Archaeologists have found a cellar in the town of Pécs in southern Hungary, believed to have belonged to Wallachian Duke Vlad III, more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler or Dracula.
Tamás Fedeles, a tutor of medieval and early modern history at Pécs University said his research showed that Vlad III Tepes lived in a two-story town house on what is now the city’s central square.
Wallachia, which is now modern-day southern Romania, was ruled by Vlad Tepes during his first reign as crown prince at age 17, during the same year of his release from Turkish captivity, in 1448. His main reign took place in 1456 and ended in 1462. His final reign was accomplished with the aid of the Hungarian throne in 1476 and he ruled until his assassination months later within the same year.
Fedeles says the Duke of Wallachia owned the house in the 1460s and this is confirmed by a 1489 document that refers to it as Drakulya House. The document contains a detailed description of the house and from this documentation, Fedeles says the cellar most likely belonged to Drakulya.
Olivér Gábor, a local archaeologist, agrees. He says this cellar was one of the most impressive medieval cellars found to date. In his opinion, further excavations could turn up interesting finds.
However, authorities plan to fill in the site of the newly discovered cellar. This is partly due to the views of the official archaeologist of the Cultural Heritage Protection Service, who expressed the view that the excavations did not unearth any items that might point to an individual owner.
Zoltán Kárpáti also disagreed with the position of the house referred to in the medieval document. He did concede, however, that the cellar could have been that of the Dracula House of the document.
Based on Kárpáti’s statement, city official Péter Merza said Pécs was not obliged to open the find to the public. He added that the space would have to be filled in such a way that it could be reopened at a later date.
Duke Vlad III’s cruelty is well documented. His nickname, Tepes is Romanian for Impaler, while his father, Vlad Dracul’s name refers to the Society of the Dragon, an order of knights founded by the Hungarian King Zsigmond (Sigismund).
The character of Count Dracula was made famous by the 19th Century novelist Bram Stoker and was not closely based on the life of Duke Vlad III. Unlike the character of Stoker’s novel, Vlad’s castle was in northern Wallachia, at Târgovişte, not in Transylvania, as in the book. Nor was he a ‘vampire’ although his bloodthirsty ways was obvious inspiration for Stoker’s character of Count Dracula.
fucken wow! dracs r here !
Ahhhh, the children of the night, what sweet music they make …”
I wonder what relics they’ll dig up? How weird, I just assumed he lived in a castle.
Haven’t heard anything else about this. I wonder if any progress has been made. It was very interesting when it was reported, but I wish people were still talking about it.
I doubt they’ll find anything. He had more important things to do than to stash weird shit in his basement.
Anyway, he is one of the most remarkable characters in Romanian history. :>
small and simple. best way to go