Orăștiei Fortress

Orăștiei Fortress is an ensemble of historical monuments located right in the center of the municipality of the same name. The defense wall, consisting of a system of specific medieval fortifications, rises in front of tourists, protecting the fortress.

It was built around 1300, but was documented in 1544 by Sebastian Munster, and in 1560 by Giovanandrea Gromo. The fortress was very well designed and solid, and the locals retreated here during the Tartar and later Turkish invasions. The fortress includes a small space, being considered more of a fortified church than a city precinct.

Orăștiei Fortress, equipped with towers, moat and drawbridge

Orăștiei Fortress was originally a rectangular stone enclosure, provided with towers, water ditch and a rising bridge. In the 16th and 17th centuries, however, it underwent modifications and amplifications. The fortification suffered during the Turkish invasions of 1438 and 1479, being besieged in 1561 and renovated in 1631.

The fortress has a rectangular shape, with the eastern side slightly semicircular. The length from east to west was 91 meters, and the width south-north 84.5 meters. The walls were built of river stone joined with lime mortar and large-grained sand. The thickness of the walls were between 1.55 and 1.70 m. Later, the fortification was taken over by the Saxon community that gave birth to the city of Orăștie.

Inside the fortress was discovered the ecclesiastical rotunda, a circular chapel, which is an archaeological complex below ground level, most likely dating from the eleventh century. The rotunda here contains the walls of a church.

Also here is the ensemble formed by the reformed (Calvinist) church rebuilt in the 14th century by the Hungarians and the evangelical (Lutheran) church built in the 19th century by the Saxons. During the systematic archaeological excavations in recent years, 49 medieval coins were discovered here.

Orăștiei Fortress was an important architectural and military objective. The works started immediately after 1300 when a stone enclosure appears, reinforced after 1347 and protected by a water ditch. At the same time, the entrance tower was built, the rest of the defences were built immediately after 1400.

There are documents attesting to the functions of this fortress through its bastions: in one the gunpowder was kept, in another it was the torture place for criminals, and others used as barns and food warehouses, another with a bread oven.

History and legends

At the beginning of the 15th century, a Turkish army robbed and burned the fortress, enslaving thousands of locals and forcing the Orăştiei Throne to pay taxes. A new destruction takes place under the attack of the Turkish army led by Murad II, supported in the attack of the Saxon Throne by Vlad Dracul's mountain army.

Ladislau Olah, the royal district chief of Orăștie, took part in the Saxon revolt in Transylvania against King Matei Corvin, losing his life during the reprisals. Towards the middle of the 15th century, Transylvania is in full Turkish invasion, Orăştia being again looted and set on fire. Matei Corvin approves the free election of the royal district chief by the Saxons, Hungarians and Wallachians of the Orăştie community.

The election of the district chief precedes the new conflicts with the Turkish armies led by Ali and Skender Mihaloğlu and accompanied by soldiers from Wallachia, under the leadership of Basarab IV.

The Transylvanian army led by voivode Ştefan Báthory brings together Muntenians, Saxons, Swabians, Hungarians, Serbs, from Timişoara, Sibiu, Serbia, Wallachia, Alba-Iulia - at most 25,000 people face the 34,000 horsemen in the battle of Campia Paini .

Great military strategists and their troops join the Transylvanian army: the Timiş committees Paul Chinezul, the Serbian despot Vuk Grgurević, the future voivode of Transylvania Bartolomeu Dragfi and others. The Turkish armies are defeated with heavy losses, their Wallachian allies being completely destroyed. In memory of the victory over the Turks, Ştefan Báthory built a chapel near the current commune Aurel Vlaicu.

Details of the Orăștiei Citadel restoration project on www.orastie.info.ro

photo source: Facebook/Orastie