Sturdza Palace at Miclăușeni: a neo-Gothic castle in Moldavia
Sturdza Palace (Castelul Sturdza de la Miclăușeni) is a neo-Gothic castle in the village of Miclăușeni, in Iași County, about 65 km from the city of Iași. Built between 1880 and 1904, with Gothic turrets, an entrance tower and a large English-style park, it is one of Moldavia’s most unusual country mansions.
The Sturdza family’s library at Miclăușeni once held about 60,000 books, and George Enescu is said to have played here for wounded soldiers when the castle served as a hospital in the First World War.
The history of Sturdza Palace
The story begins around 1410, when Prince Alexander the Good granted an estate near the Siret plain to the boyar Miclăuș, from whom the place took its name. In 1591 his descendants sold the estate to the treasurer Simion Stroici, who built a manor whose ruins could still be seen in the early 20th century. In 1697 the estate passed to the Sturdza brothers Ion and Sandu, and in 1699 Miclăușeni went to Ion. In 1752 Ioan Sturdza rebuilt the manor with twenty rooms, ten on each floor, and stables for race horses.
The next generations enlarged the estate. Dimitrie Sturdza built a church close to the manor in 1821–1823, and his son Alecu laid out a park of 42 hectares in the English style, with ornamental trees and flowerbeds. Alecu also collected rare books and manuscripts; the future Prime Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu praised the collection. Alecu took the side of the 1848 revolutionaries and died of cholera that year, with suspicion that he had been poisoned on the prince’s orders. His son George Sturdza married Maria, daughter of the writer Ion Ghica, in 1869. To rebuild the house he sold forests and took a loan of 100,000 lei, and between 1880 and 1904 he raised on the site of the old manor the castle seen today. It was meant to recall the feudal castles of the West, the Palace of Culture in Iași and the princely palace at Ruginoasa.
In the First World War the castle served as a military hospital, with George Enescu giving concerts among the beds of the wounded. In 1944, as the front approached, the owner Ecaterina Cantacuzino left, and the castle was ransacked; many books and much of the Sturdza collections were lost. In 1947 she donated the castle to the Episcopate of Roman so that a convent could be set up. The communists dissolved the monastic community in 1953, and in the following decades the building served as a military store, then as a children’s institution; fires in 1968 and 1985 destroyed the last original furniture and the roof, and water damage and neglect did the rest.
In 2001 the castle was returned to the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bukovina. In 2003 some scenes of the film Orient Express were shot here, and from 2004, with a World Bank grant of about 2.4 million lei (685,700 euros), restoration of the building and its outbuildings began. Lost decorative elements were rebuilt from photographs, and the wooden doors, windows, panelling, staircases and original parquet were restored in 2003–2005. The work has not been fully completed: the Metropolitanate plans a museum and conference centre here, while one outbuilding already serves as a painting studio for icons and decorated eggs.
Curiosities about Sturdza Palace
- The castle once held about 60,000 books, many of them first editions or very rare, as well as medieval costumes, weapons, jewellery, paintings and archaeological pieces.
- During the First World War George Enescu visited the castle, then a military hospital, and played for the wounded among their beds.
- The walls and ceilings carry numerous Latin mottos, and in a room in the east wing several inscribed stones in Latin, Slavonic, Arabic and Romanian are set into the wall.
- The façades show high-relief coats of arms based on the Sturdza arms, a lion with a sword and an olive branch, and Art Nouveau details made in 1898 by the architect Iulius Reinecke with the help of Maria Sturdza, who had illustrated poems by her friend and neighbour Vasile Alecsandri.
- Inside, the castle had central staircases of Dalmatian marble, carved rosewood furniture and parquet inlaid with sycamore, mahogany, oak and ebony by Austrian craftsmen.
- In 1752 the master of the manor ordered the floors and ceilings to be washed with a bedbug remedy and the mouse holes to be plugged with crushed coal and ground glass.
Filmed at Sturdza Palace
The castle has served as a film location at least once.
- Orient Express (2003) – Director Sergiu Nicolaescu shot some scenes of this film at the castle in 2003.
Tours near Sturdza Palace
Experiences in the area that you can book online with Viator:
Visiting Sturdza Palace: what to see
- The exterior is the main draw: Gothic turrets, an entrance tower with a bridge over the moat, a manège hall and decorative coats of arms.
- The English-style park, laid out in the 19th century, belongs to the same listed monastery complex as the castle and the church.
- Restoration has not been fully completed, so it is not certain what parts of the interior are open; the Metropolitanate has planned a museum and a conference centre.
- One of the outbuildings is a painting studio where icons and decorated eggs are made.
- The nearest other places on this site are Probota Monastery (about 41 km), Bistrița Monastery (49 km), Văratec Monastery (50 km) and Cetățuia Monastery (51 km). Check the current opening hours before you go.
Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.
Map: where Sturdza Palace is
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors
Photos of Sturdza Palace
Questions
Where is Sturdza Palace?
It stands in the village of Miclăușeni in Iași County, about 65 km from the city of Iași and 20 km from Roman.
When was Sturdza Palace built?
George Sturdza built the present neo-Gothic castle between 1880 and 1904 on the site of an older 18th-century manor, part of which is incorporated in the east wing.
Who owns Sturdza Palace today?
It belongs to the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bukovina, which received it back in 2001, and it is part of the Miclăușeni monastery complex.
Was a film shot at Sturdza Palace?
Yes. In 2003 director Sergiu Nicolaescu shot some scenes of the film Orient Express at the castle.
What style is Sturdza Palace?
It is neo-Gothic with Baroque elements, with turrets, an entrance tower with a bridge over a moat, and Art Nouveau decorative details.
What can you see near Sturdza Palace?
The nearest other places on this site are Probota Monastery (about 41 km), Bistrița Monastery (49 km), Văratec Monastery (50 km) and Cetățuia Monastery (51 km).
Also nearby
Probota Monastery
Suceava · fortified UNESCO church and princely tombs
41 km away
Bistrița Monastery
Neamț · Moldavian princely monastery near Piatra Neamț
49 km away
Văratec Monastery
Neamț · Romania’s largest community of nuns
50 km away
Lions’ Obelisk
Iași · four lions and an obelisk in Copou Park
51 km away