Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES PHOTO

After years of restoration, “the other capital” (nickname for the city of Alba Iulia, the city where the Grand Union of Romania was accomplished) offers tourists a totally unconventional history lesson, one that they live through, together with characters such as the soldiers dressed in Austrian uniforms dating back to the first half of the 18th century, when the citadel was constructed in Alba Iulia. Local authorities claim that in Alba Iulia, in the heart of the city, the Alba Carolina citadel is “reliving its glory years” and that “traveling back to that time” is possible.

If in past years tourists would stop only for a few hours in Alba Iulia, on the road towards Cluj Napoca and Sibiu, currently, more and more tourists, fascinated by the fortress, take a longer time to visit the Alba Carolina citadel and attend the various events organized here, such as the changing of the guard ceremony, that takes place daily, or the gun salute ceremony organized every Saturday in the tourist season.

In Alba Carolina, most anywhere you may stumble upon a “Habsburg soldier”, member of an “army” composed of an infantry corps, an artillery corps and a cavalry corps. The soldiers of the Guard of the Alba Carolina Citadel are among the main attractions of the fortress, not only children, but also adults flocking to take a picture with the ‘men-at-arms’.

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES PHOTO

Tourists cannot leave until they pose for a picture with the bronze soldiers placed in several locations inside the citadel, and other bronze characters — the Lady and the Knight, a florist, city folk, or the Philosopher. They can find accommodation inside the citadel in the only five-star hotel in Alba Iulia, the result of an investment worth over four million euro, housed inside the first building built by the Austrians in the Vauban-type fortification, that had a military purpose for around three centuries.

The Medieval Hotel, named so because the ground floor rooms, of the Saxon Bastion, are from the medieval period, is host to spacious rooms, each with a living room, hallway and large bathrooms, all with natural ventilation. The roof of the restaurant in the Royal Hall is supported by massive wood beams nearly three centuries old. Tourists from all around the world have spent some time accommodated here, coming from countries such as England, Croatia, France, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Hungary, Turkey, but also Israel, China, Canada and the United States.

The building, initially host to the military foodstuff storehouse, was constructed between 1714-1715. It was used as a military storehouse by the Austrian army for two centuries, and later on was used by the Romanian army.

The Medieval Hotel architectural ensemble is also host to the Sightseeing Hall, the Hall of the Roman Vestiges, the Knights Templars’ Hall, as well as the Capitulum Hall.

The Alba Iulia fortress holds immense tourist potential through the large number of historical, cultural, natural, and man-made points of interest found within the site, with a potential to constantly attract Romanian and foreign tourists year-round.

Raised during the Habsburg rule over Transylvania, between 1714 — 1738, using the plans drawn up by Italian architect Giovanni Morando Visconti, the citadel, which occupies over 100 hectares of land, has seven bastions — Eugene of Savoy, Saint Stephen, The Trinity, Saint Michael, Saint Charles, Saint Capistrano and Saint Elizabeth.

It was supposed to become the main fortification in Transylvania, being built using the latest methods of construction of those times, inspired by the systems conceived by Marshal Vauban, the French military architect. The fortification had a dual role of keeping at bay potential Turk incursions, and of consolidating Habsburg rule in the occupied territories.

The bastionary citadel is defended by three systems of fortifications. It is shaped as an irregular heptagon, the seven bastions portraying it as a 7-point star, image characteristic for citadels of this type.

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES PHOTO

Entry into the citadel can be done through one of the six highly-ornate gates, showing bas-relief decorations. Three of the gates lead to the city, while three led to the training grounds. Of the six gates, which were true architectural monuments, part of the defensive construction ensemble of the citadel, only Gates I, III and IV were kept in their original state.

The gates were subject, in last years, to ample restoration works, one of the gates being practically rebuilt.

The most imposing of the six gates, Gate III, where Horea, one of the leaders of the 1784 revolt, was imprisoned, was restored to public use after more than a decade of restoration works, begun in 1998 and costing around 3.3 million lei, expenses covered by the Culture Ministry of Romania.

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES PHOTO

In order for the restoration to be complete, the wooden draw bridge was also reconstructed, a replica of the one used in the medieval times. The last documentary reference to the old draw bridge dates back to 1849, from the time of the siege of Alba Iulia during the 1848 revolution. It is not known under which conditions the old draw bridge was removed and the moat filled with earth. In order to reconstruct the bridge, the architects in Alba Iulia have studied the citadel’s plans, housed in an archive in Vienna, as well as accounts of how the bridge would be crossed during peace time or war.

Situated between the bastions named Eugene of Savoy and Saint Capistrano, Gate III is composed of four columns and eight smaller pillars that hold, through their powerful arches, the pedestal upon which the equestrian statue of Charles IV, the Austrian emperor at the time of the citadel’s construction..

Gate I, that faces eastwardly, houses four impressive bas-reliefs depicting scenes from Roman and Greek mythology, and was the first to be restored completely, the works ending in December of 2006.

Photo credit: (c) Angelo BREZOIANU / AGERPRES PHOTO

One year later, after a lengthy restoration process that took several years, Gate IV was restored to public use. It is situated on the citadel’s western side, between the bastions of The Trinity and Saint Michael, being the only one on the western side of the citadel that is decorated in the baroque style. It is decorated only on the interior side, where a narrow opening flanked by telamon columns appears.

