Old mansions located in Timis county, in Western Romania, could be included in a dedicated Road of the Mansions, a potential tourist attraction in the Timisoara European Capital of Culture 2021 program, Agerpres reports.

Timisoara was selected last year to be the Romanian city that will hold the European Capital of Culture title in 2021. It shares the 2021 title with Novi Sad in Serbia, and Elefsina in Greece.

Timisoara-based Ariergarda Cultural Association and the Association for the Promotion and Development of Tourism of the Timis County Council are looking to list mansions that can become attractions for one-day tourism and part of the Road of the Mansions.

The Timiș county hosts over 30 castles and mansions, smaller or larger. Most of them were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, at a time when an emerging nobility was looking to display their status. Many buildings, similar in style to others in older provinces of the Habsburg Empire, are currently in a state of ruin. Ownership issues are also an obstacle in the way of the sites becoming accessible to visitors. Many of these buildings were nationalized during the communist regime and their use changed.

“We wanted to see how we can promote cultural, historic tourism, to see what we can do. We went out [in the fall of last year] and we identified many things, first of all challenges, but also capacities, a development potential for cultural –historic tourism, for one-day tourism in the surrounding area of Timisoara. We are looking to identify potential one-day trips,” Daniel Vighi, the president of Ariergarda Cultural Association told agerpres.ro. Vighi is a professor at the Vest University in Timisoara.

Some of the building identified as having potential to be included in the trail are the Hodoni mansion, the mansion of count Ambrozy in Remetea Mare — Herneacova, the Mocioni mansion (pictured) in Foieni and the mansions in Rudna and Jimbolia. The latter, a town in Timis county close to the Serbian border, has several museums and buildings that could be included in tour.

The two associations already organized a tour to the mansions in the Timis county. In October 2016, they organized a visit that included the Ambrozy mansion, located 13 km away from Timisoara; the Mocioni mansion; the Nikolici mansion in Rudna, 38 km away from Timisoara; the Csekonics castle in Jimbolia, where the town hall is based; the Sever Bocu Press Museum in Jimbolia; and the Hodoni mansion, 33 km away from Timisoara.

Four cities in Romania had been short-listed for the European Capital of Culture 20121 title after the initial pre-selection round in December 2015: Baia Mare, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara. The winning bid book of Timisoara can be read here. The bid was based on the concept “Shine your light/ Light up your city” (Luminează orașul prin tine). The Romanian city of Sibiu held the same title in 2007.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Centrul Multifunctional Bastion Facebook Page)