Fortress Rupea, Transilvania

Fortress Rupea - details and images

Rupea City is located in Brasov county Rupea massive basalt, near the road that connects Transylvania and Moldova and Romanian Country. Rupea fortress was built on the ruins of more ancient fortresses, since during Rumidava called Dacians. being a position high on the hill Cohalm, offers a view up the Plateau Tarnavelor and transforms it into an enviable strategic location.

Rupea is midway between Brasov and Sighisoara, in the north of the county of Brasov and is the only city in the area. Historically, the city Rupea was a refuge for people from surrounding villages before the repeated sieges of Turks and Tartars.

The Dacians, on top of a cliff of basalt, is a city which is said to be named "Ramidava. In the fourteenth century, the Saxons found the city in ruins (after migrating people invaded) and the ruins were built in several stages, giving a rustic town that used the same local name: "Reps" ( Hungarians much later called it "Cohalom", meaning "stone pile").

City Rupea the form of a spiral upward. The fortification consists of three chambers: the Upper Castle (built before the German colonization), Middle Fortress (built in XV century) and the Lower City.

Upper Castle (remains of fortifications built on the original), had an area of 1500 square meters and was surrounded by two concentric defensive walls. Later they were equipped with guard roads and storage rooms were built inside the grain, keeping supplies in case of siege.

Middle Fortress was built in the fifteenth century, after the Tartar invasion of 1421 that destroyed the city first, then enlarged at mid-century. seventeenth-century tower was added `` `` saw, the pentagonal tower from the east and a chapel.

Lower Castle was built in the seventeenth century and the fourth was inside the city, with a rectangular shape, which is surrounded by castellated walls 5 meters high, equipped with corner towers and a massive gate tower. In total the city has ten towers of defense, and in one precinct to another is provided penetrating through the gates each defense system.

At the end of that century, the Saxons fled the city, but have not used it to defend themselves, teaching Habsburg armies city without a fight. In 1790, a storm destroyed the roof of the fortress, and then left in the city was deserted.

The fortress was built starting in 1324, during the Saxon uprising against the Hungarian king Carol Robert of Anjou. Later, residents were added to the initial construction three defensive towers and two courtyards, used as a shelter. In the first courtyard, you will find a well 59 meters deep and its water has not dried up today. Instead, the city has been deserted since 1643, when a devastating fire turned it into ruins.

You have to climb up a narrow road here at the gates of the city, but your efforts will be rewarded in full. The view offered by Hills and Plateau Homoroadelor Hartibaciu is unforgettable.

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