Iulia Hasdeu’s Castle in Campina

Iulia Hasdeu enjoys a special place in Romania's cultural hall of fame.

Christine Leșcu, 15.02.2013, 18:39

Iulia was a child prodigy and her innate propensity for foreign languages and poetry, her untimely death, caused by tuberculosis, and the consequences of her tragic fate on her father, the scholar Bodgan Petriceicu Hasdeu, have turned her into a iconic figure. Born in November 1869, Iulia Hasdeu graduated high school in Bucharest at only 11 years of age and by the time she was 16 she graduated the Music Conservatory and later joined the Sorbonne University. Before her death in 1888 she published few works, but wrote poetry and prose, kept a diary and was constantly in correspondence with her father. In turn, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu was a writer, philologist, historian and jurist. Between 1894 and 1896 he built a castle in Campina, in memory of his daughter and wife, both named Iulia. The castle in Campina was built for a special purpose. Jenica Tabacu, who works at the B.P. Hasdeu memorial museum, tells us more about the building and its connection with Iulia Hasdeu.

“After her death, Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu started practicing spiritism and passionately devoted himself to exploring the communication between the living and the dead. He organised famous spiritism sessions with several close friends among whom scientists, physicians and artists. The castle in Campina was meant to serve as home for B.P. Hasdeu and the spirits of the people he loved – his daughter Iulia, his brother Nicolae and his father Alexander. Spiritism sessions were held inside the castle, towards the end of Hasdeu’s life. The building hosts a special room, the blue room, where these sessions or ‘spiritism experiences’, as B.P. Hasdeu used to call them, were held. There are symbols that need to be deciphered or at least observed, if their full decoding is impossible. We wouldn’t say the castle has a certain architectural style. The castle has three stone turrets, a material that symbolises everything sacred. The castle faces north and the two lateral towers are oriented towards the west and the east respectively, emphasizing the idea the West and the East can be united, at least in the spirit world, by the keep — the inner stronghold of a building — which in this case is the castle’s temple. The castle is a place for meditation and self-communion.”

The Castle in Campina is a place where visitors can find out more about the history of the Hasdeu family and about Iulia Hasdeu’s great talent. Jenica Tabacu:

“Iulia Hasdeu stands at the junction between the French and Romanian cultures. Throughout her short life, Iulia, apart from being a child prodigy with an extraordinary intelligence and talent for painting, poetry and music, wrote a lot in French and less in Romanian. After her death her father discovered a wide-ranging work in her notebooks and the notes on the books she had read, which were published after her death. Iulia’s works were published in three volumes put together by her father and released by two prestigious publishing houses: Hachette of France and Socec from Bucharest. Two poetry volumes and a prose volume were published. After Iulia had passed away, B. P. Hasdeu used to tell visitors that the castle’s blueprints had been sent by the spirit of her dead daughter.”

B.P.Hasdeu spent the last 10 years of his life in Campina. He died in August 1907. Those who visit the castle today have good chances to find there the same eerie atmosphere, the same mysterious place steeped in owner’s love for books and grief for his lost child.