Geaca (Gyeke) – Cluj County
Built in neoclassical style, the Béldi Castle in Geaca, Cluj County, has reached a state where only a divine intervention could save it from complete disappearance. After everything that could be stolen was stolen, only a few walls remind of the good old times.
The Béldi Castle in Geaca, residence of the man who changed the face of Cluj
The castle in Geaca, consisting of a basement, ground floor, first floor, and attic, was erected in 1880 by the noble Szekler-origin Béldi de Uzon family, a family with a long history in Transylvania, settled in the area in the second half of the 19th century. The elegance of the castle is not accidental, as it was owned by Count Ákos Béldi (1846-1932), the eldest son of Ferenc Béldi, former supreme county head of Küküllő County, and his wife, Zsófia (née Dániel). They also built one of the famous pyramid-shaped crypts in the Central Cemetery of Cluj-Napoca — the Házsongárd Cemetery.
Ákos Béldi was also buried here after his body was repatriated, as he died in Budapest. Former intendant of the National Theater in Cluj (1892-1905), former royal chamberlain, and president of the Hungarian Cultural Society of Transylvania, Ákos Béldi also held the role of supreme county head of Cluj County (1888-1905). During this period, a significant part of the city’s water and sewer network was developed, the central building of today’s Babeș-Bolyai University and the National Theater were built, and the statue of King Matthias Corvinus, created by sculptor János Fadrusz, was unveiled.
No Surprise: The Béldi Castle in Geaca became a ruin after the Revolution
Featuring elements of folk architecture, the entrance of the rectangular-plan neoclassical building was flanked by four Doric columns, which the terrace with wrought iron parapet. Until the destruction of recent decades, the facades of the building were symmetrical, and the ceiling of the rooms was decorated with vertically and horizontally finished plaster stripes. During the communist regime, the Béldi Castle was transformed into a school, but after 1989, the abandoned building was almost irreparably destroyed: the stairs to the basement and first floor no longer exist, and the door and window frames have disappeared.
Initially claimed by heir Kerekes Józsefné Mária Béldi, the castle, which once had six ground floor rooms, was put up for sale by the new owners in 2015 at the price of a small apartment. Like in many similar cases, the building was devastated over the years until the roof structure collapsed, and the Doric columns also collapsed under the pressure of the massive balcony. According to a 2022 report, the association that came into possession of the castle aimed to save the building, but the lack of funds and the disastrous state of the building thwart any dreams of renovation.
Listed as a historic monument in Cluj County since 2010, the Béldi Castle in Geaca seems to be a lost monument for future generations. Apart from a few destroyed walls, the building lives on today only through some old and yellowed photographs…