Dracula - a Romanian myth?

Bucharest, Romania, July 1999 – I am in the living room in my apartment, serving the traditional Romanian food (sarmale) and Romanian traditional drinks (tuica & palinka) to a group of five Japanese guests.

Always I have enjoyed my conversation with Asian interlocutors, due their impeccable politeness and ability to give you the impression that your speech is the most interesting thing which they have ever heard. So, trying to explain them about the main characteristics of my culture, a Latin culture with a lot of similarities with other Latin cultures/languages, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, but also with the typical features of a country located in South Eastern part of Europe (and as a result, again regional influences, Russian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish), I figured out for them the Romanian sights which they must visit in Romania:

• Maramures county with its unique wooden churches having high spires and shingled roofs or the natives houses with their huge carven wooden gates, a region in which the ancient traditions are so well preserved that they are still part of the inhabitants’ daily life;
• The Danube Delta – a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site and a paradise for wildlife supporters , in particular for birds’ watchers, being the second largest and best preserved of Europe's deltas: 2,200 square miles of rivers, canals, marshes, tree-fringed lakes and islands comprising 3,450 animal species and 1,700 plant species;
• The Peles Castle -Sinaia, one of the most beautiful castles in the whole Europe, a splendid sample of German Renaissance style, set up in the second part of XIX century by the German King Carol I de Hohenzollern who run Romania between 1866 and1914;
• Carpathian Mountains and Black Sea Coast;
• The outside painted Orthodox monasteries in Bucovina(Northern part of Moldavia) or cave monasteries in Dobrogea;
• The middle-aged Saxons towns in Transylvania: Brasov, Sighisoara, Sibiu and so forth

My long “lecture” was interrupted by a very discreet cough of Hiroshi, one of my Japanese guests who were suddenly reinvigorated by hearing the “Transylvania” word. “Aha, he said, I heard about Transylvania, the Dracula’s land. There we MUST GO, TO SEE DRACULA’S CASTLE!”

Hearing these words, I was thinking full of resignation:” Oh, no, again Dracula!”Hence, I have understood that the stereotypes and the tourism attractions based on a story are stronger that authenticity which in my opinion should be axiomatic when we refer at cultural tourism.

It’s unanimously recognized in the marketing theories that behind of any successful brand/product/service should stay a Story. Consequently, Dracula myth offers to the travelers that type of destination with a story. But what it’s happened when the story does not suit with the authentic features of the promoted product?

Firstly, it’s worth to mention that Dracula is an international brand, not a Romanian one. But Bram Stocker, the Irish author of the famous novel dedicated to Dracula located his vampire in the mysterious location of Transylvania- the Western part of Romania. Thus, Romania is the only country in the world which can use the myth of Dracula as a native myth. This could be considered a competitive advantage for Romania as a tourist destination.

Secondly, the vampire named Dracula generates varied, mainly negative, feelings among Romanians because it does not have any connection with the historical truth. That is because Bram Stoker “designed” his vampire Count Dracula based on the character of the 15th-century Romanian prince Vlad Dracula, the son of the prince Vlad Dracul, knight of the order of Dragon. Dracula is perceived by Romanians as a man of his times, a hero who fought for defeating the Christianity against the invasions of Ottoman (Turkish) Empire...His real name, was Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), of Wallachia (the Southern part of Romania) and founder of Bucharest, the nowadays’ Romania‘s capital. His nickname “Impaler” comes from his predilection for impaling invaders, criminals, personal opponents and country’s enemies.

The Dracula myth has a problematical evolution, which began with some hostile stories about Vlad the Impaler's (Dracula) extreme cruelty written by the German colonists of southern Transylvania, who hated him because of the attempts of Romanian prince to control their trade and restrict their commercial privileges. These stories represented a source of inspiration for Bram Stocker, the author of Dracula novel.

On the other hand, one of the Romania’s legendary notable sights, Bran Castle (named like this according to the Bran locality in which it is situated), often called Dracula Castle is unanimously considered by historians as a place without real bond with the prince, Vlad the Impaler (1448, 1456-1462, 1476). In accordance with the historians’ views, Dracula only spent few days there (in the happiest case). At its origins, Bran Castle was a fortress built by German knights belonging of Teutonic Order in XIII century.

July 1999 –after 6 days

My Japanese friends came back in Bucharest after a few day trips in Transylvania, with a huge amount of photos, Dracula kitsch souvenirs, ceramic, wooden crafts and among those items, I could notice the only authentic Romanian item- the Dracula “tuica” (the Romanian traditional plum brandy).

