Peleș CastleCastelul Peleș

History

Peleș Castle was built between 1873 and 1914 in Sinaia as a summer retreat for King Carol I, Romania's first modern monarch, who wanted a mountain residence in the Carpathian foothills. German architect Johannes Schultz won the original commission with a design blending Neo-Renaissance and German Gothic Revival elements, and Czech architect Karel Liman later took over construction. The finished palace holds more than 170 rooms, many lavishly decorated with stained glass, carved wood panelling, and armor collections gathered from across Europe. Still formally owned by the royal family but leased to the state, it now operates as a museum drawing several hundred thousand visitors a year.