Dracula park assailed (as a tourist interest in Transylvania).Bucharest (ENI) -- Church leaders in Romania have condemned government plans for a 120-hectare Dracula Park to encourage tourist, interest in Transylvania's legendary vampire vampire, in folklore, animated corpse that sucks the blood of humans. Belief in vampires has existed from the earliest times and has given rise to an amalgam of legends and superstitions. . "The Dracula myth has nothing to do with the Romanian people or its history," said Costel Stoica, spokesman for the Romanian Orthodox Church's Bucharest patriarchate pa·tri·ar·chate n. 1. The territory, rule, or rank of a patriarch. 2. See patriarchy. patriarchate Noun the office, jurisdiction or residence of a patriarch Noun . "It gives a false image of our country, deriving from an Irish writer's fantasy." This fall, Romania's senate approved a tourism ministry ordinance setting up the park outside the northern town of Sighisoara. Orthodox church leaders were not consulted about the project. The government plans were also denounced by Romania's minority Lutheran church, which said the park would violate environmental regulations and fuel interest in the occult. "Universally known and recognised Christian and humane values are being imperilled by this attempt to promote entertainment and games based on cruelty, horror, occultism occultism (əkŭl`tĭzəm), belief in supernatural sciences or powers, such as magic, astrology, alchemy, theosophy, and spiritism, either for the purpose of enlarging man's powers, of protecting him from evil forces, or of predicting and vampirism vampirism The practice of drinking blood Clinical medicine A quasi-facetious term for excessive blood tests, which causes iatrogenic anemia. See Anemia of investigation Psychiatry A deviant behavior in which blood is ingested, variably accompanied by necrophilia, ," the church said in a statement. Work on the site, in Sighisoara's Breite national park, was started in November as part of a campaign to regenerate re·gen·er·ate v. re·gen·er·at·ed, re·gen·er·at·ing, re·gen·er·ates v.tr. 1. To reform spiritually or morally. 2. To form, construct, or create anew, especially in an improved state. tourist interest in Romania. Organisers predicted Dracula Park would attract a million visitors yearly to the medieval town. |
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