The castle today

The Bethlen Castle in Bahnea, built in the 16th century, underwent a complete renovation and has now become one of the most beautiful attractions in the area with its well-kept surroundings. The restoration of the castle was supported by the Hungarian government, and the inauguration ceremony took place on October 28th in the town of Mureș County. The castle is now owned by the Transylvanian Reformed Diocese and operates as a community space. It is under the care of the Women's Association and hosts a permanent exhibition about Transylvanian noble families, as well as Árva Bethlen Kata (1700 – 1759), a writer born in the castle who became an iconic figure among the Reformed community. Additionally, the castle offers various services and aims to boost cultural tourism in the region while promoting its historical significance.

The heirs regained it in 2008

After the nationalization in 1948, the castle began to deteriorate rapidly. The fortress-like character has disappeared, and the material of its fortified walls and corner towers was scattered by locals for their construction needs. During the decades of communism, public institutions operated in the castle. During renovations, external decorative elements, the pointed arch frieze, and the double family coat of arms were removed. The complex reached the 1989 regime change in a deteriorated state, and its condition continued to decline in the 1990s. In 2008, Bethlen Fruzsina, the daughter of Jr. Bethlen Ádám, managed to reclaim the building, had the movable property removed, and gifted the castle to the Transylvanian Reformed Diocese. In 2011, the castle received a new roof, and the openings were covered with drywall.

Source for the above: Erdélyinapló.ro

The castle in a new light

According to the Transylvanian Hungarian Electronic Library, the corner towers of the castle end in a triangular pediment, and as is visible today, the northern pavilion added to the castle has a circular ornament in the tympanum, surrounded by festoons cascading from both sides. Due to a lack of sources, the exact period of these renovations cannot be precisely determined. In the present building, a staircase with wrought iron railing leads to the upper floor. The ceremonial hall is accessible from the upper space of the staircase hall, and above the door of the hall is a decorated inscription stone from 1719. The ceremonial hall is in the Neo-Renaissance style, equipped with double-leaf doors, and its ceiling is formed with cassettes made of profiled strips. The side walls are covered with wooden paneling up to shoulder height, and above them runs a Neo-Renaissance console cornice. The rooms on the ground floor of the building have vaulted ceilings, while those on the upper floor have flat ceilings.

The Bethlen family's favorite place of residence

In 1709, General Acton sought refuge here from the Kuruc's who had occupied it by siege. According to the book "Castles and Fortresses of Transylvania" by Gábor Kiss, in 1465, Losonczy-Bánffy Dezső's son, elder László, mortgaged his estate in Szentmiklós along with the associated village of Bahnea to Szentiván Ferenc for two hundred forints. For their participation in the Transylvanian rebellion, King Matthias confiscated the estates of Losonczy Dezső's sons, including the town of Bonyha, and granted them to his court soldier, Nádasdi Ongor (Ungor) János, and his brothers. The castle built in Bonyhád is first mentioned in a deed dated 1495, after the death of King Matthias, in which Losonczy-Bánffy Dezső's sons, János and Imre, and Bethlen Márk's son, Miklós, entered into an inheritance agreement before Palatine Szapolyai István. According to the will, the Bonyhád castle became the property of Bethlen Miklós in 1501

History of Bahnea

Bahnea is located 20 km from Târnăveni in Mureș County, on the left bank of the Târnava Mică. Its name is derived from an ancient Hungarian name, likely named after its first owner. As a village from the time of Saint Stephen, it is mentioned by Anonymus: '...the land beyond the forest was possessed by the descendant of Tétény up to the time of King Saint Stephen; indeed, he would have continued to possess it if the lesser Gyula – the son of Zsombor – along with his two sons, Bolya and Bonyha, had been willing to convert to Christianity...'

However, in contemporary documents, the name appears as Bahna only during the reign of King Andrew III in 1291: Filipe's son, Jakab Bonyha, donated his estate called Bahna – possessionem suam Bahna vocatam – in the county of Küküllő to Dénes of Tomaj, from the noble family of Losonczy-Bánffy. By 1330, the village had already become a parish, and its parish church was dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michael in 1490. The castle is first mentioned in 1495.

Two manors in Bahnea

The Bethlen family built two castles in Bahnea. The old castle, built in 1545, still stands today, while the newer castle erected in the 17th century was demolished by the family in the 1930s. The old castle is located on the left side of the asphalt road leading from Târnăveni to Bălăușeri, in the middle of a park bordered by the Kund stream, which used to be a long-standing economic courtyard. Keresztes Gyula, in his book "Castles and Mansions in Mureș County," writes that the foundation stone of the castle was laid by Bethlen Farkas in 1545.

The castle was built under the influence of the Renaissance style

However, its descendant, Bethlen Farkas, transformed the central part of the castle in the spirit of English Gothic in 1860. Together with the villages of Bonyha – Bernád, Kund, Dányán, Gogán, Lepend – it came into the possession of the Bethlen family from 1501, which began construction in the mid-16th century. The old castle is a one-story building: on both sides of its central part, a wing was built in the southeast and southwest directions. To the latter wing, an octagonal corner bastion was added, which, due to its architectural design, may have been part of an older structure. The first alteration in the 17th century did not significantly affect the old castle. A stone plaque commemorates the laying of the foundation stone in 1545, which is located on the ground floor of the present building. We don't know much about the castle from that time, but based on an inventory from 1711, we can imagine it as a two-story Renaissance palace adorned with carved stone frames. Archive photos indicate significant alterations to the castle in the second half of the 18th century. These alterations include a late Baroque-style roof for the gate tower and distinctive Baroque roof forms for the northern and eastern corner pavilions

Historical overview