The Iulia Hasdeu Castle is a folly built in the form of small castle by historian and politician Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu in the city of Câmpina, Romania. Work on it began in 1893, after Hasdeu’s daughter, Iulia Hasdeu, died at the age of 18, an event that dramatically shook Hasdeu’s life. He claimed that his late daughter provided the plans for building the castle during sessions of spiritism. The building was completed in 1896.
The Castle, which needed a lot of repairs even when Hasdeu was alive, was affected by the First World War and in 1924 the People’s Atheneum of Câmpina “B.P. Hasdeu” tried to take it for restoration. The castle was affected again by the Second World War and stayed in a damaged state till 1955, when its name was written in the Listing of Historical Monuments. Restored during the 60s, it got damaged once again by the earthquake of 1977, which prompted the authorities to start a long process of restoring and consolidation.
Since 1994 the Iulia Hasdeu Castle has housed the “B.P. Hasdeu” Memorial Museum which displays furniture and personal belongings of the Hasdeu family including photos, original documents, manuscripts, Hasdeu’s reviews and pictures made by Nicolae Grigorescu and other famous painters. Also, in the entire exhibition, an important place is occupied by the spiritualist concerns of B.P.Hasdeu.
Below you can watch a gallery of most things there, but go and take a look, it’s worth spending an afternoon there to get familiar with the history of the Hasdeu family.