Deva and Hunedoara – One Railway Ticket, Two Castles
After a night of little sleep with a merry band of singing Germans in Timisoara, I was off on an early morning train to the Romanian city of Deva to get my first glimpses at on of the most famous castles in Transylvania. I boarded the train at 6am, only half awake. I was in the city of Deva not long after but managed to get a light nap in. Like in my previous destination, I was greeted by a decaying concrete railway station, outside in the train yard stood rusting railway carriages, long abandoned. There are no storage lockers inside the station, but the lovely lady working the ticket counter offered to put our bags behind the counter for free!
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History of Hunedoara County
Both the cities of Deva and Hunedoara are located near each other and share a similar history. historically both cities are part of Hunedora county and as such their shared history shall be explored together.
Ancient History
The history of the region begins with the Dacians, a tribal group displaced by the Romans in 106AD. The Roman’s would build a castrum (fortified camp) called Deva, although their operations were mostly concentrated at Alba Iulia, to the west. It was the Romans who would exploit the rich iron deposits that dot the region, although some evidence also suggests that the Dacians had built their own furnaces predating that of their Latin conquerors. The Romans would retreat from the region, as incursions from the outside put pressure on their borders. Those war-like groups, called barbarians today, include the likes of the Huns and Goths and they would set the the county alight.
Medieval Ages
The region would not begin to recover until 1000A.D. when it was ruled by the Kingdom of Hungary. Settlements were established at both Deva (1269) and Hunedoara (1265), the later continued to serve as an iron producing center and the former was established as a royal castle. After the Mongol Tatars devastated Hungary, the Hungarian King brought in German Saxon setters to repopulate the former Hungarian lands. This ensured that the region was particularly multi-ethnic with four main groups; Hungarian, Saxon, Vlach and Romani (Roma). The Vlach are the mountain highlanders that would eventually become the Romanian people.
Hunedoara rose to prominence in the 15th century as the castle passed into the ownership of the Hunyadi family. The Wallachian patriarch, a Voyk, received the castle in 1409 from the King of Hungary. The family married into the Hungarian nobility and converted to Catholicism. Decedents of the family would be featured prominently in the history of Hungary, helping to defend Hungarian lands from the advance of the Ottoman Empire. John Hunyadi, son of Voyk, would lead the Hungarian resistance to he Ottoman Empire throughout southern Europe, to a great success. He died shortly after his victory over the Ottomans at Belgrade. His son Mattias Corvinus, “The White Knight of Wallachia”, would rule as the King of Hungary-Croatia turning the European nation into a superpower. Under John Hunedoara (Hunyadi), the old castle was greatly improved becoming one the leading residences in Europe. This castle was called Corvin Castle. The name ties in nicely with the Hunyadi legend of the Raven (latin: Corvinus), an animal that is part of the family crest. To learn more about this legend click here. His son Matthias would continue to improve the castle but he also allowed his serfs to build an Orthodox church and turned the city into a tax free zone. Free the burden of heavy taxation, the city once again became a hub for the Iron Trade.
As an aside Hunyandi is Hungarian for Hunedoara, hence John Hunyadi is actually Ioan de Hunedoara in Romanian, hence the town of Hunedoara bears his name. You will find his name spelled differently depending on the source of the text you read.
Ottoman and Austrian Era’s
After the Hungarian loss to the Turks at Battle of Mohács, the kingdom disintegrated. Deva was destroyed by the Ottomans in 1550 and Hunedoara was integrated into the Ottoman empire along with the rest of Transylvania. The Deva castle was subsequently restored and expanded. The region was eventually incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian empire. Two major development happened during this time; the region first began to industrialize, secondly the region was caught up in religious and social upheavals.
The first blast furnace was built in Hunedoara in 1603 and the iron industry continued to expand. Peasants began to move to the cities as work became available. Ethnic Romanians working in these urban centers, in turn began to demand equal rights within the Austrian system. This bumbled into a full insurrection in 1848 that had to be put down by the Hungarian Army on behalf of Austria.
Independence and Communism
During the First World War, Romania joined Britain and France against the forces of Germany and the Austrian Empire. During the Second World War the fascist regime of Antonescu joined the Axis powers and Hunedoara produced Iron for the enemy, until he was overthrown by the royalists. Romania was invaded by Stalinist Russia and the country was forced into the communist system. Hunedoara was at the core of the industrialization policy of the communist governments and both cities grew rapidly. At one point it had the largest steel producing plant in the Balkans.
This rapid growth came to a grinding halt with the fall of communism. Eastern markets that were once recipients to Romanian steel were closed and many factories had to close. What had been a wealthy county of Romania was now poor. In recent years private industry has returned to the region and unemployment has began to fall.
What to do in Deva?
Deva is known for its medieval castle and not much else (no offense, it’s a nice castle!). As we walked out of the train station I could see it looming above the city sitting on its hill menacingly. A more recent addition, four letters in bold white font spell the name “DEVA” for all to see, much like the Hollywood sign. Although the hill may not look like much from close, looks are deceiving. The slopes of the green bump are on a steep incline, thus rendering the castle as smaller than it is when looking up from the bottom from close. From far, the illusion is shattered and you can see how impressively massive the complex is. In fact this green rock was once a volcano and, although it sits alone, it is part of the Carpathian Mountain Range.
In the city below the castle, the average tourist will find little of worth. As you walk from the train station towards the castle, you will be greeted by an endless sea of concrete residential blocks, many of them in a state of decay.
There are several ways to access the castle complex. The easiest is to take a cable-car up the mountain. But if you are anything like me, you will probably want to climb. To do so, you have two options; a stone rampart that leads to the top of the mountain or a lesser-taken trail. The start of the latter option can be found at the base of the hill, south of the cable-car. It will take you up the mountain as part of a circular climb wrapping around the hill and under the car wires, one section of this climb is through a concrete tunnel, filled with graffiti.
When you make it to the top of the hill, you will be greeted by the castle. It has been beautifully restored in recent years and offers a breathtaking panorama of the valley below. It was used as a garrison in the 16th century but a gunpowder store exploded in 1849 rendering the building an unfortunate ruin.
The building has been constructed in serpentine style with the main keep located at a higher point than the lower bastion and the walkways leading all the way up to the top does so in circular fashion by snaking around the hill on a light incline.
Work is still ongoing in the central keep but most of the facility is accessible.
I chose to descend the castle via the reconstructed rampart towards towards the Magna Curia (Bethlen Castle).
To do so the rampart will eventually turn into a residential area on the slopes of the hill. This area is a tad rustic and I was confronted with…. an actual chicken crossing the road (cue dad joke about why the chicken crossed here).
At the bottom of this hill you will come to a public space that is the center of civil life in Deva. The space consists of a park surrounded by the most stately buildings in the city including the Magna Curia (in Latin: The great Court). A building was first constructed at the base of the mountain by the Hungarian captain of the garrison, Ferenc Geszty, in 1582. That house passed to a slew of Hungarians including the renowned Báthory family before resting with Gabriel Bethlen. In 1621 Bethlen improved the buildings in renaissance style. Today the building houses two of the best museums in the city; The Museum of Dacian & Roman Civilizations as well as the County Museum.
Beside the palace is the judicial building and directly in front of it is the Hunedoara County Prefecture, the most impressive building in the city. It was built in the late 19th century and still serves in civic functions.
After finishing up around the palace, I recommend walking down the pedestrian street named “Strada 1 Decembrie 1918”. This will showoff some of the best local architecture. Eventually you will reach a town hall with a statue of Trajan, the roman emperor who conquered Dacia (Romania). The road will transform into a communist era boulevard where you can catch a local minibus to Hunedoara 15km’s away. Before you do this I will recommend that you check out the soviet era “House of Culture”. This relic of the cold war is a great example of what i call “ugly architecture”. In front on the building is a large fountain and a statue of Decebalus, the Dacian warlord who fought back against Rome.
What to do in Hunedoara?
The minibus dropped us off in downtown Hunedoara. From a quick glace around one could tell that the city has seen better days. At one point the square area taken up by industrial development was much larger than that taken up by residential development. Although heavy industrial activity had declined significantly, it is still obvious that this still an industrial town by the prolific number warehouses and smokestacks still standing. To get to the castle, you will have to walk along the narrow sidewalks of Road 687J. On this road you will also find Saints Constantine and Helena Cathedral, a pretty Romanian orthodox church. If you were to fly a drone behind the castle looking at the town below, you would see a sea of masonry stacks.
To enter the Castle you must pass through an outer sanctum, with older buildings that had likely been used as stables and other utilities. Today they house a small museum and the area is set up to allow locals to peddle their wares. This is where you be able to snap a magnificent panoramic picture of the castle. The castle was improved upon many times since John Hunyadi set upon improving the old keep given to his father. The current iteration of the structure dates from the 19th century, when a romantic renovation was conducted to restore what was left of the castle as it was gutted by fire and left to the elements to deteriorate.
From there you must cross over a wide and deep gully by a scenic pillared bridge. A small river flows in this gully.
Once you pass through the gates you will enter a courtyard. From here you can proceed to take a tour of the castle grounds. Corvin (Hunyadi) castle is known for its gruesome history. Interesting places to stop off at include a stone enclosure called the bear pit (you can guess why) and a stone well in the castle courtyard that was dug by three Turkish prisoners. They were told if they reached water they could be free. After 15 years they did find water but were killed instead, thus the prisoners inscription “you have water, but not soul”.
The castle is typical of a residence that would have housed many guests. There are several halls, including a beautiful dining hall and small chapel. For those who love history or geeks who love vampires, Vlad Tepes was once held captive in the castle by john Hunyadi. Eventually both would form a bond and fight the Turks together.
After exploring the castle, I was headed back to Deva by bus, so that I could get to the train station to pick up my bag and get on a train out of town. I had booked a night in Sibiu and it was time to get going.
Conclusion
Doing both Deva and Hunedura by public transit is entirely possible in a day from cities such as Sibiu or Timisoara. Although the tourism industry is in its infancy here, it is still worth your time to come out. I consider both castles to be excellent and hope that the county can do more to keep tourists here, at least a night so that they can help the local economy. As things stand I don’t see a reason to spend more than a day here but it could change if given the right incentives.
