Tag: moat

  • The Fagaras Citadel, among the world’s most beautiful such edifices

    The Fagaras Citadel, among the world’s most beautiful such edifices

    Our stopover today is Brasov County, where we will get to know one of Romania’s best-preserved monuments. A great number of publications worldwide have written that it is one of the world’s most beautiful citadels. The Fagaras Citadel, for which construction works were completed in the 16th century, was besieged 26 times, but it was never conquered. Today, on the premises, inside the citadel, we can find the Valer Literat, Fagaras Country Museum, whose doors have been opened for us by the director, Elena Băjenaru.



    The Fagaras Citadel, the Fagaras Country area’s most important historical monument, is a historical monument built over 600 years ago by Wallachia’s ruling princes. It is a citadel for which, as we speak, the final stage is carried, of a restoration project implemented with European funding. In our citadel, the tourist has access crossing a wooden bridge, rebuilt as part of the project, just as it was in the 17th century. It is a citadel which, as we speak, is one of Romania’s best-preserved defense citadels, surrounded by a moat, also built sometime in mid-16th century. It is a citadel surrounded by two massive defense walls with four bastions. Actually, this citadel, which has a perfectly developed defense system, has never been conquered in an armed confrontation, yet it was looted several times.



    Before entering the museum and before visiting the castle, the tourists can take an outer circuit of the premises. With details on that, here is Elena Bajenaru once again.



    They can see the bastions, the two defense walls, they can take a walk along the sentry road, rebuilt and restored just as it was in the 17th century. In one of the bastions an exhibition is to be mounted, dedicated to the Fagaras Citadel’s guard. We have a citadel guard and we re-enact a ceremony for the opening and closing of the gates, just as it was in the 17th century, during the reign of one of the citadel’s princesses, Anna Bornemisza. Then they can enter a very beautiful inner courtyard, in the middle of which the 17th century fountain was restored. They can climb up the stairs and, beginning with the 1st floor, they can enter the museum. In the museum, we present one ne hand, the history of the Fagaras Country, an area with a very rich history. They can also have the chance to see period realignments as part of that exhibition circuit. We have restored the Hall of the Assembly, the Assembly of Transylvania, Transylvania’s Government and Parliament as it was at that time, we restored the bedroom of one of the Fagaras Citadel’s princesses, Anna Bornemisza and, of course, access is also provided to exhibitions of decorative art, fine arts, peasant crafts, or temporary exhibitions. On the second floor we have arranged four rooms. We call them the Throne Hall. In the 17th century record books, they were entered as The Great Palace, there where the Transylvanian princes received in audience the envoys of the European powers. Miron Costin, but also the king of Poland, Sobiesky, were accommodated in this room. Now these four rooms have a cultural purpose. We stage cultural events, classical and medieval music concerts, cultural activities in general, and they are spectacular.



    The citadel’s restoration project will be completed by the end of May, while as soon as that is achieved, beginning June 1st, the ceremony for the opening and closing of the gates will be resumed. Then you can see the citadel guard, made of 12 soldiers clad in the 17th century armour and there is also one of the citadel’s princesses who will show up, reading a document issued around the year 1678. In another move, the director of the Valer Literat, Fagaras Country Museum, Elena Bajenaru said, it is interesting we can establish a connection between torture and the citadel, for at least two reasons.



    In the citadel, after 1700, a torture mechanism was brought, known as the Iron Maid. It is a mechanism that was first documented in Spain, somewhere around 1515, when the one who was sentenced to death was sent to kiss, as a last homage, an image of the Virgin Mary hanging on the body of that mechanism. The culprit approached the mechanism and, as he was stepping on a manhole, a couple of knives darted from behind, penetrating the body of the one who was sentenced. The manhole snapped open and the body fell into a channel where several spears were placed, having the points upwards. The channel communicated with Olt river, flowing 700-800 away from the citadel. Then the Făgăraș Citadel has a Prison Cell Tower that used to be a pretty tough medieval prison, as well as a communist prison for a decade, between 1950 and 1960, with almost 5,000 political detainees being imprisoned here.



    During the summer season, which is drawing near, if you hit the Fagaras Citadel, you can take part in unforgettable events.



    Elena Bajenaru once again.



    Apart from the cultural projects, temporary exhibitions, book launches, we stage a medieval festival in the last weekend of August. It is a medieval festival with knightly orders participating, from Transylvania and elsewhere in Romania. We have medieval theatre performances, medieval music concerts, classical music concerts, medieval theatre, combat demonstrations, smithy workshops, everything that was and can still be associated with the activities revolving around this medieval citadel. Then, on our way out of the exhibition circuit, we have a very well-stocked souvenir shop. We also have citadel guides in English and Hungarian, we have books in English about Transylvania, about the most important monuments Romania has, apart from what we usually offer as souvenirs to go with the Fagaras Citadel.



    Nearby Fagaras Citadel there are two other monuments the director of the Valer Literat Fagaras Country Museum, Elena Bajenaru, strongly recommends the tourists to visit, should they spend more time in the area.



    First of all, I should send them to visit the church built by Brâncoveanu in late 17th century, somewhere around 1697, for two reasons, at least. The church is endowed with a very beautiful painting, made by Preda the Painter, also because the altar piece of that little church could be viewed as the most beautiful altar piece of the entire Brancoveanu-era art. It also lies very close to the citadel, so it is worth visiting it. I should also recommend tourists to visit the Roman-Catholic Church, a former Franciscan monastery, which also lies close by . It is known as one of Transylvania’s first churches with a Baroque-style painting.



    So here we have an interesting tourist destination. Beginning June the 1st, it waits for you with its doors wide open, but also with very many and extremely diverse events.




