Romania

Vlad III Dracula (November or December1431- December 1476, has also been known as Dracula (also Drãculea), or Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Ţepeş in Romanian). He was the voivode, or prince, of the principality of Wallachia (an informal region in southern Romania) and his three reigns were in 1448, from 1456 to 1462, and 1476. As voivode he led an independent policy in relation to the Ottoman Empire, and in Romania at least he is best remembered as a Christian knight and his crusades against Islamic expansionism into Europe. He is known in Turkish as Kazikli Bey, or the Impaler Prince, and is a popular folk hero in Romania and Moldova even today.Outside of Romania he is known by the exaggerated tales of atrocities (many of which stem from records of debatable authenticity), and even more so - the title of vampire and as the main character of Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel, Dracula- to the point where he is thought to be the inspiration for it.It should be taken into account that Romanian folklore and poetry paints Vlad Dracula not as a vampire but as a killer of vampires. His favorite weapon being the stake, coupled with his reputation in his native country as a man who stood up to both foreign and domestic "bloodsuckers," gives Dracula the virtual opposite symbolism of Bram Stoker's vampire. For this reason, the association of his name with vampirism does not make sense to Romanians. In Romania he is still considered by some to be a "savior" to the people of his country. He is also considered one of the greatest leaders and defenders of Romania.
A good description of Vlad Dracula survives courtesy of Nicholas of Modrussa, who wrote:

 

He was not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cruel and terrible appearance, a long straight nose, distended nostrils, a thin and reddish face in which the large wide-open green eyes were enframed by bushy black eyebrows, which made them appear threatening. His face and chin were shaven but for a moustache. The swollen temples increased the bulk of his head. A bull's neck supported the head, from which black curly locks were falling to his wide-shouldered person.

 

 

After the death of Nicolae Ceauşescu, a tourist industry sprung up in Transylvania (and, to a lesser extent, in Wallachia). However, Romanians have mixed feelings about linking one of their national heroes and the vampire monster. Historical places connected to Vlad Ţepeş are publicised under a Dracula theme catering largely, but not entirely, to foreign markets. Bran Castle, which has only a very tangential connection with the historical Vlad Ţepeş, now exaggerates that connection and promotes itself as "Dracula's Castle". A dungeon-themed disco, catering to a mostly Romanian crowd and located in the basement of a former inn immediately adjacent to the Curtea Veche ("Old Court") -- onetime site of Vlad Ţepeş' castle in Bucharest -- calls itself by the English-language name "Impaler". The well-preserved medieval town of Sighişoara, Vlad Ţepeş's birthplace, seriously considered building a Dracula theme park on the edge of town, but in the end it was decided that such a site would cheapen the beauty and history of the medieval city and the plan was blocked. The park was then to have been built close to Bucharest but plans have subsequently been scrapped. Although many of these stories have basis, his impact on the halting of Ottoman Empire expansion is recognizable in that his successful war against the Ottomans bought precious time for western Europe. His post-mortem moniker of Ţepeş (Impaler) originated in his preferred method for executing his opponents, impalement, popularized by medieval.

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