Rudna (Рудна) – Timiș County
Like an island in the „sea” of the plains, just a step away from the Serbian border. Rising from the middle of the fields, the brick tower of the Nikolici Mausoleum in Rudna stands as a tangible witness to Banat’s multicultural past.
The Nikolici Mausoleum of Rudna, the resting place of a noble family with Serbian roots
Far from the bustle of Timișoara, at the „end of the line,” the villages of Rudna and Crai Nou cling together. Between them, isolated in the field between houses and the Timiș River, stands a rare and remarkable structure. Surrounded by thorns and shrubs, the Nikolici Mausoleum keeps alive the memory of a noble family with a rich history in Banat. Locals whisper that it is haunted, and the family’s tragic past seems to confirm it. In the early 1780s, Jovan Nikolici III, a cattle trader from Osijek (today Croatia), and Teodor Iankovici de Mirievschi, a high-ranking imperial official, bought the Rudna estates during the state property auction held in Timișoara.
Iankovici became known for reforming Romanian and Serbian education in Banat. He built a manor, but only a year later left Rudna forever at the call of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. He played a key role in restructuring Russian education. Then even corresponded with George Washington, the first President of the United States. On the other hand, Nikolici also built a manor. This was later demolished after the First World War. With no heirs, he adopted Jovan Belici, born in Zemun in 1776, leaving him his name, wealth, and noble title.
The Nikolici family of Rudna — victims of a curse?
After Iankovici’s departure to Russia, his properties were bought by Jovan Nikolici III. But it is said that along with the vast estates, he also seized the manor entrusted to Iankovici’s mother-in-law, Natalia Sokolovici. Expelled from the noble house, she cursed the Nicoliki family „so that not even their bones shall rest in the grave.” After the Revolutions of 1848, Nikolici IV and his sons — Miklós, Fedor, and Mihály — loyal to the Austrians, were ennobled by Emperor Franz Joseph I. The barons of the Nikolici family then led an eccentric life in Rudna during the second half of the 19th century. Fedor even became governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1882–1886.
But not every beautiful story ends well. The descendants of the Nikolici family were buried in the chapel at the edge of the village. During the First World War, it was ravaged, the crypts desecrated in search of family treasure. Marble slabs were torn down, doors and windows smashed, and later locals even broke the cross from the roof and tried to strip the copper roofing. Today no one knows where the remains of the Nikolici family lie — fulfilling Natalia Sokolovici’s curse. Now, nature has „embraced” the mausoleum completely, but villagers protect it by always leaving a patch of land around it untilled.
The Nikolici Manor in Rudna, saved by the mother of the „Queen of Electroswing”
But what happened to the Nikolici Manor in Rudna? In the interwar period it had several owners, one of them being Alexandru Lighezan, a Doctor of Law, then a garrison subunit. In the early 1960s, it was nationalized and turned into the headquarters of the Agricultural Production Cooperative. The communists disfigured its original architecture and destroyed its dendrological park, replacing it with a football field. After the Revolution, though listed as a national heritage site, the manor was vandalized, looted, and left in ruins.
Its salvation came in 2002, from Maria and Willie Radermacher. Leaving their life in Germany behind, they paid around €90,000 for the ruin, and spent just as much restoring parts of the manor to make it gradually habitable. Maria, originally from Baia Mare, had lived for 12 years near Timișoara, where her two daughters, Alice and Nancy, were born. Alice Francis is none other than the so-called „Queen of Electroswing,” with millions of views on YouTube. The Nikolici Manor even served as a filming location for some of her musical projects.
Sadly, the Nikolici Mausoleum is not listed as a historic monument. It was never included in the Radermachers’ ownership documents either. Thus, its „Voroneț Blue” dome and the angels painted on its walls remain to guard a place filled with energy. An „island” kept alive only by the memory and care of the villagers.