More parts of Borosjenő castle to be restored

The restoration of the valuable artefacts found during the renovation of the Borosjenő castle will begin in the autumn, with new work to be carried out at the fortified castle in Partizan, Arad Mayor Calin Abrudan said on Tuesday.

Located about 50 kilometres from Arad in the Partium region of Romania, the castle of Borosjenő (Ineu) is one of the most valuable monuments in the region. A financing contract worth RON 18.9 million (HUF 1.49 billion) was signed in 2019 to restore and secure the complex, which has been empty for decades. Construction only started in July 2022 due to delays in obtaining permits.

The first phase is almost complete

Mayor Calin Abrudan told the Agerpres news agency that the first phase of the restoration work is still ongoing, with 90 percent of the work completed. Once it is finished, the castle will not be opened to the public, because new work will start in the autumn, including the restoration of valuable pieces of the building found so far during the restoration.

The work on the roofs of the towers is currently underway and will be completed in the autumn. Then the next phase of the works would start, for which a tender has been launched for 14.3 million lei (1.13 billion forints). This will include the installation of a lift in the courtyard and the final interior works.

These should be completed in eight months, so the renovated castle would be open to visitors next summer, exactly 25 years after its closure," he said.

He added:

The exterior walls are not plastered, but only covered with protective varnish to reveal the reddish colour of the brick. The renovated castle will also house a museum, a library, several conference and event rooms.

Medieval artefacts discovered earlier in the castle walls

In Borosjenő castle, first in 2016 and then in autumn 2019, the stone remains of the former monastery of Dénesmonostora, a monastery close to the settlement, were discovered with funding from the Rómer Flóris project. The 12th-century finds from the walls of the Borosjenő castle are the most important and richest collection of Romanesque stone carvings in the region in recent decades, the László Teleki Foundation told MTI at the time.

The only artifact previously known from the monastery in Dénesmonostora was a carved stone depicting a siren, which was also found in the walls of the castle in Borosjenő during the last renovation of the building in the 1870s. It is on display in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. Almost 150 years later, the "companions" were also found: in 2016, 9 early carvings were replaced, and in 2019, 14 new, smaller and larger stone elements were added to the collection, including two column stones. Several matching cornice elements have also been found, as well as perhaps an arched fragment of one of the monastery's larger gates and a fragment of a smaller gate stem. The recovered stone carvings have been transferred to the Arad museum.

Some valuable carvings were also identified that could not be replaced during the renovation, such as two painted stone slabs from the period in the basement of the northwest tower. According to previously announced plans, the final exhibition site for the artefacts would be the restored Borosjenő castle.

Eight centuries of Borosjenő history

The first mention of Borosjenő castle dates back to the 13th century in the form of castri Jeneu. The castle, with its regular plan and four bastions, was built in the late 16th century in the Renaissance style. It was in Turkish and Austrian hands, and its military character was ended in 1746, when the Jena garrison was ordered by Maria Theresa to the Arad castle. It was used as a military barracks until 1901.

During the communist period, it was an auxiliary school and orphanage, which moved in 1998. It then became the property of the municipality, which is trying to restore it with EU funds and use it as a tourist attraction.