Monuments to visit Transylvania & Carpathian Mountains

Its imposing silhouette stands on a rocky outcrop, at the bend of a valley winding between the Bucegi and Piatra Craiului mountains. Bran Castle, steeped in history and legend, is one of Romania's top tourist attractions. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year to discover Dracula's supposed castle, or at least that of Vlad Țepeș, the ^15th-century Wallachian prince on whom writer Bram Stoker is said to have based his vampire character. While it resembles the count's home described in Stoker's novel, the castle has no proven connection with Vlad Țepeș. In fact, it has much more to do with Queen Marie, adored by the Romanians, who left her mark on the place between the wars.

Built between 1377 and 1382 by the inhabitants of Brașov, by order of the King of Hungary, Bran Castle occupied a strategic position. Its function was to defend Transylvania against Ottoman attacks. It also acted as a customs post between Transylvania and Wallachia until 1836. The town of Brașov, which owned the site, donated it to Queen Marie in 1920, in gratitude for her commitment to the country in the First World War. On her death in 1938, the castle was bequeathed to her daughter Ileana. Confiscated by the Communists, it was finally returned to Ileana's heirs, the Habsburg family, in 2006.
The medieval castle, built in Gothic style, has undergone several changes over the centuries, as evidenced by its convoluted architecture. From a single tower, it now boasts four. The extensive restoration work undertaken in the 1920s by Queen Marie, in collaboration with Czech architect Karel Liman, significantly altered the premises, giving them a romantic feel.
Elegant reception rooms and comfortable bedrooms were created. All nooks and alcoves, the rooms are spread over four levels, accessed by staircases that form a maze, conducive to exploration. A secret passageway has even been uncovered in the former council chamber. From the loopholes transformed into windows, the view of the surrounding countryside is spectacular.
Queen Marie also laid out a beautiful park at the foot of the château. You can enjoy a meal in the queen's former tea house, now a pleasant restaurant. The elevator built in 1937 to link the castle and the park was restored in 2017. You have to pay extra to borrow it and enjoy an interactive multimedia exhibition: in our opinion, you can skip it. A visit to the torture chamber, which also costs extra (€4), isn't essential either.
Tourists who have come for Dracula won't leave empty-handed: a number of rooms are devoted to the vampire myth and the story of his inspiration Vlad Țepeș. You'll also learn more about strigoi, the undead of Romanian folklore.

Bran Castle may be a little irritatingly draculomaniac, but it's nonetheless an exceptional monument, full of soul. However, avoid peak periods in summer and on Sundays, or aim for the early or late hours of the day: the crowds can make the visit a real pain. Signs are in English and Romanian, but a French audioguide is available for a small extra charge.

The defensive system built by the craftsmen's guilds consisted of a wall almost 1 km long, fourteen defensive towers and five artillery bastions. Today, nine towers, two bastions and part of the surrounding wall remain.

Clock Tower(turnul cu Ceas). The town's landmark, it stands 64 meters high. Built in the ^14th century, many of its features have been altered or added to, such as its Baroque roof dating from 1677. The clock, the tower's most original feature, dates from 1648 and appears on both of its main facades. On the new town side, you'll recognize the executioner and the drummer, surmounted by seven wooden statuettes representing the days of the week. On the city side, you'll see the tambourine player on the right, in charge of the quarter hours; on the lower left, Peace, holding an olive branch and a trumpet; the female statues, holding a sword and scales, symbolize Reason and Justice; finally, two figurines represent day and night. Please note that the clock mechanisms are not in operation while the tower roof is being refurbished (reopening scheduled for 2025).

Tour des Bouchers(turnul Măcelarilor): from the Tour des Cordiers, the city wall descends northeast to the Tour des Bouchers. It dates from the ^16th century. The section of ramparts between the two towers remains intact.

Tour des Cordiers(turnul Franghierilor): probably dating from the ^13th century, this tower was also part of the original fortification of the hilltop. Note that it is still inhabited!

Shoemaker's Tower(turnul Cizmarilor): destroyed in 1676 and rebuilt in 1681, this hexagonal tower is the most impressive in the town.

Tower of the Tinners(turnul Cositorarilor): 25 meters high, square at the base, then octagonal. The roof is hexagonal.

Blacksmiths' Tower(turnul Fierarilor): built in 1631, this tower is set against the surrounding wall. Its role was to protect the church and monastery in the event of a siege.

Shoemakers' Tower(turnul Cojocarilor): a few meters from the Butchers' Tower, this small, simple structure dates from the ^15th century.

