Photo credit: (c) Luisiana BIGEA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The benefit of the lack of organization is the absence of an entry fee, an exception to this particularity being the medieval Citadel of Enisala, the most visited archeological site in Tulcea county. Near it, on the territory of Jurilovca commune, the citadel of Orgame/Argamum lies, the first town on Romania’s current territory. The archaeologically-important settlement was mentioned in a document in the 6th century BC, by Hecataeus of Miletus, and its history, which unfolded between the 7th century BC up until the 8th century AD, is still researched by archaeologists.

The importance of Tulcea’s archeological sites is emphasized by the fact that five of the ten Romania archeological sites that are part of “Danube Limes Brand” project’s object are in situated in northern Dobrogea. The project “Extension of the Danube Limes UNESCO World Heritage in the Lower Danube” envisages long-term and sustainable preservation of Limes sites through nominating new frontier section for World Heritage status in the Lower Danube countries and the promotion of inter-regional cooperation in developing, improving and presenting individual Limes sites.

Photo credit: (c) Luisiana BIGEA / AGERPRES PHOTO

The citadel of Aegyssus, identified and partially researched on Hora hill, is one of the citadels that make the object of the project. The first mention of the site, according to the Institute for Eco-Museological Research (ICEM), was done by Ovidius in 12 AD, when the fortress, already under Roman control, was besieged by the Geto-Dacians. The amphorae discovered in the site place the construction of the citadel at the end of the 4th century BC — early 3rd century BC. The importance of the city was highlighted by Ovidius who saw it as “the old citadel defended by strong walls, on the banks of the Danube, in a high place, hard to reach”. Between 1879 and 1899, the citadel saw the building of a monument dedicated to the heroes of the Romanian War of Independence (known in the English world as the Russo-Romanian-Turkish War of 1877), while in 1975 the County Museum of History and Archeology was opened to the public, offering visitors the possibility to know in greater detail the county’s heritage.

Photo credit: (c) Luisiana BIGEA / AGERPRES PHOTO

The Roman-Byzantine citadel of Noviodunum, another objective of the “Danube Limes Brand” project is situated near the town of Isaccea. It was here, in 2012, that ICEM archeologists discovered a Christian basilica, and in the previous year’s archeological digs — the best kept and largest kiln in Romania. Raised on an old Get settlement, the Roman and later on Byzantine citadel of Noviodunum had a military, strategic and economic role, the development of the settlement leading to the achievement of the “municipium” status at the end of the 2nd century AD. Noviodunum was the headquarters of some detachments of the legions stationed in Dobrogea and the main home of Roman fleet Classis Flavia Moesica that controlled the lower Danube and the northern and western coasts of the Black Sea. The citadel developed in stages, up until the Ottoman conquest of 1420, these stages being at times interrupted by attacks from the Pechenegs, Udi and Cumans in the 11th century AD, but also the Tatar attacks in the 13th century AD.

Photo credit: (c) Luisiana BIGEA / AGERPRES PHOTO

Another site that is eligible to enter UNESCO heritage list, the citadel of Dinogetia, is located in Jijila commune, near the road that links the cities of Tulcea and Galati, the citadel having in its vicinity a monastery dedicated to the “Life-giving Spring” (an Orthodox holiday celebrated in the first Friday after Easter, also called Bright Friday), the building of which, according to the spokesperson of the Tulcea Episcopate Niculai Felix began in 2004. “We know that in the perimeter of the citadel, in the first centuries, numerous Christians were martyred as the book “Bishop in Romania, in an epoch of national and religious conflict” signed by Roman-Catholic Bishop Raymund Netzhammer reminds us. There are also clues that besides the ones enumerated in the book, there would also be several others martyred here, like in the case of Noviodunum and the site of Halmyris”, said the spokesperson of the Tulcea Episcopate, priest Niculai Felix.

