Products from our country

1. Products from our country
Product: DRACULA
Type: Myth and reality
MIHAELA BARBU – COSTIN MITREA
7th Grade, Dichiseni School, Romania
Five Senses Project
Comenius 2013-2015

2. Myth:
 Dracula is an 1897 Gothic
horror novel by Irish author
Bram Stoker.
 Famous for introducing the
character of the vampire
Count Dracula, the novel
tells the story of Dracula's
attempt to move from
Transylvania to England,
and the battle between
Dracula and a small group
of men and women led by
Professor Abraham Van
Helsing.

3.  Although Stoker did not
invent the vampire, he
defined its modern
form, and the novel has
spawned numerous
theatrical, film and
television
interpretations.

4. Reality:
 Count Dracula, a
fictional character in
the Dracula novel, was
inspired by one of the
best-known figures of
Romanian history,
Vlad Dracula,
nicknamed Vlad Tepes
(Vlad, The Impaler),
who was the ruler of
Walachia at various
times from 1456-1462.

5.  His name was Vlad
"Dracula", that is the son of
(also Vlad) "Dracul" - word
meaning both "the devil" and
"the dragon" in Romanian
and used here with the latter
meaning as a consequence
of him wearing an insignia of
this beast as a knight of the
crusader Order of the
Dragon - while the son's
favourite method of
execution earned him the
additional nickname "Tepes"
("the Impaler" in Romanian).

6.  He lived - between ca. 1431
and 1476 - and, like his
father, ruled as a direct
descendant from the founding
dinasty - three times in 1448,
1456-1462 and 1476 - the
small principality of Wallachia
comprising the southern part
of modern-day Romania
between the Carpathians and
the Danube including
Bucharest whom he first gave
capital status.

7. Prince Vlad Dracula was not
only a destroyer - of men and
property - but also a builder:
apart from an unspecified
number of churches, his major
architectural creation standing to
this day - albeit only as an
impressive ruin - is his alpine
castle, incorrectly located by
Bram Stoker in north-eastern
Transylvania not far from Bistrita.
Located in northern
Wallachia - not far from the
Transylvanian border - in the
foothills of the Fagaras range of
the southern Carpathians, upriver
from Curtea de Arges, on the
narrow plateau of a remote rock
ridge overlooking the river Arges
near the village of Poenari,
Dracula's "eagle's nest" was built
around 1459 as a place of refuge
in times of need.
Poienari Citadel

8. Bran Castle

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10. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.