‘Wednesday’ on Netflix: Inside the Castle Used for Nevermore Academy
When Romania became a satellite of the USSR after World War II, the castle was nationalized, and all of its original furnishings, art, and even light fixtures were looted. Used as a hospital until president Nicolae Ceaușescu was overthrown in 1989, the castle was then returned to Cantacuzino’s great granddaughter, Ioana Cantacuzino. In 2008, German lawyer and property developer Kurt Neuschitzer bought the ancestral home, hoping to develop a golf and ski resort for which he’s still awaiting government approval.
An art extravaganza
With his construction plans on hold, Neuschitzer restored the castle, including spending $3.1 million on new electrical, plumbing, and heating systems. In 2015, he opened the Cantacuzino Castle Art Gallery to showcase the work of famous artists, including Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso’s graphic work, Marc Chagall, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as an exhibit on contemporary artists such as Andrei Gamart, Nadine Kseibi, Mirela Iordache, and the Society of Figurative Artists from Romania. A recent show featured 43 of Leonardo da Vinci’s machine designs, dreamed up by the artist more than 500 years ago, and reproduced in the 1990s by Italian craftsmen at the behest of the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Florence.
Open for visitors
