Pekri Castle: A Historic Castle and Estate in Romania
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Romania
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Principality of Transylvania
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page9 sections
History
Seventeenth-century origins
Pekri Castle, also known as Pekry-Radák Castle, is a historic castle in Ozd, Romania, built during the seventeenth century. The circumstances of its construction remain uncertain. The castle is listed as a historic monument in Romania under register code MS-II-m-A-15741.
Destruction and restoration
In 1709, Austrian troops burned the castle during the Rákóczi uprising, a Hungarian anti-Habsburg revolt that lasted from 1703 to 1711. The building was restored in 1732.
Ownership and changing uses
During the first half of the twentieth century, Pekri Castle came into the possession of Baron Johann Konrad von Konradsheim and his wife, Ilona Teleki, a member of the Hungarian Teleki noble family.
After 1945, the estate became state property. Its furniture, books, and decorative objects disappeared, while the complex served successively as offices for an agricultural production cooperative, a school, a cultural center, and housing for teaching staff. With no repairs, the buildings deteriorated and were eventually abandoned. Severe roof damage and water infiltration then placed the castle’s structure under serious threat.
Renewal efforts
The Romanian state returned the estate to Ilona Teleki’s daughter, who granted it in concession to the Bonus Pastor Foundation in 1997. This Romanian nonprofit organization is associated with addiction recovery and rehabilitation work, and it has continued efforts to revitalize the property. In 2022, Pekri Castle was included among the monuments scheduled for restoration through Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which allocates European Union recovery funding to projects including heritage restoration.
Remains
Estate buildings
The castle
Pekri Castle forms the principal historic building of the estate. Its roof has deteriorated considerably, allowing water to infiltrate the structure. The planned intervention is intended to restore the castle in its entirety and adapt it for multiple functions.
The granary
The estate also includes a granary. It has been restored with necessary modifications and converted into a therapy center for people suffering from various forms of addiction, giving one of the property’s agricultural buildings a new institutional use.