Tailors' Tower(turnul Croitorilor): this tower is impressive for its simplicity and solidity. It was probably built in the ^14th century. Like the Clock Tower, it protects an entrance formed by two vaulted corridors.

Tour des Tanneurs(turnul Tăbăcarilor): square in structure, with a simple roof, this is one of the town's oldest towers.

Archaeological studies seem to show that the first foundations of the German settlers were one-storey wooden houses supported by massive oak beams. The stone and brick houses were built in stages between the 15th and 18th centuries, especially after the great fire of 1676. The citadel (cetate) is not very big and you will not get lost in it. It is surrounded by old fortifications from the 14th century, of which mainly the towers added in the 15th century remain. The pretty Piaţa Cetăţii is the centre of the city.

The Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj is the country's largest public institution of higher education, with 56,000 students and 111 specialties taught. It is named after two scientists: the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeș (1854-1926) and the Hungarian mathematician János Bolyai (1802-1860), as a symbol of the tumultuous history of the place. Following the revolution of 1848, the Minister of Education, József Eötvös, conceived the idea of a university in Romanian, Hungarian and German. Following his death, Emperor Franz Joseph did not pursue the idea. In 1872, the Franz Joseph University of Cluj was founded... with courses in Hungarian only. In 1919, following the incorporation of Transylvania into Romania, a Romanian-language university was founded. As a result, the Hungarian university moved to Szeged, Hungary. It returned to Cluj in 1940, following the annexation of northern Transylvania by Hungary. The Romanian university then moved to Sibiu and Timișoara. In 1945, it returned to Cluj and Franz Joseph University ceased operations. The authorities therefore founded another Hungarian university, János-Bolyai, and renamed the Romanian university Victor Babeș, before the two merged in 1959, hence the name Babeș-Bolyai.

Today, it is home to one of the largest university libraries in Eastern Europe, with 3.6 million books, as well as the world's only Emil Racoviță University Institute of Speleology and its museum, located strada Clinicilor.

This monumental sculpture, located near St. Michael's Cathedral, depicts Matei Corvin, King of Hungary between 1458 and 1490, on horseback, on a bastion of the city wall of Cluj, where he was born. The statue won a prize at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition, before being inaugurated in 1902. The end of a veritable marathon: the plans were approved in 1894, for an idea first mooted in 1882. The statue is the work of architect Lajos Pakei and sculptor János Fadrusz.

The National Theater and the Romanian Opera, founded in 1919, are housed in a Baroque and Rococo building constructed between 1904 and 1906. Cluj is one of the few cities in the world to boast a second operatic institution: the Hungarian Opera, founded in 1948, which shares the same building as the Hungarian Theatre, strada Emil Isac. Close to the National Theatre stands the Tailors' Bastion(bastionul Croitorilor), part of the ^15th-century fortifications.

Built in the ^14th century on the site of a Roman fortress, this impressive monument to local Gothic architecture is a must-see if you're in the area. Originally a princely residence, its function was defensive. In 1390, Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary, donated it and the forty surrounding villages to the Romanian prince(cneaz) Voicu, in gratitude for his feats of arms. Between 1446 and 1453, Voicu's son Iancu de Hunedoara (Hungarian: János Hunyadi) transformed it into a castle for military purposes. Renaissance and Baroque elements were subsequently added to create a sumptuous residence.

Among the castle's highlights are the gallery, the Knights' Hall (west wing), the Diet Hall (west wing) with its medallions of the reigning princes painted on the walls, the White Bastion (food store), the chapel and over fifty rooms with numerous murals. The north wing is known as the Matei wing, named after Iancu de Hunedoara's son, the famous Matthias (Matei) Corvin, King of Hungary. Here you'll see a column bearing the Corvin family coat of arms, with a raven holding a ring in its beak. The Corvins take their name from the Latin corbea, meaning "raven". The towers bear evocative names such as Tour des Massues or Tour Neboisa ("don't be afraid"). The balconies, with their wood and stone ornamentation, are remarkable.

A museum displays historical and ethnographic collections.

Erected in the ^15th century by Transylvanian voivode István Báthory, the fortifications were almost entirely destroyed in the early ^17th century, then rebuilt between 1605 and 1653. The enclosure, surrounded by bastions named after guilds (tailors, butchers, tanners, etc.), is remarkably well preserved, with a pretty public garden. The main tower houses a small Citadelle museum upstairs. The walls protect the ^14th-century Hungarian Reformed Church (in the center of the courtyard), built by the Dominicans on the site of a former Franciscan monastery. A ^17th-century building houses the Archaeology and History Museum (open Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 4pm, Saturday 9am to 2pm, Sunday 9am to 1pm). The citadel is a regular venue for events such as the Festival des Lumières in May.

