Archives also mention the owners of the castle and Adalbert Fay, a close friend of Emperor Franz Joseph and the husband of Geza Kuun’s sister. The latter became the owner of the domain after the heirless count died. As he was a specialist in the field of biology, he enriched the mansion’s park with numerous species of exotic trees.
In 1908, the Mintia domain was acquired by Horvath Toldi Rudolf. The papers prove that he bought it from an inheritor of Geza Kuun’s wife, named Joseph, who sold it due to financial problems. The whole property was bought for 792.000 gold forints. In addition to this, he also owned 10.000 ha of ploughland in Mintia. Horvath Toldi Rudolf died in 1931 and was the father of a girl and a boy. The girl inherited his great stamp collection, which was a rarity at the time. His grandson claims that he had all the postage stamps that had been published up to 1919, with three exceptions. Rudolf’s son, Istvan, inherited the mansion. He was the last owner of the Mintia domain until 1945, when the Agrarian Reform Law was adopted.
During the communist regime, the castle was put to various uses. Up to 1989, it was named "The Agronomist’s House". In 2007, the castle was retroceded to Horvath-Toldi Istvan’s son. When he returned to Mintia after having lived in Australia for 27 years, he started to renovate the building, in order to bring back the castle and the surrounding park to their former glory. The restoration process is almost finished now.
The castle was built during the 17th century by Gyulay Ferencz, an Austrian general, the only child of Hungarian nobleman Gyulay Ignacz. Ferencz built the mansion on the site of a smaller building. The general’s family ruled the town called Mintia, that was renamed Marosnemeti, a term derived from the Hungarian word "nemet", that translates to "German".
Several descendants of the Gyulay family lived at the castle. Historical documents from 1806 state that the Mintia mansion was owned at that time by Gyulay Istvan, followed by Albert and K.R Gyulay. Countess Gyulay of Mintia, who married Ladislau Kuun of Osdola, later inherited the domain together with her brother, Ludovic. In 1848, the Gyulay family took refuge at Cluj and, after the revolution, Ludovic, Ladislau Kuun, his wife Constance, and their children, Irene and Geza, returned to Mintia.
Ludovic was the last heir of the Gyulay family. He wrote over 100 journals about the mansion and about Mintia. All of them are preserved at the Cluj-Napoca history museum. Ludovic Gyulay modified the building in 1834, giving it the shape it has today.
Ludovic Gyulay never got married and, therefore, never had any heirs. His fortune was inherited by his brother-in-law, Ladislau Kuun, followed by his son, Geza Kuun. Geza studied Hungarian and German literature at the Universities of Budapest and Gottingen, and was a member and vice president of the Budapest Academy of Sciences. He was part of Vienna’s elite social circles, and became friends with the famous composer Franz Liszt – one of the most prominent pianists of all time. It was then that he also met writer Elena Ghica – daughter of Mihai Ghica, niece of Grigore Ghica the 4th, and the first woman to have climbed the Mont Blanc peak, on June 1st 1860.
After 1870, Geza Kunn settled at Mintia and married Vilma Kemeny, the daughter of baron Kemeny of Magyar-Gyeno Monosto. His presence here transformed the town into a gathering place for eminent representatives of the cultural and scientific scenes, which included V. Zakrzewski – professor at the Cracovia University, Al. Szilagyi – secretary of the Historical Society, baron Balazs Orban, A. Szecsen –Imperial Court marchal. The beauty of the mansion located on the bank of Mureș River was also admired by the president of the Archeological Society – Solyon Fekete, the director of the Deva History Museum – Teglas Gabor, and by scientist Samuel Brassay – regarded as Transylvania’s last polymath. The immense library of the Mintia Castle and the salon, decorated with family portraits and precious objects, were visited by prefect George Pogany, subprefect Coloman Barcsay, count Coloman Esterhazy – director of the Transylvania Museum, by Otto von Keller – professor at the University of Prague, Zsolt Beothy – professor at the Budapest University, and by Norwegian scientist Conrad Nielsen. Baron Miklos Josika also traveled from Brănişca to Mintia, either on foot, by car, or on horseback. He also traveled by boat on Mureş River in order to admire the park that surrounded the castle.
The rare species of plants and trees that embellished the park were mesmerizing. Count Kuun named the trees after the most important Hungarian writers, many of whom had been his friends. One of the trees, for example, bore the name of Attila, in the memory of Attila Gerando. Amid the rose bushes, the visitor could also discover numerous honorary or mortuary shrines. Geza Kuun died in 1905, on April 10th, and was entombed at Cluj. Legend has it that, although the body of count Geza was inhumed at Cluj, his heart was buried in the cemetery of the Mintia Reformed Church, alongside other members of his family and former owners of the castle.
The Mintia domain, that comprises the castle and the park, is classed as a historical monument of national and universal importance, class A.
