clan, the Judge Royal, in recognition of his merits. During the Middle Ages, it also served as the county seat on several occasions, and Crasna County frequently held its assemblies here. A significant part of the estate was in the hands of Master Danch, the lord lieutenant of Crasna County, together with Valkó Castle and Zăuan (Szilágyzovány). In the sources, it appears as a dependency of Valkó Castle.

At the beginning of the 15th century, under circumstances that have remained unclear to this day, it became the property of the Losonczi Bánffy family, descended from the Tomaj clan. The family established an estate centre in Nușfalău, where they had already built a manor house by 1414. All that is known about the manor of that time, built by Péter Bánffy, is that it was fortified, its corners were protected by rectangular bastions, and a moat ran around the defensive walls. Within the walls lay the residential courtyard, where the five-room dwelling house also stood. Beneath the dwelling house was a vaulted cellar. Separate from this, the servants’ house, the kitchen and the bakehouse were located in the courtyard.

From the 15th century onwards, for nearly 500 years, the Bánffy family was the patron and supporter of the village, playing a significant role in the economic and cultural life of the region. By the second half of the 15th century, Nușfalău had become, alongside Camăr (Kémer), the most important market town in Crasna County, with livestock fairs renowned throughout the country.

The foundation of the Pauline monastery around 1414 is associated with the Bánffy family. In the same year, they donated arable lands, vineyards and forests to the monastery. They may also have made a significant financial contribution to the construction of the church. Between 1450 and 1480, the imposing Late Gothic church was built in the centre of the village. The Bánffy family’s coat of arms, depicting a griffin, can be seen on the keystone of the sanctuary vault. The church windows were once decorated with coloured stained glass, which was restored in 1912 by Miksa Róth of Budapest, stained-glass artist to the Imperial and Royal Court. The stained-glass windows were destroyed during the 20th century, and today only the rosettes at the tops of the windows preserve traces of Miksa Róth’s handiwork.

It is not known exactly how the Nușfalău estate came into the possession of Baron György Bánffy and his wife, Zsuzsanna Wesselényi, in the second half of the 18th century. It may be assumed that they built the two-storey Baroque castle on the site of the old manor house following their marriage in 1764. This is attested by the Late Baroque stone urn placed on the castle gate, which is decorated with the heraldic animals of the Bánffy and Wesselényi families.

In 1859, the building was damaged by fire, but the damage was soon repaired.

In 1925, the castle was completely rebuilt, and it was then that the columned terrace still visible today was constructed in front of the entrance.

The Bánffy family used the castle as a summer residence for a long time. Baron Albert Bánffy and his family were the first to settle in Nușfalău. The family lived in the village until 1937. In that year, however, Albert Bánffy sold the castle to the Reformed Church Parish of Nușfalău, and the family left the settlement. At that time, the castle was used as a cultural centre, but it also housed a cinema, making it a popular place for the young people of the village to visit.

Following nationalisation, the castle served several functions: it housed a medical practice, a maternity ward, a dental practice and, finally, an institution for children with intellectual disabilities. The institution operated in the building from the 1980s until 2002. To accommodate its new function, the castle’s imposing halls were partitioned and smaller rooms were created within them.

After the change of regime, the Reformed Church reclaimed the castle and its adjoining estate, which it received in 2008. The castle was returned to the Church in a severely dilapidated condition, and for a long time it was not possible to find financial resources for its renovation. Following its restitution, the roof was restored; nevertheless, the condition of the building gradually deteriorated.

The castle was restored between 2023 and 2026 using European Union funds within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), supplemented by Hungarian state funding. During the renovation, the castle’s halls were restored to their original condition, and the partition walls added at a later date were demolished. The 25-metre-high chimney adjoining the south-eastern corner of the building also had to be demolished.

The ceremonial opening of the restored castle took place on 6 September 2026. Since then, the castle has operated as an ecclesiastical, cultural and tourist centre. Several exhibitions await visitors in the castle. A museum of viticulture and winemaking has been established in the cellar. The ground floor houses an exhibition presenting the history of the Bánffy family, its important figures and the castle’s former residents, as well as a photographic exhibition documenting the restoration. The large ceremonial hall on the upper floor provides a venue for religious services, conferences and various training courses.

Bánffy Castle stands in the centre of Nușfalău. On the site of the present building stood a fortified manor house, which was completely rebuilt in the Baroque style at the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th century, at the request of Albert Bánffy. The castle acquired its final form in 1925, after a columned terrace was built in front of the entrance.

The two-storey castle has a rectangular plan with rounded corners. Its main façade faces north-west. The main façade is accentuated by a slightly projecting central risalit with rounded corners. The building’s main entrance opens here, with a columned terrace extending in front of it. The terrace is accessed from both sides by stone steps. The columns support an upper-floor terrace designed in a manner similar to the one on the ground floor. The façade is lined with simple rectangular windows decorated with eared surrounds, while on the upper floor they are articulated by pilasters. Rectangular stucco ornaments with chamfered corners appear above and below the ground-floor windows as lintel and apron decorations. This motif also appears beneath the upper-floor windows. The upper-floor windows are highlighted by prominent crowning cornices.

The decoration of the windows follows this pattern on every façade. The two sides of the rear façade are framed by strongly projecting wings. The entrance to the cellar and an open stairwell are situated in the centre. A three-bay terrace extends across the upper floor.

The castle’s interior rooms have largely retained their original state. Beyond the entrance, an arcaded corridor leads to the staircase. The arches rest on squat pillars. The upper floor once housed the bedrooms, the dining room, the piano room and a library containing more than 2,000 volumes. Rare editions were also preserved in the imposing library.

An earlier Late Renaissance gate may have stood on the site of the castle’s present Baroque main gate, and its remains were discovered during the restoration. At the end of the 18th century, the castle courtyard was transformed into an English landscape garden, probably in parallel with the construction of the castle. Valuable East Asian tree species were also planted in the garden.

Ferenc Arany, the great-great-grandfather of the Hungarian poet János Arany, came from Nușfalău. This is proven by the princely charter dated 1634, in which György Rákóczi I granted noble rank and a coat of arms to Ferenc and János Arany of Nușfalău. They lost their noble title in 1745, during the reign of Maria Theresa, and were unable to regain it later. The Arany family probably fled to Salonta (Nagyszalonta) from the Turkish-Tatar devastation of 1660, where János Arany was later born. Miklós Toldi, the protagonist of János Arany’s famous narrative poem, also lived in Nușfalău and used a hay-pressing pole on the outskirts of the village to point out the road leading to Buda.

György Bánffy, the son of Baron Albert Bánffy, a politician, composer and writer, spent his childhood at Bánffy Castle in Nușfalău. He was a popular operetta composer of his time; among his works, Gólyakirály premiered in Cluj (Kolozsvár) in 1881, while Fekete hajó premiered at the People’s Theatre in Budapest in 1883. Of his comedies, Kristóf tér 78-ik szám was first performed at the National Theatre in 1886. His well-known songs include Kék nefelejcs, Nem akar az ökörcsorda legelni, Van nekem egy szép szeretőm, and Fáj a szívem, teher neki az élet. His songs became widely known through the performances of the Hungarian actress Ilka Pálmay. According to legend, he composed his most famous song, Kék nefelejcs, in the piano room of the castle in Nușfalău. On the 120th anniversary of his death, a commemorative plaque was placed on the castle.

1. Miklós Major, Bemutatjuk falvainkat. Szilágynagyfalu. In: Szilágyság. vol. 4. nr. 29. 1994. 5–6.