Keresztelőszentpál / Kerelőszentpál

Keresztelőszentpál (in Romanian: Sânpaul, in Gipsy: Sînpala) is located in Transylvania, it is in Romania. It is famous for its Castle Palace built by the Haller family. The place is just 19 km from Marosvásárhely (Tirgu Mures) towards Kolozsvár (Cluj, Klausenburg) but it is just 4 km from the other Haller Palace which is located in Marosugra (Ogra, Ugern). Unfortunately, this building in Keresztelőszentpál, unlike the other one is in very bad condition…

The settlement was born in the age of the Hungarian Árpád kings, its first mention is from 1332 as Sanctus Paulus. Its castle was built by Alárdi Ferenc in the 16th century. The place is also famous for the Battle of Keresztelőszentpál (19 July 1575) when Prince Báthory István defeated the army of Bekes Gáspár who had been supported by the Habsburgs. 

Some of the survivors took themselves into the castle and when Báthory besieged it, the fort was destroyed. This battle enabled the future independence of the Transylvanian Principality and also made way for Báthory to the Polish throne. Read my short dramatized writing about Báthory István, the plot takes place right after the battle of Keresztelőszentpál:

https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/dramatized-historical-writings/interview-with-lord-bathory-istvan/

Lord Balassa Bálint, the most famous Hungarian warrior-poet had fought on the wrong side in this battle and was captured by Báthory; it was how he ended up in Poland until he regained his freedom. It was Haller István who rebuilt the castle in 1610 and turned it into a rather fortified palace. His son, Haller János finished it in 1674. (The Haller family is a German family from Nürnberg, from the 13th century. Their Rupert branch arrived in Hungary in the 15th century. Soon, they rose to the highest aristocrats of Transylvania.) The castle got damaged in the wars of Prince Rákóczi Ferenc II in 1704 when the rebel “kuruc” troops attacked it.

The next rebuilding took place in 1760 in the Baroque style. There lived 1514 people in the settlement in 1992, 656 of them Gipsy, 473 Hungarians, and 385 Romanians. The Haller family was driven out in 1949 by the communists. After the system change, Haller Ilona spent 15 years until they got the building back which finally has been gifted to the Catholic Arch-Bishopry of Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia). As the Church did not have money to restore the building, they gave it back to the Haller family…

Here is a video where you can see the Haller family’s castle at Kapjon and at Kerelőszentpál (1212): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIpS5vXEGCw

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Here are a few more pictures: