The Bánffy Castle in Bonțida was built in the Late Renaissance style in 1660-1674 by Baron Dénes Bánffy (ca. 1630-1674), the Count of the Counties Cluj and Dăbâca and First Captain of the fortresses of Cluj, Gherla and Șimleu. The Renaissance castle was an ensemble built with a rectangular layout, with a gate tower and cylindrical towers at the corners. At the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, the works were continued by his son, Count György Bánffy (1661-1708), the first governor of Transylvania of the Habsburg period. The building was destroyed several times during the anti-Habsburg uprisings of the early 18th century. In the mid-18th century, the building was rebuilt and enlarged by Count Dénes Bánffy (1723-1780), son of governor György Bánffy, by partially preserving the Renaissance castle and creating a court of honour typical of Baroque architecture. The new building was decorated with a series of statues representing various characters from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, created between 1751-1753 by one of the most famous Baroque sculptors in Transylvania, the Cluj craftsman Johann Nachtigall. The statue gallery at Bonțida was the most impressive ensemble of secular Baroque sculpture in Transylvania, presenting a theme that was highly appreciated in the various art genres of the period. The peculiarity of these statues is the realistic manner of rendering the lived emotions of the characters represented, with a special emphasis on the rendering of suffering and pain.
In 1944, at the end of the Second World War, the castle was burned down by retreating German troops, destroying the furniture, portrait gallery, archives and family library. The building was nationalized in 1948, its state of preservation deteriorating rapidly. In 1981, some of the statues of the building were moved to the museum’s lapidarium.
(Illustration) Main castle gate, Photofilm, 1940s