Dinogetia was a Geto-Dacian settlement, then a Roman fortress mentioned by Ptolemy, the interior of the citadel being host to several ceramic fragments unearthed that prove the existence of a Roman fortress at the site even before the reign of Diocletian (248 — 305 AD). Currently, the citadel is administered by the Romanian Academy.

Photo credit: (c) Luisiana BIGEA / AGERPRES PHOTO

In the citadel of Troesmis, situated on a stretch of land measuring 157 hectares near the village of Turcoaia, ICEM is conducting a non-invasive research project of the site. The monument, another possible candidate to the UNESCO heritage list, was first researched in the 1860’s following the initiative of France’s representative to the European Danube Commission, E. Engelhardt. “The methodology and technique of those times based on identifying and extracting inscriptions on the wall made it that extremely few carved inscriptions, descriptive and chronological in nature, see the light of day, 24 to 55 inscriptions being sampled from Troesmis”, said the Director of the County Directorate for Culture (DJC), Iulian Vizauer.

Photo credit: (c) Luisiana BIGEA / AGERPRES PHOTO

The cultural goods identified at that time are currently in France, while research at the archeological site were continued by the Romanian side in 1890, 1898, 1939 and 1977, and, according to official data, the site was along the years the target of higher-ups who wanted to transform the site in a rock quarry, or of people not knowing the site’s importance who took stones from the area to construct churches in the city of Braila, the village of Carcaliu in Tulcea or other municipal works in the area. A site included in the “Danube Limes Brand” projects, the Troesmis archeological complex, a monument of national and international importance, was one of the most important border crossings of the Roman Empire’s frontier in this part of Europe. According to the DJC, the first information on the existence of the Troesmis name came from Ovidius, in the context of troubles in 15 AD, however it cannot be determined if the name belonged to a Geto-Dacian fortification or to a village defended by an Odrysian garrison. At the end of Marcus Aurelius’ reign (161 — 180 AD), one of the settlements here reaches the rank of ‘municipium’ — the second highest rank a Roman city could gain, the highest being that of ‘colonia’. As such, the settlement had a high degree of self-government, while its citizens had a status that was close, but not equal, to that of full Roman citizens.

The citadel of Halmyris, near the Murighiol locality, situated on the banks of the Danube’s Sfantu Gheorghe Canal was inhabited by Geto-Dacians, according to ICEM, between the 6th and 5th centuries BC. At the beginning of the 2nd century AD, it became an important station for the Danube Fleet Classis Flavia Moesica, while two centuries later it became one of the 15 important cities of Scythia Minor province. One of the most important moments of this period is represented by the construction of the episcopal basilica during the reign of Constantine the Great.

In the autumn of 2001, under the altar of this monument a crypt was discovered, housing the human remains of martyrs Epictet and Astion, hidden away and protected until the raising of the basilica by Christians from the “sailors’ village”. Near the city, at the initiative of the Tomis Archbishopric, in 2005, works to raise a church dedicated to the saints began and is currently ongoing. “The church has always been connected with the nation, the history and the people in the midst of which it serves, and the foundation of a monastery is nothing more than a message of continuity, of spiritual perpetuation, of perpetuating values, history” said the spokesperson of the Tulcea Episcopate, priest Niculai Felix.

The other archaeological sites in Romania included in the “Danube Limes Brand” project are Drobeta, Sucidava-Celei, Axiopolis-Cernavoda, Capidava and Carsium-Harsova.

Over time, the cities and citadels of Tulcea county attracted the attention of specialists and tourists, but also of some diplomats. In 2013, the Ambassador of Belgium to Romania, Philippe Beke, visited the citadel of Ibida near the village of Slava Rusa and claimed that “Tulcea is one of the most sensational counties in what regards nature and historical heritage.”

Limes is the name of the fortified frontier of the former Roman Empire, that crossed, with some interruptions, almost the entirety of Europe, from the Nistru’s mouth at the Black Sea to Hadrian’s limes in modern day Scotland. The project “Danube Limes Brand” is coordinated by the University of Vienna (Austria), with representatives from Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia as partners. AGERPRES