In front of the "Castel Dracula" hotel stands a gold-colored statue of the Irish writer Bram Stoker. The author, who lived from 1847 to 1912, became known mainly through his novel "Dracula", which was published in 1897. In 1890, Stoker met the Hungarian professor Arminius Vámbéry, who told him about the legend of the Romanian prince Vlad III Drăculea (Dracula). Stoker developed the vampire Dracula from this character. He worked on the novel for seven years. He never saw the landscape in which he set large parts of the action, such as the Tihuța Pass.