THE CITY OF DEVI

The fortress of Deva is considered one of the most important medieval fortifications in Transylvania. It was ruled by the princes, princes, conjures, and dukes. It was given, sold or bombed. Everyone left something behind him. One more defense wall, one room, one ballroom, or even the one-storey fortress. They wanted it not only to be used for defense and occasional meetings but to serve as a home. Not an austere, but a luxury one.

Today, its ruins are visible from the distance, thanks to its strategic location, on a hilltop that dominates the Mures Valley and the main link between Romania and central and western Europe. The fortress was built in the thirteenth century, but the traces of it are much older: there are discoveries dating from the Neolithic or the Bronze Age. The first documentary mentioning the Fortress of Deva dates back to 1269

Legends with fairies and golden-haired girls, necessarily sisters, who have mastered the most beautiful places in Hunedoara County did not bypass the Devei Fortress either. But this was happening in old times. And their deeds were narrated by grandparents' grandparents, in the winter, at the mouth of the stove.

Thrilling testimonies about the dwellings on Citadel Hill, we have the Bronze Age from the Neolithic. Then, surely, the Dacians had here defense fortifications and an observation point from where they could see the Valley of Mureş, part of the Strei Valley and the Land of the Forests.

The Roman conquerors intuited the potential and strengthened the fortifications at the top of the Citadel Hill. No wonder, because the commercial road connecting with the rest of the empire, also called the salt road, passed right at the foot of the Deal. And the Mureş basin has experienced a great economic prosperity at that time.

The migratory waves that destroyed everything in their way, drove the inhabitants away in a safe place, and nothing about the fate of Deva. That's until the second half of the thirteenth century. In 1269, the Citadel of Deva appears in a donation act of the young King Stefan, the son of Bela IV, who makes a donation to a Valah Count for the bravery shown in the struggle worn under the walls of Deva Fortress. Then, in 1444, Iancu de Hunedoara receives the fortress of Deva with all its riches: 56 villages and gold mines. Also in his time is mentioned for the first time in a written document and the fair Deva, a settlement at the base of the hill. The Corvinus family conquered the city and the domain of Deva in 1504.

From here on, Deva Citadel begins to occupy an important place in the history of Transylvania. Voivodes and Transylvanian princes actually lived here or were for a few days visiting the city.

In the second half of the seventeenth century, Prince Gabriel Bethlen builds a fortress in the city, serving as a prison and a place of torture. At its base, a Renaissance style rises a true palace of palaces: the Magna Curia Palace.

On May 2, 1773, Joseph, the future emperor of the Habsburg Empire, visited the Fortress of Deva in his wanderings through Transylvania. Ten years later, he returns to Deva as a sovereign to find out the state of affairs and what is the atmosphere among the inhabitants here.

A year later, in 1784, the uprising led by Horea, Cloşca and Crisan broke out, and the Deva Fortress became a place of refuge and defense for the nobles fleeing from the fields of fear of the peasants and the fierce miners. Greater struggles between the Imperial garrison and the rebellious mobs were made.

By 1817, the brother-in-law Francis I and his wife visiting Transylvania, impressed by the beauty of the place, ordered the restoration of the Fortress of Deva. Twelve years have lasted the work, made with great expense and much sacrifice from the locals.

But on the morning of August 13, 1849, a strong explosion, produced in the gunpowder, destroyed the great construction. With part of the walls, the revolutionary soldiers who were watching it also died.

Since then, the city that has dominated the city has been an attraction for locals and travelers, who have climbed the hill step by step to discover what is hiding inside the standing walls or attracted by the tremendous panorama that looks on.

Today, access to Cetate is possible both on foot, on the old road or on the trails battered by locals, but also counter-cost via a cable car, in fact a monoliner lift, unique in this area of ​​Europe.

The fortress of Deva is undergoing a restoration process, being included in a project funded by European funds, which will be completed in early 2015.