KENDEFFY CASTLE

Sântămăria-Orlea (Őraljaboldogfalva) first appears in written sources in 1315, although its Romanesque church had already been built in the second half of the 13th century. The settlement is initially mentioned in the sources under the name „Sancta Maria”, while the designation „Bodogazzonfalva” appears for the first time in 1447. It developed below the castle of Hațeg, hence the later prefix „váralja” („below the castle”) in its name. From 1808 onward it has been called Sântămăria-Orlea. The settlement, which possessed the right to hold national fairs, was donated in 1447 by Governor János Hunyadi to the Kendeffy family.

The sources mention the ancestors of the Kendeffy family from 1236 onward as soldiers of Cuman origin who settled in the Jiu Valley and established a cnezial domain at Râu de Mori (Malomvíz). János, son of Kende de Malomvíz, was exempted in 1406 by the Voivode of Transylvania from all cnezial obligations, and by 1415 he already enjoyed national noble privileges. From the 14th century onward, the family’s most important estate was at Râu de Mori, from which their noble predicate derives. Their significant expansion of property was due to the donation of János Hunyadi, but through marriages they also acquired vast forests and lands in the southern part of Hunedoara County, in the Hațeg region. In the area there once stood three imposing residences: the ancestral manor at Râu de Mori (of which only ruins remain today), a Neo-Renaissance castle at Cârnești (Kernyesd), which no longer stood by the early 20th century, and the still-standing Neo-Gothic castle at Sântămăria-Orlea. During the Middle Ages, members of the family held only locally significant administrative offices, their rise took place toward the end of the princely era and during the first century of Habsburg administration.

The first construction phase of the castle is linked to Elek Kendeffy (I), who received the title of count in 1762. Elek Kendeffy built the representative Baroque castle on the foundations of an already existing manor house, intended to reflect the advancement of his career and rank. Besides obtaining the comital title, in 1765 he became Lord Lieutenant of Hunedoara County, and from 1774 a councillor of the Gubernium. The first written evidence of his building activity is a construction contract from 1777, as well as a commemorative plaque from 1782 placed above the main entrance of the castle.

The most well-known member of the comital branch of the family was the grandson of Count Elek Kendeffy (I), Ádám (I), a leading figure of the liberal reform-era nobility and a friend of Baron Miklós Wesselényi. Count Ádám Kendeffy (I) placed great emphasis on developing the Sântămăria-Orlea estate, purchasing modern agricultural machinery for this purpose. He showed great interest in horse breeding, the riding hall dates from this period. He was also regarded as a prominent personality in sporting life, as he was the founder of the fencing school in Cluj (Kolozsvár). János Pálffy characterized the count in his work „Magyarországi és erdélyi urak” as follows: „He did much to awaken and guide the chivalrous spirit of youth. He brought into fashion physical exercises that strengthen the nerves and make the soul brave, such as bold riding, swimming, fencing, and through the latter, duels, which later frequently and often fatally occurred in Transylvania.” Ádám Kendeffy (I) married twice, but from neither marriage did he have a male heir, thus, with his sudden death in 1834, the aristocratic branch of the Kendeffy family became extinct. Their estates were subsequently inherited by members from the other branch of the family.

In the second half of the 19th century, the estate at Sântămăria-Orlea was owned by Árpád Kendeffy, the only son of Károly Kendeffy and Róza Petrichevich-Horváth. Árpád Kendeffy studied at the Polytechnic in Vienna and from 1869 served as parliamentary representative of the Hațeg district of Hunedoara County. During this period, after 1868 the castle at Sântămăria-Orlea acquired its present Neo-Gothic form, and the English garden was also laid out. Lajos Réthi recalled this period in an 1882 issue of „Vasárnapi Újság”: „The castle […] was restored by the late Árpád Kendeffy in a Gothic style reminiscent of English castles […] he had a passion only for the residence and sacrificed much to transform it into a true aristocratic castle. He equipped it with towers, balconies, lookout points, its interior with carvings, coats of arms, furniture worth thousands. His library, rich in rare and splendidly bound works, was also one of the ornaments of the castle. He himself did not enjoy it for long, for he died at the beginning of manhood, and could not entirely complete it as he had planned. How his heart would leap with joy now if he had lived to see that, after so many centuries, for the first time a royal heir stayed on the soil of the ancient glory of Hunedoara County and chose his castle as his place of residence.” The works dragged on for a long time and were still unfinished at the time of Árpád Kendeffy’s death in 1881. The article refers to the visit of Crown Prince Rudolf, who, during a hunting trip in the Retezat Mountains in August 1882, spent ten days in the castle together with his wife. For this reason, Árpád Kendeffy’s widow, Gabriella Inkey carried out significant repair works on the complex.

The last owners of the castle before nationalization were Count Gábor Kendeffy (IV) and his wife, Baroness Zsuzsanna Bánffy. Gábor Kendeffy (IV) received the title of count and hereditary membership in the House of Magnates in 1916 from King Franz Joseph. He was one of the most distinguished horsemen and hunters of his time. He also paid particular attention to the protection of the future nature reserve, the Retezat National Park: he prohibited grazing, populated the alpine areas with chamois, deer and other game, and stocked the mountain lakes with trout.

After nationalization, the castle briefly served as the headquarters of the state farm, and in the 1960s student camps were also organized on its grounds. The castle building was not used for a long time, and thus its condition deteriorated significantly. In the 1980s restoration works were carried out, during which its tower and several other details were restored. After the restoration, the castle was converted into a hotel, a function it retained until the years following the change of regime.

