Poenari Castle restored to its former glory through digital images

A medieval castle in Romania is mentioned in a ranking among other most unique ruined castles across Europe that are rehabilitated… through digital images.

We are talking about Poenari Castle, built in the old Kingdom of Wallachia, now Muntenia region in Romania, in the 13th century.

The other six castles included in this project are Samobor Castle (Samobor, Croatia) Château Gaillard (Les Andelys, France) Dunnottar Castle (Stonehaven, Scotland) Menlo Castle (Galway City, Ireland) Olsztyn Castle (Olsztyn, Poland) and Spiš Castle (Spišské Podhradie, Slovakia).

As efforts to contain the effects of the COVID-19 crisis ramp up, millions of people across the globe are stuck at home. This project offers a slice of escapism and much-needed armchair travel inspiration.

Available assets include 7 animated reconstructions (GIFs), 7 animated reconstructions (MP4 videos) and 14 JPEGS to show the before/after (both 1200px and HD).

“Legendary Poenari Castle is so adorned with inspiring details that it feels like it came from a storybook. Indeed, it once belonged to Vlad the Impaler, the Voivode (Duke) of Wallachia, who inspired Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula. Climbing the 1,480 concrete stairs to the clifftop castle’s eagle nest position creates an uneasy sense of isolation. And it is easy to get giddy at such a height, especially in the knowledge that the ruins are partly due to a landslide that dragged the towers down to the river 400 metres below.

But Poenari needn’t be where visitors meet their doom. Vlad himself escaped attack through a secret passageway and into the Carpathian Mountains. The fortress itself was originally built directly into the rock and fortified with earth or lime, and Vlad rebuilt it with extra towers for defence. As a final fearsome detail, the castle is currently closed because of local bears – but it will re-open soon, possibly with a crémaillère tram to lift visitors up from the valley,” says the description of the ranking revealed by budgetdirect.com.

Poenari before
Poenari reconstructed

The ruins of Poenari Fortress stand high on a cliff overlooking the Arges River, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Built at the beginning of the 13th century by the first Walachian rulers, the castle changed names and residents a few times over the decades. The castle is well known for its connection to Vlad III Dracula “The Impaler”, whose name is said to have inspired Bram Stoker’s famous Dracula novel. The true Dracula, Prince of Wallachia, realized the castle’s potential as a major stronghold with an amazing vantage point, consolidated and fixed up the crumbling fortress, making it one of his main places of residence. Although the castle was used for many years after Vlad’s death in 1476, it eventually was abandoned again in the first half of the 16th century and was in ruins by the 17th century.

Architectural features

● In a Gothic architectural style with Baroque elements ● Has solid brick walls ● The walls preserve influences from the Byzantine architecture. ● The Poenari Fortress was built by Negru Voda directly in the rock, through an old Byzantine technique – the exterior of the walls was made of stone, and the interior, filled with pieces of rough stone, consolidated with earth or lime. ● The walls are 3 meters thick, like many fortified citadels in Transylvania ● The southern side is 72 meters long and consists of three outer bastions with a semicircular plane. It is linked to the eastern side of the fortress, which is 16 meters long. ● The fortress is 400 meters high from the valley and consists of 5 towers. Its walls are about 3 meters thick.
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castlefortressmedievalPoenarirehabilitatedrestoredRomaniaruinedsevenVlad the Impaler
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  • Darryl

    Not even close to what the castle looked like in it’s prime. The artist did not even get the red brick and river stone base correct, and the towers were most likely never that tall. The battlements would have been roofed, and the 5th tower at the entrance is missing. Very disappointing the artist did not do their research and just improvised..try again.

    • john Davies

      So, where’s YOUR version? We’ve been waiting for it for a few years. We want to see the obvious EXPERT version… from you, sir.