KEMÉNY-BÁNFFY CASTLE

Luncani (Aranyosgerend) first appeared in written sources in 1268 under the name Gerend, at which time it was owned by the Gerendi family. By the 16th century, the Gerendi family already had a castle on the banks of the Arieș River, which they lost in 1597, together with the estate. Afterwards, Luncani was granted by Prince Zsigmond Báthory to István Jósika and his wife, Borbála Fűzi. In 1629, Prince Gábor Bethlen donated part of the Gerend estate to Boldizsár Kemény – father of the future prince János (IV) – who, in 1630, purchased the rest of the estate and the castle itself from the Jósika family. After the death of Boldizsár Kemény, the estate was inherited by his son, Prince János Kemény (IV). Subsequently, until 1861 – when the Luncani branch of the Kemény family died out – the estate remained in Kemény ownership.

The Gerendi family’s castle was most likely a regular-plan Renaissance-style building with corner bastions, which suffered severe damage during the Turkish-Tatar invasion of 1661. An inscription from 1702 attests that the building was restored in that year, most likely the first significant renovation of the castle after the sieges. At that time, the present L-shaped building was probably constructed, with its two wings designed in the spirit of the late Baroque. The hexagonal towers at the southeast and northwest corners were added in 1824.

During the 1848–49 revolution, the castle was ravaged by Romanian peasants. László Kőváry described the event as follows: “The castle of Count Sámuel Kemény in Luncani was devastated on November 14, 1848. His library, his bookcases were broken into. Part of the precious books and manuscripts were burned in the mill for firewood, because it was cold; another part – folios of rare editions – were used by the people to make a walkway along the streets, because it was muddy; the rest were scattered...” Among the destroyed valuables was also the charter collection of Count József Kemény (IV), since the historian had spent his last years living in the castle.

The Luncani branch of the Kemény family died out in 1861 with Count Sámuel Kemény (VI). Afterwards, the estate passed into the hands of the Klebelsberg family, since Sámuel’s niece, Jozefin Kuún (the daughter of Katalin Kemény and Count József Kuún de Ozsdola), and her husband, Count Vilmos Klebelsberg (I), inherited it. After the death of Vilmos Klebelsberg (I) in 1870, his eldest son, Vilmos Klebelsberg (II), became the master of Luncani, settling in the village with his wife, Júlia Thoroczkay. The couple had no children, so after Vilmos’s death in 1915, the estate was inherited by his niece, Jozefa Zichy (the daughter of Jozefin Klebelsberg and István Zichy), and her husband, Baron Endre Bánffy.

During the Second World War, the castle was devastated and looted. In the second half of the 1940s, only Jozefa Zichy was living in Luncani, after she had divorced her husband, Endre Bánffy, and their children had dispersed across the world. Their two elder sons, József and Endre, married, the former settling in Hodod (Hadad) and the latter in Germany. István, Miklós, and Ádám served as soldiers; the latter two lost their lives in the Second World War, while István returned home as a war invalid. Among their daughters, Johanna married László Fornet and moved to Budapest, Eszter married Mihály Mikes, whose estate center was at Cisteiu de Mureș (Magyarcsesztve), while Ágnes served as a nurse on the front and later emigrated to Argentina. One of the children, Erzsébet, died in childhood of Spanish flu.

After the death of Jozefa Zichy in 1947, the three children who had remained in Transylvania – József, Eszter, and István – moved to Luncani to continue farming the family estate. On the night of the nationalization, only Endre Bánffy was present at Luncani, from where he was taken to Târgu Mureș (Marosvásárhely) under forced residence. József and his family had already moved to Cluj (Kolozsvár). Eszter and her family were warned of the eviction by the notary of Câmpia Turzii (Aranyosgyéres) and thus fled one day earlier to Cluj.

During the communist period, the castle served as the headquarters of the local agricultural cooperative. At that time, the outbuildings were demolished and the castle’s interiors were altered. After the regime change, the castle was restituted to József Bánffy and István Bánffy. István Bánffy was born in 1919 in Cluj and spent his childhood in Luncani. In 1944 he fought on the Eastern Front, where he was severely wounded and lost his right leg. After returning home, in 1949, he married Baroness Erzsébet Apor de Altorja, and after the nationalization they were both forced to live in Cluj. In August 1956, through his friend, Baron József Huszár, he became connected with the uprising led by Aladár Szoboszlay, and as a consequence, on November 25, 1957, he was arrested and sentenced to several years of forced labor. Until his release in 1964, he was imprisoned in numerous labor camps and prisons, including Arad (Arad), the Delta Dunării (Duna Delta), and Gherla (Szamosújvár).