The streets around the citadel, such as bulevardul Cetății, offer beautiful tree-lined promenades lined with pretty houses. On strada Mitropolit Andrei Șaguna, a few steps north of the citadel, you'll see a small wooden church from 1794 dedicated to Saint Michael (sfântul Mihail). It stands in the middle of a cemetery and is said to have sheltered Mihai Eminescu, the national poet, for a night. South of the citadel is the Bolyai Memorial Museum, housed in the same building as the Teleki Library (strada Bolyai 17, open every day except Monday). It is dedicated to the mathematician Farkas Bolyai (1775-1856).

It is one of the symbols of Sibiu, linking piața Mică and piața Mare. The Council Tower (Turnul Sfatului) was built in the 13th century as the gateway to the city and has been rebuilt many times since: partially collapsed in 1585, it was rebuilt and extended by one floor in 1826. It now has seven. The tower hosts various small exhibitions, but if you absolutely have to go there, it's mainly for the view it offers: all up there, the panorama of the city and its surroundings is breathtaking!

In the village of Cetatea de Baltă, 25 km north-east of Blaj, this castle built in the 16th century was completely remodelled at the beginning of the 17th century in a French Renaissance style, on the model of the castle of Chambord. It's flanked by big round towers. It belonged to the powerful Bethlen family, whose members included Gabriel Bethlen, the reigning prince of Transylvania (1613-1629) and king of Hungary (1620-1621). Today it belongs to the Jidvei group, a major Romanian wine producer, and can be visited upon prior request.

It was built between 1694 and 1703 for Johann Schuller von Rosenthal, mayor of the town at that time. Above the entrance, a coat of arms with a sword and a bouquet of three roses bears the motto of the house: Per spinas ad rosas. A romantic figure and inveterate adventurer who spent his youth in Turkey as a translator for the Sultan, Johann Schuller von Rosenthal was convicted in 1703 for embezzlement and beheaded in the courtyard of the Dominican monastery.

They were built in several stages. The first lines date back to 1224, but little remains of them. At the end of the ^13th century, a second line was built, the main vestige of which is the Council Tower. The fortifications visible today date from 1410 and are best preserved in the strada Cetății. The two towers (Olarilor and Dulgherilor) and the wooden and brick parapet walk are superb. Other towers, often named after craft guilds, were added later, such as the Soldisch bastion (1627).

The Alba Iulia citadel was built between 1714 and 1738 by the Habsburgs, who dominated Transylvania at the time. Baroque in style, it covers an area of 70 ha and features seven bastions. The citadel, with its Vauban-style star-shaped defensive system, is very isolated from the city and therefore not very lively. Crossed from east to west by strada Mihai Viteazul, it is nevertheless pleasant, airy and full of flowers. The cloister and cathedral are superb. Also worth a visit is the small wooden Orthodox church (Trinity Church), at the end of the road on the right as you exit to the east. The panorama of the city and surrounding area (including a highly visible factory painted blue and yellow) is very attractive.

Its walls, 12 km long in all, are pierced by three large gates. The first, at the bottom of the mountain, is shaped like a classical triumphal arch. The upper level is richly sculpted in Baroque style. In the center is a pedestal featuring the imperial coat of arms of the House of Austria: a double-headed eagle bearing a sword and scepter. Little remains of the second door, which was blocked up in the early ^20th century. Only two stone pillars remain, while the sculptures that once adorned the building can now be seen at the Union National Museum. The third door is the most impressive, both in terms of size and ornamentation. It is shaped like a double triumphal arch. Four pillars support the arch that surmounts the three entrances.

Subjected to numerous enemy attacks and incursions, the town's inhabitants decided to build truly effective fortifications. From the ^14th to the ^17th century, stone walls were gradually erected all around Brașov (3 km long, 12 m high), along with watchtowers and gates, making it one of the most fortified cities in Transylvania. The best way to appreciate this defensive system is to visit the best-preserved of these bastions, the Weavers' Bastion(Țesătorilor), built in 1436. In its wood-panelled galleries, you can visit a museum, where a huge 1896 model depicts the Brașov of the 1600s. Among the other visible remains, Poarta Ecaterinei, from 1559, once the town's main entrance, is the only gate that has survived the tests of time. Poarta Schei, at the end of the street of the same name, was built much later, in 1827. To the west of the old town, along Strada După Ziduri (the "Street Outside the Walls"), at the foot of Warthe Hill, the Black Tower(Turnul negru) and the White Tower(Turnul alb) served as observation posts. Not far away is the Graft bastion, which served as a bridge over the stream and can also be visited. The construction of the fortifications was financed by the Saxon trade guilds, and the bastions were named after one of them:Postăvarilor,Fierarilor orFunarilor, from which the cable car to Tâmpa departs.