After the deportation of 1949, Count Gábor Kendeffy (IV) and his wife, Baroness Zsuzsanna Bánffy, lived for a time in Hațeg. Their children, Ádám, Elek, Miklós and Klára, emigrated to the West during the communist period. After the death of Gábor Kendeffy in 1962, his widow managed to leave for Austria and later for Brussels, where she died in 1971. The castle at Sântămăria-Orlea was claimed and restituted to Klára Kendeffy at the end of the 1990s, and was later inherited from her by her son, Pál Darányi. Pál Darányi subsequently sold the complex to his cousin, Mária Kendeffy, from whom, in the 2010s, it was taken over by the Revis Com company from Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda). The castle is currently still owned by the company, it stands abandoned and its condition is gradually deteriorating.

The predecessor of the present castle was the Baroque-style castle of Elek Kendeffy (I), built in the 1780s on the foundations of an already existing manor house. The first construction phase is indicated by the coat-of-arms stone plaque placed above the main entrance, commemorating the commissioning couple, Count Elek Kendeffy de Malomvíz and his wife, Countess Krisztina Bethlen de Bethlen. The Baroque coat-of-arms memorial plaque praises the craftsmanship of the stonecutter József Hoffmayer, who worked in Cluj. Today only the place of the coats of arms is visible, as they were severely damaged during the communist period. Nevertheless, the building inscription remains legible on the lower surface imitating drapery. The traces of the Baroque castle are also preserved in the interior barrel vaults with lunettes. The castle acquired its present historicizing form during the time of Árpád Kendeffy, after the earlier building was transformed in Neo-Gothic style according to the plans of József Schulcz and Ferenc Storno the Elder. Owing to its interior decoration, the castle can be paralleled with the royal hunting lodge at Galgamácsa, whose designer was József Schulcz’s brother, Ferenc, and whose interior decorator was Ferenc Storno the Elder. The wooden, pointed-arched, barrel-vaulted hall that has since perished at Galgamácsa has fortunately survived at Sântămăria-Orlea. Although the construction works were led by József Schulcz, only his brother Ferenc was a qualified architect, thus it may be assumed that he also contributed to the works at Sântămăria-Orlea.

The castle has an approximately rectangular ground plan, animated by building sections of various shapes and sizes. Its north-facing main façade can be divided into several units. On the left side rises the most imposing element of the building, the regular square-based, four-storey tower. The tower is articulated by varied forms and openings, whose design becomes increasingly complex upward. Its most spectacular part is the top level, emphasized by four cylindrical turrets. At the center of the main façade stands a three-storey risalit, where the castle’s main entrance also opens. The uppermost level of the central risalit is crowned by an attic, framed on both sides by a turret. The side façades of the castle present a simpler appearance, while the central part of the rear façade resembles the central risalit of the main façade. The Neo-Gothic character of the building is defined by its asymmetrical massing, imposing tower, turrets, loophole parapet, and pointed-arched openings, which evoke the world of medieval French knightly castles.

The interior halls of the castle are covered by barrel vaults with lunettes, beamed ceilings, or coffered ceilings. Its most spectacular room is the ceremonial hall on the upper floor, covered by a wooden barrel vault. The former furnishing of the building can only be inferred from inventories and photographs. The rooms were once adorned with carved oak furniture, and in the representative halls, such as the dining room or the smoking room, there were many works of art, books, weapons, and hunting trophies. Painted coats of arms and shields were displayed in the interiors, evoking the atmosphere of the Middle Ages. At the top level of the tower, two doors lead to the terraces with loophole parapets, from which there is a view over the castle park and the Retezat Mountains.

A romantic English landscape park once stretched around the castle, laid out in the second half of the 19th century according to the 1874 plans of the landscape architect Wilhelm Klensky, in keeping with the fashion of the time. The park was given a picturesque character by an irregularly shaped artificial lake, in whose surroundings a small sculptural group was also placed, its female figures contemplating the beauty of the garden. In addition, the statues of the Sleeping Venus and Flora adorned the garden. The relatively small park possessed a rich stock of trees, including oak, ash, poplar and alder, as well as Japanese pagoda tree and catalpa, along with several varieties of horse chestnut, maple, hazel, hornbeam and willow. The Retezat Mountains provided a perfect backdrop for the romantic ensemble. By today, however, most of the trees have been cut down, and a large part of the area has been converted into arable land. What remains of the park is now neglected and uncared for.

The 13th-century Reformed church of Sântămăria-Orlea is one of the most valuable medieval monuments in Transylvania. The building was constructed around 1280 and represents a transition between the -Late Romanesque and Gothic styles. After its construction, it became a model for numerous contemporary churches in the Hațeg region. Its closest analogy is the church at Strei (Zeykfalva), and according to some assumptions, the central tower and decoration of the church at Densuș (Demsus) were also inspired by it. Inside the church is the memorial plaque of Rákhel, sister of Elek Kendeffy (I), dating from 1789, on which the family’s comital coat of arms already appears.

1. Zoltán Bicsok – Zsolt Orbán, „Isten segedelmével udvaromat megépítettem…” Történelmi családok kastélyai Erdélyben. Gutenberg Publishing, Miercurea Ciuc, 2012.
2. Elvira Oláh-Gál, „Örökre elmúlt egy kor. Jóvátehetetlen, ami történt.” Beszélgetés malomvízi Kendeffy Mária grófnővel. In: Nobile Officium. Az erdélyi magyar történelmi családok XX. századi sorsa. Székelyföld Alapítvány, Miercurea Ciuc, 2016.
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4. József Sisa, Kastélyépítészet és kastélykultúra Magyarországon a historizmus korában. Akadémiai Doktori Értekezés, Budapest, 2004.