The gate was utilized efficiently by the Austrian army. As such, the upper levels would house military personnel, occasionally even reprimanded officers. Underneath, in the citadel’s earthwork, the sentry posts were placed.

Five years ago, Gate II was reconstructed, placed in the second line of defenses, in the upper part of an uphill pathway. Destroyed in the interwar period, in 1937, during the construction work associated with the raising of the Obelisk of Horea, Closca and Crisan (the three leaders of the 1784 revolt), Gate II’s only remnants were some side pillars and a few hinges. As such, until the reconstruction, many Alba Iulia residents did not know exactly where it was situated. The gate itself was reconstructed on the basis of photographs and sketches kept in Vienna. In what regards the decorations, namely two telamon pillars and the lions that crowned the pillars, the original statues were used, as they were kept for all this time at the National Union Museum and in the courtyard of a nearby military unit.

Situated in the south-west corner of the Saint Michael bastion and partially demolished in 1921, during construction work for the Nation’s Unity Cathedral, Gate V is one of the secondary entrances, situated in the western part of the citadel. Its architecture is simple, with little decorations.

Gate VI was included in the project to reconstruct the western defense wall, destroyed in 1921, occasion on which the Royal Road was reconstructed as well, the latter being the road taken by King Ferdinand on the way to his coronation in 1922.

Recently restored for public use, Gate VII was dedicated solely to troop movement, being situated on the southern side of the citadel. During the besieging of the citadel by Hungarian troops in 1848-1849, it was walled off.

The City Gates Tour is the most important tourist tour, and due to their placement on a single axis, from east to west, offers easy and unhindered access. The tours of the city focus on the main historical points of interest and monuments.

Photo credit: (c) Angelo BREZOIANU / AGERPRES PHOTO

As such, the Tour of the three fortifications offers tourists the possibility to see vestiges from three different time periods, built successively in the same spot, each new citadel comprising the older one — the Roman castrum of Apulum (106 AD), the medieval citadel (16th-17th century), the Alba Carolina citadel (18th century). Included in the “Beautiful Romania” project, initiated by the United Nations Development Programme and the Ministry of Culture, the Tour of the three fortifications project was inaugurated seven years ago. The tour also crosses underneath the southern gate of the Roman castrum (fortress), Gate Principalis Dextra, also largely restored, the only gate still standing of the four of the ancient Roman castrum.

Another tour is the one dedicated to the Nation’s Heroes, an homage brought to the leaders of the Transylvanian Revolt of 1784. The tour starts in front of Gate III, where the Obelisk of Horea, Closca and Crisan, a monument built by public donation, is situated. The monument, the joint work of architect Octavian Mihaltan and sculptor Iosif Fekete was inaugurated on October 14, 1937, in the presence of King Charles II and of Michael, future king, then Voivode of Alba Iulia.

Photo credit: (c) Angelo BREZOIANU / AGERPRES PHOTO

Situated near Gate III, the granite monument measures 22 meters at its pinnacle. Its prismatic step base features a narrow opening from east to west that shows granite plaques with the names of the three heroes inscribed. The monument’s eastern side is adorned by a depiction of a winged Victory, holding a laurel wreath. The tour continues with the cell in which, according to legend, leader Horea was imprisoned by the Austrian authorities, it being situated underneath the pedestal of Charles VI’s equestrian statue that adorns Gate III.

Photo credit: (c) Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES PHOTO

During works to restore the medieval fortification a discovery was made, nearly 200 meters away from Gate III, an old dungeon from Habsburg times being uncovered, now representing an intermediary point on the Nation’s Heroes Tour. Situated on the eastern flank of the Eugene of Savoy bastion, the dungeon underwent restoration works so that it may be visited safely.

The Nation’s Heroes Tour ends in one of the bastions where the breaking wheel upon which Horea and Closca were executed on February 28, 1785 was reconstructed. The third leader of the revolt, Crisan, hanged himself in his cell using the leather laces of his traditional footwear. It is said that this was the last act of breaking upon the wheel in the Hapsburg Empire.

According to the representative of the company that made the most important restoration works in Alba Carolina Citadel, Emanuel Dragusin, the total value of the restorations is around 60 million euro.

During the restoration works, a sector of the Via Principalis, the road that connected the northern and southern gates of the Roman castrum of Apulum, was uncovered, preserved so well that the marks from the wooden wheels of carriages can still be seen.

The sector, 3.10 meters in width, was conserved in situ, being among the newest tourist objectives in the citadel, together with the Union Hall and National Union Museum, the Nation’s Unity Cathedral and the Saint Michael Roman-Catholic Cathedral, as well as the 16th century Princely Palace that hosted Michael the Brave, the nation’s first unifier, all tourist objectives on any Alba Iulia tourist’s map.

Standing in front of the Princely Palace is one of Alba Iulia’s symbolic monuments, the equestrian statue of Michael the Brave, constructed in 1968 by Oscar Han, and inaugurated on the occasion of a half-century since the Great Union of 1918. AGERPRES