Their trip encompassed the Bran Castle (The Dracula’s Castle), the medieval towns in Transylvania, Brasov, Sighisoara (part of UNESCO patrimony, which “hosts” the house of Vlad Dracul, the father of Vlad the Impaler) and Sibiu, an open air museum due of the wealth of its cultural sites (European Cultural Capital in 2007).

Of course, I tried to find if the adventure of my Japanese guests on Dracula’s footprints was really successful; difficult attempt, because of the permanent smile of my Asian interlocutors which could hide so well the truth...If the positive and enthusiastic impressions concerning the middle-aged Transylvania towns had not surprised me, when I “attacked” the Dracula castle topic, I felt a nuance of disappointment expressed by Hiroshi who told me: “Yes, it was interesting, but not different from other similar European medieval castles...And by the way, I could not find Dracula there!”

Like many other foreign tourists who “assault” the Bran castle, eager to follow the Dracula’s footprints,
my Japanese friends were quite disillusioned visiting this sightseeing, because there they were overwhelmed by the Queen Maria’s vestiges; finally they understood that this place is more representative for the history of the Romanian royal family than for the remains of the famous prince Vlad Dracula. The castle belonged to Queen Maria of Romania, the daughter of Alfred, duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, adored by Romanians because of her capacity to adapt to the Romanian culture and promote abroad the Romanian values/traditions. Bran Castle was offered as a gift to Queen Maria by the local community of Brasov in 1920, as a reward for her noteworthy role during World War I and her contribution in Transylvania's union with Romania in 1918.

Despite of this situation, The Dracula/Bran Castle is the most visited Romanian castle especially by the international tourists; I do not think that Romanians themselves are really fascinated by the Dracula myth as Western visitors; as a consequence, some Romanians prefer to visit the Poenari Castle, the real Dracula’s castle because it is a significant part of the Romanian history. Unfortunately, The Poenari Castle does not receive too many visitors and most of them are Romanian natives. Why the genuine Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) heritage is not exploited? The reason for this is that the foreign travelers have never heard of the Poenari Castle; on the other hand, the access to Poenari castle is not easy (the visitors should climb 1500 steps in order to reach the castle).Moreover, Poenari Castle consists more of ruins and it is not organized as a veritable museum, but these aspects strengthen more its features of authenticity. So, for those who are genuine cultural tourists, Poenari Castle is a must.

Few decades ago, as a consequence of the multiple contacts with the West, the Romanians have found that Dracula myth has existed for a long time, but very different from the historical character of Vlad the Impaler, furthermore this myth was somehow related to Transylvania’s region. Obliged to cope with this reality, they had a controversial attitude towards to that: on one hand, they were willing to defend Vlad Tepes' true historical identity and the dignity of Romania's past, but on the other hand they were aware about its potentiality to generate consistent income for the Romanian tourism industry.

But Dracula Brand, despite the fact that is not easily accepted by Romanians, has became so popular because it is a product wanted by the external market and the duty of the tourism actors is to satisfy the market needs.


At the present time, the Dracula myth marketing strategy is based on so-called bundling technique – that involves the combination of a variety of similarly themed products/experiences and promotion of their collective consumption to the visitors. This strategy encourages visitation throughout a destination and not just to one or two assets. The Dracula’s tourist products designed by tour operators comprise not only the visit to Dracula/Bran Castle from Transylvania, but also the visits to other important Romanian sights as the middle-aged castles from Transylvania and the Saxon towns from the same region, The
Royal Palace, The Princely Court from Bucharest, The outside painted orthodox monasteries from Bucovina, the caves monasteries and so on. Therefore Dracula brand is only a pretext for promoting other sights which are less related with the Dracula’s myth.

July 1999 – the last day in Romania of my Japanese guests

Dracula was again omnipresent; the first part of the day consisted of a visit to Dracula’s Princely Court remains in Bucharest and later we spent at Count Dracula Club located in an aristocratic Romanian house built in 1906, decorated with Transylvania folkloric items. There I pretended that I was delighted by a kitsch show performed by a Romanian actor who acted as Dracula in the desuetude manner of Bela Lugosi, the Hollywood star born in Romania, famous for playing the figure of Count Dracula. But my Japanese companions were so happy with that performance and fascinated by the vampire appearance they use intensively their cameras...

But after ten years from that visit, the dilemma continues: to promote or not a myth which is not authentic and representative for Romanian culture, but on the other hand it is strongly requested by the external market and it can provide a substantial income to the Romanian tourism???