Description of the image
The image shows the castle from Balchik viewed from the front, represented by texture from united rectangles.
The construction is composed of a central square villa that is framed by two porches or terraces with wooden railings, rendered by thick vertical lines.
On the left is the tall, circular tower with a balcony, finished in a pointed peak.
The roofs are highlighted by a corrugated texture.
At the base of the palace is rendered by oblique and parallel lines the sand cliff, which separates the Black Sea edifice.
Historical data
The Balchik Castle was built as a residence of Queen Mary on a plot of land on the Black Sea shore, in the locality of Cadrilater, which was part of the Romanian territory at that time. The construction started in 1925, also called the villa “The lonely nest” (“Tenha Juvah” in Turkish), was realized according to the queen’s instructions in an eclectic style, with elements of Mediterranean, Moorish and Bulgarian architecture. The complex also includes other constructions, villas for the suite and its children, an English garden, but also the Stella Maris Chapel, a place of silence designated by the queen as a place where her heart is to be laid for eternal rest. The wish was fulfilled after the death of his nephew, Mihai, but due to political developments, the box will not be kept there for long. The small kingdom was gradually expanded, with other land bought around the residence, including several mills. The constructions keep the specificity of the place, at the desire of the queen [Bibliography 1]
In this area, the Queen received countless visits from family members, artists, party people. During the Regency, the Balchik was also the place of political games, the Queen being visited by the liberal and peasant leaders who saw in it the stability mark, after the death of King Ferdinand Bibliography 2. The Balchik was for the queen land of lack of constraint, in which she escaped, on average, two months a year. Here she gave free rein not only to her artistic concerns but also involved in the life of the community. However, in the following years, the “lonely nest” becomes a place of forced exile, because, after Carol’s reinstatement to the throne, he ordered a series of major changes that would affect the political life. One of the measures sought to remove his mother, Queen Mary, from public life and political backdrops. In this sense, he established his domicile in Balchik [Bibliography 3]. The relationship with the son will gradually deteriorate, so that the visits made by Carol to Balchik, on the anniversary of the mother’s birthday, are more formal, and in the end, completely absent Bibliography 4 Constantin Argetoianu even records the order issued by Carol the departures and arrivals of the queen to Balchik not to be finely accompanied by the officers’ court, together with the prohibition to participate in the tables organized by Queen Bibliography 5.
In the last years of her life, the queen fought with the disease, travelling to different sanatoriums abroad. On October 23, 1937, he left the Balchik for the last time, because upon her return to the country, she died in Pelișor. The domain in the Quadrilateral was left by her will to Carol [Bibliography 6.]
Bibliography
1. Lucian Boia, Balcic. The Little Paradise of Greater Romania, Bucharest, Humanitas, 2014, p. 56.
2. Lucian Boia, op. cit., p. 64.
3. Ioan Scurtu, History of the Romanians during the four kings (1866-1947). Carol II, vol. III, Bucharest, Encyclopaedic Publishing House, 2004, p. 95.
4. Lucian Boia, op. cit., p. 71.
5. Constantin Argetoianu, Daily Notes, Vol. 1, February 2, 1935- December 31, 1936, Bucharest, Machiavelli Publishing House, 1998, p. 288.
6. Lucian Boia, op. cit., p. 155.
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