Sighisoara

Sighisoara is the oldest citadel still inhabited in Europe. “Transylvania’s Pearl” as it is named dates back since 1191.

It was first mentioned in 1280 under the name Castrum Sex and then in 1598 under the German name Schespurch. The citadel’s walls protect the 164 houses first mentioned more than 300 years ago which nowadays are declared historical monuments.

Here were found traces of inhabitants from Iron Age. The first settlement was meant to be a place of refuge. As a town it was a settlement of craftsmen organized in guilds. In the citadel had fourteen towers each one for a different guild and four bastions, but today only nine towers and three bastions are visible. One of the towers is the Clock Tower, a tower that has on the top a golden globe which it is believed to be placed there by a giant.

Not many know that Sighisoara is the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler. His father hid in this citadel until he was able to claim the Walachian throne. The house where he was born is included in a tour from which are part the Church on the Hill with 500 years old frescoes, the Venetian House built in the 13th century and the Church of the Dominican Monastery. The last one has a mixture of styles – the altarpiece is carved in Transylvanian Renaissance, the pulpit is Baroque, the carpets are Oriental and so is the organ from the 17th century which is still used today. Because during the Reformation the painting inside the church was forbidden the monument has been adorned with pews and balconies richly decorated with sculptures and Oriental carpets. There are 35 carpets from 16th and 17th of a great artistic value.

The Church on the Hill has received the Grand Prix Europa Nostra for restoration and structural consolidation and EU prize for Heritage.

For its tourists Sighisoara has a lot to offer besides history and beautiful monuments. Here takes place a medieval festival each year. People dress like centuries ago and remake battles for damsels in distress and plays. The festival is divided in sections like: theatre, music, arts, exhibits, dance, street concerts, medieval costumes exhibit and even a medieval dance lesson.

Article: Andreea Andrei

Photo: Pure Romania

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Sibiu (Hermannstadt) – Europe’s 8th most idyllic city to live

        Sibiu (German – Hermannstadt ) is an important cultural and economic centre in the south of Transylvania. The European Capital of Culture in 2007 and formerly centre of Transylvanian Saxons, Sibiu was ranked by Forbes as “Europe’s 8th most idyllic city to live”.

At its base Sibiu is a medieval city first mentioned in the 12th century when Pope Celestine III who confirmed the existence of German settlers in Transylvania. These settlers headquarter was in Sibiu or Cibinium as it was called then. In the 14th century it was already a big trade centre with 19 guilds and gradually became the most important ethnic German city among the seven cities which gave Transylvania its German name. During 18th century things changed and Sibiu became the second most important ethnic Romanian city.

After the First World War the city became part of Romania due to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungary. The city had a lot of premieres in what concerns important buildings in the kingdom of Hungary. Here in 1350 is made the first bank in Transylvania. Then thirty years later in Sibiu was opened the first school in the kingdom. Almost one hundred years later here was build the first pharmacy and in the same year the first clock was placed on a tower in Romania. Here also appeared the first paper factory in the Hungarian kingdom. In 1551 in Sibiu was made the first experiment in the world involving missiles.

Who would have known that in 1717 in Sibiu was opened the first beer factory in the actually territory of Romania under the under the patronage of Emperor Carol VI or that here Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein discovered in 1782 the chemical element named telluride. In 1795 in Cisnadie, which is near Sibiu was installed the first lightning conductor in South-Eastern Europe. And the list of premieres continues.

Sibiu and its surroundings are the one of the most visited places in Romania. The historic centre is one of the best preserved in the country and has begun the process to be included in UNESCO heritage list. Many of the walls and fortifications are being kept in a very good stage. There are a lot of fortified churches to visit in Sibiu and a lot of museums where are exhibited collections of art, anthropology, history, natural sciences and many more.

If you visit Sibiu then you must not miss Fagaras Mountains which are pretty close and are a perfect destination for trekking and Paltinis ski resort which is a perfect place to spend the winter holiday.

Article: Andreea Andrei

Photo: Pure Romania

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Rupea Fortress

Rupea Fortress is situated at a distance of 50 km from Brasov built on a basalt rock in the area nowadays known as a geological reservation – The Basalts from Rupea.

Rupea Fortress is one of the oldest settlements in Romania. The signs of the first settlement date back to Paleolithic and early Neolithic, but the first documents to attest Rupea fortress appeared in 1324 when the Saxons rebelled against King Carol Robert of Hungary found here refuge. The fortress was then named Castrum Kuholm after the rock on which it was build – the basalt. In the 15th century Rupea Fortress was an important commercial centre where lived a lot of craftsmen divided in 12 guilds. The fortress was strategic built in a point where the roads from Transylvania, Walachia and Moldavia met.

Rupea Fortress is shaped like a snail shell. It consists of three smaller fortresses each one of them built in a different time period. The upper fortress it is believed to be the oldest one. Here have been found the ruins of a Dacian citadel.

The fortress has four big towers which can be visited today. The Gate Tower had defense role and was fitted with drains for fuel-oil. In front of it was a deep moat to prevent the hostile forces to get in. The Bacon Tower is the place where were stored the food stocks. On its stone windows can be seen nowadays the hooks on which the bacon was hung to be kept cold during winter. Another tower named the Servants Tower. It is the place where stayed the watchmen who guarded the fortress, but also all the subjects during sieges. The biggest tower is the Scouts Tower. It has three levels and is the tallest from the towers of Rupea Fortress. Inside the fortress are 100 stone rooms and a fountain of 41 meters depth which was built around 1613.

