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Prima pagina » Patrimony & Traditions Historical Monuments in the ZoneWe must make clear that in capitalizing on cultural tourism in the
zone,one must start from the RÂu de Mori commune.All that is around it
only completes,enhances and highlights the evolution,destiny
,decorations and specific functional character of the monuments in that
locality.Apart from them,cultural tourism,whose target and content is
the Hateg Land is already consolidated by Romanian schooling of all
types.
The first building of historic interest which the end-users must focus
on is the very Kendeffy mansion in RÂu de Mori.According to our
historical information,it was first built of stone in the second half
of the l5th century.At that time,that was the foremost family of gentry
about those places,standing out through their fortune and social
ambitions.As from the l6th century,they were known only as the
Kendeffys.The building in the South-Western corner of the complex
served as the Calvinist chapel of the family and their servants.The
names of certain pastors are linked to it,who attempted to translate
holy texts into Romanian,but with Hungarian spelling.
On the South-Eastern side,not too far away,there is the vicarage in RÂu
de Mori.Mentioned in documents in 1526,it has undergone several
changes,thus losing its initial look.Close to its entrance,on the left
hand side,flat on the ground,there is one of the most interesting
tombstones in Hateg,with inscriptions on reused Roman marble,going back
to 1505 and brought there from Colti Monastery.
Two kilometres away,Southwards,two remarkable monuments stand face to
face in Suseni.Coltului Monastery ,raised sometime between the late
l4th century and the early l5th century lies very close to the river
and the highway.The church stands out through two particular
elements:firstly,through the location of the tower over the altar and
secondly through the remains of the inside frescoes.
Across the stream,on a height watching over the entire lower
course of the RÂusor,there is the Coltului Fortress .After half an
hour's walk,the visitor comes upon the best preserved medieval fortress
in the Hateg Land and moreover,one of the best preserved noble
fortresses in Transylvania.Around a tower with a square
foundation,erected in the l4th century,precincts,rooms and towers were
built until the l6th century.There is no other more valuable visiting
card of that fortress than the one signed by Jules Verne,the novelist
who immortalized it in his novel The Castle in the Carpathians.The
legends related to the fortress entered the fairy-tale world too.
Also in the RÂu de Mori commune,in the Ostrov village,you can see
one of the newly restored churches of Hateg.Its steeple has preserved
its initial l5th century shape and beneath it,in the tympanon of the
entrance to the nave,there is the most remarkable testimony of frescoes
in the same perimeter.Ostrov also stands out through its original
cemetery fence.Originally,it was made up of nearly 300 Roman stones of
all types,arranged in a genuine unique protoexhibit.
About l5 km Westwards,in Sarmizegetusa
,a large number of vestiges in the capital of Roman Dacia were
unearthed.Owing to the over one century-old endeavour of the
archaeologists,you can visit the amphitheatre,the sacred zone with the
temples of deities from the second pantheon,part of the
governors'public buildings and finally,the Forum(the public square),on
the archaeological site where work goes on every summer.The results of
the older or newer research are all put on show in the only museum in
the Hateg Land,in Sarmizegetusa.
Only 7 km Westwards,on the highway to Caransebes,between Zeicani and
Bucova ,visitors can be taken to the fortification system of
Transylvania's Iron Gates.The ancient locality of Tapae stood there,the
site of two of the famous battles between the Dacians and the
Romans.The old walls were rebuilt in the Middle Ages.The customs stood
there, from ancient times until the beginning of the contemporary
period and for a while,the state border with the lands occupied by the
Turks in Banat.
From RÂu de Mori,in a nearly
oblique direction,North-Westwards,passing through Ostrov,you can first
reach Pesteana .Worth visiting in the village is one of the Romanian
churches preserving architectonic elements from successive restoration
works,starting out from one of the oldest religious edifices in Hateg.
Densus is only two kilometres
away.Its name will always be linked to one of the Romanian churches
turned into a myth.Hardly when you are in front of it do all the
stories seem true:a surprising architectonic plane,minutely
achieved,with an extravagant ingeniousness and fantasy,which could only
have been displayed by a widely travelled and experienced,but extremely
spontaneous craftsman.Densus must have been built in the 13th
century,probably growing into a small family monastery in the l5th
century.The church is one of those monuments about which you can always
discover something new and wonderful.
Going in the same direction,passing through the Ciula Mica and Mare
villages,after about 10 km,you reach the Rachitova commune.On the left
hand side of the highway and of the rivulet of the same name,there lies
the ruin of the fortress stronghold there.It was erected according to a
design similar to the one of Colti,but by another noble family,the
Musinesti family.
