2. Peles Castle (located in Sinaia, Romania) is considered by many one of the most
beautiful castles in all Europe. It was the final resting place for several Romanian
monarchs including King Carol I, who died there in 1914.
Peleş Castle has 3200 sq. meters of floor plan, over 160 rooms,30
bathrooms, many with dedicated themes from world cultures, that can vary by
function (offices, libraries, armouries, art galleries) or by style
(Florentine, Turkish, Moorish, French, Imperial) all extremely lavishly furnished
and decorated to the slightest detail. The establishment hosts one of the finest
collections of art in East and Central Europe, consisting of
statues, paintings, furniture, arms and armour, gold, silver, stained
glass, ivory, fine china, tapestries and rugs; the collection of arms and armour has
over 4,000 pieces, divided between Eastern and Western war, ceremonial or
hunting spreading over four centuries in history. Oriental rugs come from the
finest sources: Bukhara, Mosul, Isparta, Saruk and Smirna, porcelain from Sèvres
and Meissen, leather from Córdoba but perhaps the most acclaimed are the hand
painted stained glass vitralios, mostly Swiss . Peleş Castle shelters one of the most
important and most valuable painting collections in Europe, almost 2,000 pieces.