The citadel of Deva is considered one of the most important medieval fortresses in Transylvania. Situated atop a volcanic cone over 180 m high, it dominates the town and the Mureș valley, as well as the main road linking Romania to western and central Europe. It was built around the middle of the ^13th century, on the ruins of Daco-Roman fortifications. Traces of human occupation dating back to the Neolithic period have even been found on the site. The citadel has been restored and reconfigured over time, according to the needs of its owners. In the ^15th century, the voivode Iancu de Hunedoara (János Hunyadi) transformed it into a fortified castle, which played a major role during the Ottoman invasions. In the ^16th and ^18th centuries, the second and third perimeter walls were built. During the Transylvanian Revolution of 1784, the fortress served as a refuge for nobles fleeing the uprising campaigns. Fierce battles ensued between the imperial garrison and the rebels. The citadel was restored after 1817, by order of Emperor Franz ^I. But in 1849, a fire caused by the explosion of the ammunition depot largely destroyed the imposing structure. Today, thanks to extensive restoration work, it is possible to get an idea of the past grandeur of the city of Deva.

It can be reached either by cable car, or on foot via marked paths through the woods on the slopes of the hill. The view from the top is extraordinary.

Located on the site of the former bishop's palace, from which it incorporates elements, the Palace of the Princes of Transylvania was built in stages from the ^mid-14th century onwards. It was the home of Michael the Brave during his eleven-month rule of Transylvania between 1599 and 1600. After many years of restoration, a museum has opened within its walls. It traces the history of the building and the illustrious figures who have occupied it.

This superb library was opened in 1802 by Count Sámuel Teleki (1739-1822), whose ambition was to collect and preserve all the knowledge published at the time and make it accessible to the public. Throughout his life, this bibliophile collected and purchased books in the twenty-five European cities he travelled to. It was one of the largest libraries on the continent, with its 40,000 books. Today it has more than 200,000 volumes, including a 14th-century Codex and some 70 incunabula, books from the earliest days of printing.

The city's emblem, this imposing palace was built between 1908 and 1913 in the Transylvanian Secession style, according to the plans of Budapest-born architects Marcell Komor and Jakab Dezső. This duo also designed the nearby town hall. On the outside, its massive form is softened by its coloured tiles, mosaics, stained glass windows, bas-reliefs and statues. A visit to the interiors of this amazing building is a must: created by members of the Art School of Gödöllő, they are a true demonstration of Hungarian decorative and applied arts. The paintings and stained-glass windows, with original colours and patterns, create a very special atmosphere. The hall is a masterpiece in itself, where green, blue and gold dominate, as well as floral motifs. In the staircase, the stained glass windows depict portraits of historical figures, signed by Miksa Róth, a great master of Hungarian Art Nouveau stained glass. On the first floor, the Hall of Mirrors (Sala oglinzilor) has two Venetian mirrors and twelve valuable stained glass windows, evoking scenes from everyday life in Transylvania or Sicilian legends.

The large concert hall, which today houses the local philharmonic orchestra, is decorated with plant and animal motifs, purple and gold, inspired by Transylvanian folk art. It also has a gigantic organ with more than 4,000 pipes.

The building also houses the Museum of Art, which exhibits works by Romanian and Hungarian artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

This superb, vast castle, built between 1438 and 1543, belonged to the Bánffy family, one of Transylvania's most important noble families. Originally built in the Renaissance style, it was later extensively modified to become a pearl of Baroque architecture. Nicknamed the "Versailles of Transylvania", it was considered the most beautiful in Transylvania at the time. It remained so until the end of the Second World War: requisitioned by the Germans in 1944, it was ravaged by a terrible fire as they retreated. The fire spared only the walls and a few Baroque statues. Communism didn't help matters: like many other Transylvanian castles, the building was deliberately abandoned and vandalized. It wasn't until 1999 that restoration work began, with the help of international funds and the support of Prince Charles of England, who visited the site and fell in love with it. Today, as the site is gradually restored, training programs in the conservation of historic buildings are organized for craftsmen. Artists are welcomed in residence, and a cultural café has been set up in the former kitchens. The park has become a popular place for picnics and relaxation. Bánffy Castle also hosts major cultural events, such as the popular Electric Castle music festival, which takes place every year in mid-July.