SÂnpetru is situated about
half-way between RÂu de Mori and SÂntamarie Orlea.The Romanian church
there,which goes back to the l4-15th centuries,has two noteworthy
portals.Its Western façade looks like a small exhibit of reused Roman
pieces.
SÂntamarie Orlea is a commune
lying at the junction of the highway coming from RÂu de Mori and the
Hateg-Petrosani highway,only three kilometres far from the main town of
the land(Hateg).Two historical edifices can be admired there.The oldest
is the parish church,built in the late 13th century.Its interior was
painted around 1311,displaying some of the most beautiful frescoes in
Southern Transylvania.In the 15th century,more frescoes of a clear
Eastern origin were added to its altar.This interior mix makes the
church in SÂntamarie one of the most original medieval monuments in the
whole of Transylvania,where the Catholic and the Orthodox denominations
have coexisted in a surprising synthesis.What is important is still the
fact that in 1447,the locality was donated to the CÂndea family in RÂu
de Mori,whose property it was up to the modern epoch.At the moment,the
church is one of the very few Protestant churches in the Hateg Land.
The same family that became the Kendeffy family raised the stateliest
noble mansion in the Hateg Land,probably on the site of an older
residence in SÂntamarie Orlea .It is a complex of buildings,a massive
nobiliary residence,with a tower raised West of its Northern façade and
with two other outhouses(the stables and the servants'house),lying
Northwards,U-shaped.In the l8th century,a superb Latin inscription was
laid above the entrance,testifying to the couple's love and featuring
the coats of arms of the families who owned the building at the
time.King Carol II of Romania,who came to hunt in the Hateg Land was
one of the personalities put up in the mansion.
Subcetate lies three km
North-East of the highway between SÂntamarie Orlea and the town of
Hateg.Close to the entrance to the locality,on a height at a 100 m
difference of level,you can still see the ruins of the most important
medieval fortress in Hateg.It was built in the late 13th
century.Starting with the 15th century,it was the property of the same
CÂndea family of RÂu de Mori,by the special grace of Prince Ioan of
Hunedoara.Any role the fortress may have had was already lost in the
first half of the 16th century.
Salasu de Sus can be reached if
by the locality of Ohaba de Sub Piatra on the Hateg-Petrosani
highway,you head Southwards,along the classical route to the Retezat
Mountains.Four km away.immediately after the entrance to the
commune,the traveller can see the ruins of a noble court.The interior
walls parallel with the highway and the spire of a chapel are still
left.The latter is very similar to the chapel in RÂu de Mori.It
belonged to the Mara family of Romanian extraction.Another local
Romanian family,the Saracin family raised the church on the left hand
side of the highway too,beyond the main square of the commune.The
steeple of the old church is left,whose inscription above the entrance
tells a brief story of the building.
Malaiesti lies another three
kilometres away,on the same highway as Salasu de Sus.Leaving the
asphalted road and turning left,you cross the village and get to the
Malaiesti fotress.Easy to reach,it has, besides its own charm enhanced
by the environment,the charm of the small fortresses built by the
feudal noblemen all over Europe.Erected by the Saracin family,standing
close to and socially competing with CÂndestii in RÂu de Mori,it still
preserves elements which are worth visiting.The central house-tower is
fully preserved.You can still see part of the defense wall around it,to
which in the 16th century,four irregular-shaped outside towers were
added,now visible only a little above the soil.
Nucsoara ,neighbouring
Malaiesti South-Westwards,only four kilometres away, is a village that
belonged to the CÂndesti estate in RÂu de Mori.That modest village
managed however to raise a notable parish church,preserved much better
than many others.This church was painted by master mason Simion of
Pitesti,Wallachia,in the last quarter of the 18th century.All the
frescoes have been preserved.
Baru is situated on the DN 66
highway,25 km from Hateg,about half-way to the town of Petrosani.Having
certain urban characteristics,Baru is worth visiting for one of its
churches too.The PÂrvestilor Church is an unusual mix of baffling
elements,which actually conceal an 18th century monument.The church is
still said to have been built by a family of"thieves",to thank God for
having saved them.
Crivadia ,four kilometres
away,on the same highway to Petrosani preserves an unusual
construction,that is the fortification or "the tower"as it is sometimes
called incorrectly.Its circular shape,with a big diameter actually
suggests a tower.It was built in the 16th century by the ruling princes
of Transylvania with a view to protecting the pass and the border check
point with Wallachia.It watches over both sides of the watershed.It is
very similar to other such constructions defending the Turnul Rosu pass
to Sibiu.
Banita lies near
Petrosani,close to the watershed.The landscape mutilated by the mines
cannot be recognized but through the impressive hill on which a Dacian
fortress stands further used in the Middle Ages.To visit the fortress
is quite a venture,due to the winding and difficult paths leading to
it.
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