In 1716 the fortress was used as a refuge for the survivors of plague epidemic and it was totally abandoned in 1790 after a powerful storm destroyed its roof.

For many years starting with the communist period Rupea Fortress was left in ruin and the weather destroyed it slowly, but starting with 2002 the authorities from Ripea and Brasov started to renovate the beautiful fortress. The work was completed in 2013 and since then the fortress can be visited again.

Article: Andreea Andrei

Photo: Pure Romania

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Sarmizegetusa Regia

        Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital of Dacia build in the middle of the 1st century BC. It is the biggest Dacian fortification.

Sarmizegetusa Regia is situated on the top of a cliff at a height of 1.200 meters in the area nowadays called Orastie Mountains. It was the strategic center of the Dacian defensive and had six citadels. The fortification consists of three parts: the civilian settlement situated next to the fortress and placed on several terraces, the citadel and the sacred area.

The fortress was built with massive stone blocks, on five terraces and had a surface of about 30.000 square meters. It is the biggest from the fortresses situated in Orastie Mountains. Sarmizegetusa fortress was built in maurus dacicus style. Maurus dacicus is a style typical to Dacian population. It is found only in the areas where Dacians have lived and consists in a combination between the traditional Dacian style and the Roman style which was more modern. Therefore Sarmizegetusa Regia has walls 10 meters high and 3 meters thick, something unique for that period. The fortress has a hexagonal shape with unequal sides. It had a defensive role for the army and the population. After it had been conquered by the Romans Sarmizegetusa Regia was rebuilt and transformed in a headquarters for a Roman detachment.

The civilian area consisted of neighborhoods which spread on dozens of terraces and was the biggest known Dacian settlement. It had houses, storages, water reservoirs, workshops, barns and other civilian buildings. Due to the size of the area the Dacians had to build a complex piping system to capture and transport water. Most of the houses were built of wood and clay so there are few archeological traces of them.

The sacred area is actually a sanctuary complex situated at about 100 meters from the eastern gate of the citadel and is connected with it by a paved road. The sanctuaries have a quadrilateral and round shape. The only ones which survived over time are the stone column bases because the rest of the columns were made of stone or andesite. It is uncertain if there were seven or eight quadrilateral sanctuaries because the Romans destroyed some of them during the war. But it is known that the big sanctuary is a representation in stone of the Dacian calendar. The solar disk made out of andesite represents a sun with rays as circle segments. This shows the solar character of the Dacian religion.

Sarmizegetusa Regia was a flourishing citadel during Decebal and started to go down as the Romans destroyed it. But the archeological excavations show that the Dacian society in Sarmizegetusa Regia had high standards of life before the Roman Empire won the war and moved the capital. The archeologists had also found here several ceramic pots with Latin inscriptions, limestone blocks with Greek inscriptions and several gold coins on which was written ”KOSON”.

Sarmizegetusa Regia is an example of the fact that the Dacians were strong and wise people with a complex society and modern facilities for those days even before they had contacts with the Romans.

Article: Andreea Andrei

Photo: Pure Romania

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Corvin Castle

Corvin Castle, also called Huniazilor Castle, Corvinestilor Castle or Hunedoara Castle, is one of the most important Gothic monuments in Romania. It is representative for the military architecture of the 15th century in South-Eastern Europe. The Great Palace is a building of French inspiration, unique in a space dominated by the Hungarian kingdom.

It was built in the 15th century by Ioan of Hunedoara on a rock at the foothill of which flows Zlasti creek. It began as a military building but it turned over time in a beautiful Gothic castle. After 1458 Matei Corvin brought here Renaissance influences. The military fortress was built on an older fortification, but the entire castle was built with dolomitic limestone and river stone. Over time to the original fortification were added circular and rectangular towers. The German influence can be seen on the so called the Mace Tower. It is the only one which is painted on the outside. It has only one defense level and is painted on the outside in a fresco with geometrical motifs.

An interesting point of this castle is the fountain dug between the old and new curtain wall. The fountain has a depth of 30 meters and it is said that it was dug by three Turkish prisoners with the promise that they will be set free if they reach the water. After 15 years when they have finally finished the fountain the castle’s masters did not keep their promise. The legend says that the inscription carved on the fountain’s wall means: “You may have water, but no soul”.

One of the most interesting buildings dating since around 1446 is the chapel situated on the eastern side of the castle. The chapel’s narthex has above it a gallery with a tribune sustained by hexagonal pillars.

The main palace situated on the western side consist of the Knights Hall, the Diet Hall and the spiral staircase and it is an unique example of civilian architecture of a high refinement in the Transylvanian space. Another unique military building are the gallery and the Nje Boisia (Don’t be afraid). This name was allegedly given by the Serbian mercenaries from the castle’s garrison.

On the Corvin family crest is a raven with a golden ring in its beak. It is said that Ioan of Hunedoara was the illegitimate son of Sigismund of Luxemburg (king of Hungary since 1387 until 1437) and a Romanian woman. The king arranged a marriage between his son’s mother and a local brave man. He gave a golden ring for his son to be recognized when getting to the royal court. But the ring was stolen by a raven. After many adventures Ioan of Hunedoara found the ring and the king decided to make the raven with a golden ring in its beak the symbol on the crest of Corvin family.

Nowadays the castle is a beautiful museum placed by huffingtonpost.com in the top 10 fairytale castles in the whole world. The museum has archaeological, ethnographical, decorative art, numismatics and military techniques collections.

Article: Andreea Andrei

Photo: Pure Romania

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