American entrepreneur Joel Weinschenker has acquired a controlling stake in CADB - the company that manages Bran Castle, which according to legend belonged to Count Dracula, from the heirs of the Romanian princess Ileana, the portal profit.ro reported.
Weinschenker's company - Ad Populum, specializing in entertainment products and collectibles, has acquired an 80% stake in CADB. After the deal, the management of the company was transferred to Ad Populum's CFO Stephen Bigg.
It is noted that immediately after the acquisition of CADB, the American company began hiring staff for the daily operations of Bran Castle, including ticket sales, maintenance and event planning.
Joel Weinschenker is best known for managing the Elvis Presley House Museum in Memphis.
About Count Dracula's Castle
Bran Castle was founded by the Teutonic Knights in the early 13th century to protect the borders of Transylvania from warlike nomads. It burned down during the Tatar-Mongol invasions in 1242 and was rebuilt in the 14th century. In 1920, the Brasov City Council donated the castle to Queen Maria, who left it as a legacy to her daughter, Princess Ileana. In 1948, the castle became the property of the Romanian state, and in 1956 the Museum of Feudal History and Art was opened there. After the fall of the communist regime, the legal ownership of the castle was taken over by the grandson of Queen Maria and son of Princess Ileana, Archduke Dominick von Habsburg, together with his two sisters, Maria Magdalena Holzhausen and Elisabeth Sandhofer.
Bran Castle is one of the most popular landmarks in Romania due to its connection with the lord (prince) of Wallachia, Vlad III the Impaler, who, thanks to the Irish writer Bram Stoker, is associated with the vampire Count Dracula. However, according to historical documents, the prince never lived in the castle, but only spent the night once while returning from Hungary to Bucharest after negotiations for a joint fight against the Turks. After the publication of Stoker's novel in 1897, the castle began to be directly associated with the vampire.