Proiectul Geopark
Parcul Geopark


 

Patrimony&Traditions

The Hateg Country is a territory that hosts probably the richest cultural patrimony of Romania. Here are found some of the oldest churches from North of Danube River, the largest concentration of medieval sites and monuments in Romania and a big number of architectural monuments, all included in the National Patrimony.

The communities from the region are keepers of important local traditions enriched with elements of the foreign cultures that have interacted with the region throughout its history.

The Hateg Country Dinosaurs Geopark aims to promote the local values, to ensure the restoration of the monuments, to identify and document the local traditions and to educate and inform the local communities on how to preserve the local identity.

Historical facts about the Hateg Country

The most important moments in the history of the Hateg Country are:

  • Some of the first hominid remains in Romania (29.000 yrs ago),
  • Large number of prehistoric settlements shows permanent living in the region from Paleolithic to Bronze Age
  • Celtic presence in the region - the Helm of Hateg (300 B.C.), now in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Vienna,
  • The bloody battle of Tapae between Romans and Dacians (101ac), followed by the installation of roman military forces in the western part of the region
  • Sarmizegetusa Ulpia Traiana founded and named Capitol of the Roman Province of Dacia (107A.C.),
  • Local ruler Litovoi perishes in the combats with the Hungarian armies and his son is captured and then liberated after accepting the rule of Hungary over his lands (beginning of the XIIIth century)
  • The first mentioning of Hateg in the documents of the Hungarian Kingship (1247A.C.),
  • The region becomes an important center for fur trade (XVIIIth-XIXth century),
  • Front line and scarce battles in the First World War

Ethnographic values

The ethnographic values are represented by rural localities with households safeguarding the traditional architecture, crafts and customs. Characteristic for the region is the wide celebration of the local ‘'Nedeia'', a fest that each village has once per year.

The most important ethnographic elements found in the region are: the costumes, the traditional music and dancing, the local cuisine, the vernacular architecture, the shepherding traditions, local crafts mostly wood carvings, homespun .

Monuments

Among the monuments of Hateg Country covering a 2.000 year long history, the most important are:

  • Sarmizegetusa Ulpia Traiana, the capitol of the roman province Dacia
  • Pesteana Church, built in the XIVth century, partially conserving wall paint from the XIVth century
  • Densus Church, controversed date of construction, most historians date it at the end of the XIIIth century,
  • SÂnpetru Church dated in the XIVth-XVth with a collection of stones from the antique roman ruins in the facade.
  • SÂntamarie Orlea Parochial Church, built at the end of the XIIIth century having its interior with one of the most beautiful fescues from South Transylvania, dated 1311A.C.,
  • Subcetate Fortress, the most important medieval fortress of the Hateg Country,
  • Malaiesti Fortress, one of the oldest fortresses of the Hateg Country, a type of military construction rarely preserved in Romania,
  • Colt Fortress, a refuge fortress dating in XIVth century, built in the northern highlands of Retezat Mountains, also considered subject of inspiration of Jules Verne's novel "The Castle of the Carpathians"
  • Colt's Fortress Church, built in the XIVth century, now belonging to the Colt monastery.



Monuments
complete list



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Consiliul Judetean Hunedoara, 330005 Deva, str. 1 Decembrie 1918 nr.35,
tel: 0254-211624, 211350, fax: 0254-214130, 230030
email: conjudhd@artelecom.net, www.cjhunedoara.ro