Products from our countryProduct: DRACULA

Type: Myth and reality MIHAELA BARBU – COSTIN MITREA

7th Grade, Dichiseni School, Romania

Five Senses Project

Comenius 2013-2015

Myth: Dracula is an 1897

Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.

Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, he defined its modern form, and the novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film and television interpretations.

Reality: Count Dracula, a

fictional character in the Dracula novel, was inspired by one of the best-known figures of Romanian history, Vlad Dracula, nicknamed Vlad Tepes (Vlad, The Impaler), who was the ruler of Walachia at various times from 1456-1462.

His name was Vlad "Dracula", that is the son of (also Vlad) "Dracul" - word meaning both "the devil" and "the dragon" in Romanian and used here with the latter meaning as a consequence of him wearing an insignia of this beast as a knight of the crusader Order of the Dragon - while the son's favourite method of execution earned him the additional nickname "Tepes" ("the Impaler" in Romanian).

He lived - between ca. 1431 and 1476 - and, like his father, ruled as a direct descendant from the founding dinasty - three times in 1448, 1456-1462 and 1476 - the small principality of Wallachia comprising the southern part of modern-day Romania between the Carpathians and the Danube including Bucharest whom he first gave capital status.

Prince Vlad Dracula was not only a destroyer - of men and property - but also a builder: apart from an unspecified number of churches, his major architectural creation standing to this day - albeit only as an impressive ruin - is his alpine castle, incorrectly located by Bram Stoker in north-eastern Transylvania not far from Bistrita.

Located in northern Wallachia - not far from the Transylvanian border - in the foothills of the Fagaras range of the southern Carpathians, upriver from Curtea de Arges, on the narrow plateau of a remote rock ridge overlooking the river Arges near the village of Poenari, Dracula's "eagle's nest" was built around 1459 as a place of refuge in times of need.

Poienari Citadel

Bran Castle

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