Bethlen Castle, Renaissance castle in Criș, Romania

Bethlen Castle is a fortress with four corner towers and high defensive walls surrounding a central courtyard showing Renaissance features. The building has a rectangular layout that provided both protection and a space to display the family's status.

Miklós fia Márk laid the foundations in the mid-15th century. George Bethlen and his wife Klára Nagykárolyi began the arcaded wing, expanded in 1559; their son Mihály took part, as a rosette window monogram (M. B. 1598) records. Elek Bethlen strengthened the bastions in 1675 and set up a printing press in the castle, where Farkas Bethlen wrote his history of Transylvania.

The courtyard has arcaded passages with carved details that show how wealthy families of the time designed their homes. These arches and ornaments represent what Renaissance style meant to Transylvanian nobility.

The castle stands 12 km southwest of Sighișoara, by the Dănești stream, hidden among hills; locals call it the castle that cannot be found. It is a listed monument (MS-II-a-A-15639). Only two of its bastions remain, and the grounds were partly cleared and fenced after 2008, with a visitor route laid out in the garden from 2013.

The arcaded wing, the castle's finest section, was begun by György Bethlen and his wife Klára Nagykárolyi and enlarged in 1559. A rosette window on a corner tower bears the monogram M. B. 1598, marking their son Mihály's part in the building.