  • The beauties of Bistrita Nasaud

    The beauties of Bistrita Nasaud


    Today’s stopover is in the central northern Romanian
    county of Bistrita-Nasaud. Our journey there started from the most relevant
    monuments in the town of Bistrita-Nasaud . Then we headed for the county’s
    tourist assets. You may have a relaxation stay or an active holiday in
    Bistrita-Nasaud, the accommodation offer has been tailored to cater for for all
    pockets and all tastes. Ovidiu Bozbici is a councillor
    with Bistrita Municipality
    ‘s Tourism Service. He suggested we should start
    our tour with an iconic monument of the town of Bistrita.


    Ovidiu Bozbici:

    We can start with Bistrita’s Evangelical Church which
    has a 75-meter high tower. It has an elevator since 2013, so visiting
    facilities have been made available for tourists. They can be taken at a height
    of 45 meters, where they can have a bird’s eye view of the town. The
    construction began in the early 16th century and lasted for about 50
    years. In time, renovation works occurred, on and off. At the moment, European
    sources made possible the initiation of large-scale refurbishment works, still
    in progress, with roughly four-million Euros worth of funding earmarked for
    this undertaking, and we keep our hopes high for the works to be completed by
    the end of the year.


    The Bistrita fortress is one of Transylvania’s famous
    fortified citadels, alongside those in Sighișoara, Brașov or Sibiu.

    Ovidiu Bozbici:


    We’re next heading to Bistrita’s old
    fortress, which initially had 18 defense towers and bastions. Placed at an
    equal distance from one another, They were strategically buttressing the
    defense wall of the fortress. In turn, the defence wall was doubled by a moat.
    As we speak, only one tower of the old fortress is still standing, the Coopers’
    Tower, which is roughly 18 meters tall. It is an exhibition venue for the local
    artists. Then we have the Sugalete compound. The name of Sugalete speaks about the
    lodgings of Bistrita’s craftsmen, supposedly metal workers. It is a
    one-of-a-kind compound in Romania, made of a string of 13 buildings. The
    construction began in 1480 and lasted until 1520 or thereabouts. Bistrita
    compelled recognition thanks to the precious but also semi-precious metal workers.
    The mineral ore was extracted from the Rodna mines, lying at around 60
    kilometers from the town. Ancient documents have revealed that Moldavia’s
    ruling princes received their supplies of jewels, farming tools or weaponry from
    there. Speaking about Rodna we also need to say Bistrita was first documented
    in 1241. So this year, in 2021, we celebrate 780 years since the first written
    mention of Bistrita, which was made concurrently with the great Tartar invasion
    of 1241. The Tartars got there, they tossed the old citadel of Rodna, then they
    reached Bistrita, in 1241, killing 6,000 inhabitants. Which stands proof of the
    fact that Bistrita was a densely-populated town.


    A string of museums can be found in the county of
    Bistritsa-Nasaud. They are well worth visiting if we want to get acquainted
    with the region’s generous past, but also to its crafts and traditions.

    Ovidiu
    Bozbici:


    We have the County Museum,
    with its ethnography section, with a natural history section. We have the
    Silversmith’s House, one of the town’s most important monuments, which has in
    turn been refurbished and turned into the German Centre of today. It is a house
    built between 1560-1563, by the seme craftsman who also contributed to the
    building of the Evangelical Church. We have the Andreas Beuchtel House. It is
    an old house as well, lying in the centre of the town. It was the property of
    one of Bistrita’s first sitting judges, who fell to loggerheads with the powers
    that be nd was subsequently beheaded. Also, Bistrita has compelled recognition
    thanks to its multiculturality. We have the Evangelical church, Orthodox
    churches, the Roman-catholic church, the Greek-catholic church, the Reformed
    church. Around 80,000 people live in Bistrita, according to the most recent
    census.


    The visitors who are into tradition and folklore can go
    to the commune of Salva in Nasaud area. The councilor of the Tourism Service
    with the Bistrita Municipality, Ovidiu Bozbici:


    Here they can visit
    an exceptional ethnographic museum, and it is also here that you can find a
    museum of the traditional apparel. The local woman artist, who is renowned al
    over Romania, succeeded to preserve the old Romanian apparel, also
    manufacturing, on demand, peacock feather hats, which are very well-known in
    Romania, Tourists can then go to Sângeorz-Băi. Here the mineral waters are
    famous for healing properties in the case of stomach conditions. If you want to
    have a good breath of fresh air, we have the new tourist resort in Colibița, where
    tourists can do nautical sports, mountain climbing or rafting. There is also
    another new resort in Figa Spa, in Beclean, lying 38 kilometres from Bistrita.
    Its salty waters have healing qualities, there is also the mud, as well as the
    newly-built outdoor swimming pools, for which it has been officially rated as a
    tourist resort of local interest.


    Tourism is one of Bistrița-Năsăud Municipality’s priorities. European funding has made possible the initiation of
    tourism projects as well as the repair works for 12 out the 20 old passageways.
    For this reason, the town got its name of the Town of Passageways. Yet there is
    more to it than that.

    Ovidiu Bozbici:


    We have a large-scale project,
    running as the Bistrita Fortress, where we refurbish the walls of the former
    fortress and some of the main bastions. Then there is also the project
    targeting the Evangelical Church. That implies the complete refurbishment of the
    asset, to be included in the tourist circuit afterwards. Another projects,
    still under debate, is run as Intelligence Cities Challenge. We thereby try to
    revitalize the historical center and make it similar to the center of a
    medieval borough.


    For updated info on accommodation fees, personalized
    routes, maps and prospectuses you can stop for a while in the city center and call
    in at the National Tourism Information Centre which is open seven days a week,
    for you.