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
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.