After the two brothers received back the Luncani castle, István purchased József’s share as well. He subsequently leased the building to an Austrian entrepreneur, Gerhard Spitzer, in exchange for renovation and maintenance. Spitzer had come to Romania in the early 1990s to participate in initiatives supporting the independence of orphanage children. He moved disadvantaged young people into the castle, and between 1996 and 1999 they renovated the basement and part of the upstairs rooms. At that time, the corridor and dining hall were concreted, which had previously been covered with beautiful large natural stones. Despite the work carried out, the condition of the castle gradually worsened, as the roof began to collapse. Several room ceilings caved in, most doors and windows disappeared, and thus Spitzer and the young people moved into the castle’s stable building. After the death of István Bánffy in 2006, his legal heir, Béla Fornet, and Gerhard Spitzer litigated for years over ownership of the castle, which the court eventually awarded to the latter. In the meantime, the orphans who had lived in the castle grew up, and Spitzer disappeared from the scene, leaving the building today in a ruined and abandoned state.

The Kemény–Bánffy Castle in Luncani has an L-shaped plan, with its two wings of approximately equal length. The current layout most likely took shape at the beginning of the 18th century. Each wing is joined by an octagonal tower, additions from a later construction phase, completed after 1824. The two-storey building was once covered by a high broken roof, built during the Baroque transformation of the structure, which has since been completely lost. The 20th-century alterations were described by József  Biró as follows: “The castle in Luncani, rising picturesquely on the banks of the Arieș, was also baroquized by the Kemény family during the century; the L-shaped composition and the two octagonal corner bastions were preserved, but the façade was remodeled and a heavy double roof was raised above it.”

The appearance of the castle is simple and restrained, recalling the austere forms of medieval fortresses. The building has three levels: the lower one with cellar windows, and the two upper levels with small, rectangular windows, which once had shutters. The window lintels and sills are formed of stepped, smooth panels, while the corners of the building are accentuated by rustication. The two upper levels are separated by a prominent string course. The main entrance, with a semicircular arch and decorated stone frame, opens on the south-facing façade of the longer wing and is accessed by a double stone staircase. A similarly designed entrance was built on the shorter wing as well.

The other façades of the castle are conceived similarly to the main façade. Attached to the rear façade of the longer wing is a small house-like structure in which, at the beginning of the 20th century, an elevator was installed, since the then master of the castle, Vilmos Klebelsberg (II), following an accident, had difficulty walking. The elevator served both the high ground floor and the upper storey, connected to them by swinging doors. The lift was still in good condition after the war, but in recent years its structural elements have disappeared.

The representative halls of the 19th–20th centuries were located on the upper floor. From the Great Dining Hall opened the salons, the smoking room, and the tower rooms; the family’s living quarters were also located upstairs. On the ground floor were the pantries and servants’ rooms. In the early 20th century, the castle was adorned with splendid furniture, Hardtmuth stoves, expensive carpets, valuable paintings, and precious collections. The furnishings and decorations were completely dispersed in the period after the Second World War and following the nationalization.

Next to the Kemény–Bánffy Castle in Luncani stands one of the oldest churches in Transylvania, built by the Gerendi family in the 13th century in honor of Saint Elizabeth of the Árpád dynasty. The church, displaying Romanesque and Gothic features, preserves the earliest building inscriptions in Transylvania, which mention the founders, the patron saint, and provide details about the process of construction. The earliest part completed was the church’s sanctuary, as indicated by the inscription on the lintel of the sacristy door, dated 1290. Another inscription of the church, from 1299, is now located at the base of the tower, in a secondary position, and marks the completion of the entire construction. Several members of the Kemény family are buried in the crypt of the Reformed church as well as in its surrounding cemetery.

“… he was known for being afraid to use the stairs, so a small house-like annex was built outside the castle, in which a primitive lift operated, and with it this Vilmos was pulled up to the upper floor. He always wintered at Voivodeni (Vajdaszentivány), together with his stud. And when he set out from Luncani to Voivodeni, a cart with planks was sent ahead, and they were laid down at the Gornești (Gernyeszeg) station next to the train, so that he could get on or off. Or he came with a four-horse carriage, surrounded by the stud moving at walking pace: he lived only for his horses.” Thus spoke Mihály Teleki about the former master of Luncani, Vilmos Klebelsberg (II). Vilmos Klebelsberg (II) indeed enjoyed a great reputation as a passionate horse lover. On his estate he had an impressive stable built, in which – as in the rest of the castle – running water was installed. According to recollections, the walls of the stable were tiled, decorated with carved ash-wood columns, and each horse had a manger covered with white enamel. Another peculiarity of the castle was the lift built at his initiative, which was still in working order during the Second World War.

1. Zoltán Bicsok – Zsolt Orbán, „Isten segedelmével udvaromat megépítettem…” Történelmi családok kastélyai Erdélyben. Gutenberg Publishing, Miercurea Ciuc, 2012.
2. József Biró, Erdélyi kastélyok. Új Idők Irodalmi Intézete, Budapest, 1943.
3. Arany Horváth, Pista báró hazatérései. In: Művelődés. 1993. vol. 42. nr. 1. 7–8.