In the early 70s of the 19th century, King Carol I of Romania came to hunt and accidentally ended up in this land near Sinaia. The landscape and nature reminded him of his beloved Germany. So he decided to build one of the royal residences here and bought a plot of 5 square kilometers. Many projects participated in the design competition, but the king rejected them all, either because of the high cost or because of the similarity to the palaces of other royals. Finally, he liked the project of the German architect Johann Schulz, who managed to combine the neo-Renaissance (external facade of the palace) and the half-timbered courtyard.

Although the palace does not look gigantic, it has 170 rooms, fully satisfying the royal needs. Most importantly, Carol I even bypassed the European monarchs: his residence was originally electrified, and equipped with an elevator, central heating batteries, a power substation. Besides, the building of the royal stables, a guard building, and a hunting lodge began simultaneously with the construction of Peles.

As the couple had no children, the next king was Carol’s nephew, Carol II. His son Michael I did not use Peles for long. The Communists, who came to power after the Second World War, forced him to abdicate, deprived him of his property, and turned the palace into a recreation center for creative workers, and then into a museum. In 2007, the palace was officially returned to Michael I (he lived 96 years!), who started to rent it out to the country.

Now the palace continues to house a museum. Inside Peles, you feel like in a jewelry box: an endless suite of halls and rooms, each of which seems to be decorated even richer and more sophisticated than the previous one. Residential royal chambers, a library, a real theater, guest rooms decorated in Moorish, Italian, French styles—the gem of Sinaia never fails to amaze both inside and outside.

The park with sculptures, adjacent to the palace, goes seven terraces down and turns into alpine forests and water meadows of the Transylvanian Alps.