The Făgăraş Fortress
Wo Sie uns finden:
- Straße
- Str. Mihai Viteazul, nr. 1, Făgăraș, Jud. Brasov
- PLZ/Ort
- 505200 Făgăraș
- Land
- Romänien
- Telefon
- 0040268211862
- Fax
- 0040268211862
- Web
- http://www.cetateafagarasului.ro/
- muzeufagarascontact@yahoo.com
Beschreibung
Center of one of the largest domains of Transylvania, which comprised 62 villages and a fair in 1632, Făgăraş Fortress was, in the second half of the 16th century and especially in the 18th century, a nobiliary and princely important residence.
The construction of a fortification in Făgăraş was due to his strategic position halfway between Sibiu and Braşov, on the main commercial road, and in the neighborhood of Wallachia (of which it was historically connected). The possession of the fortress proved very important for the voivodes and the princes of Transylvania.
The first documentary attestation of the stone fortress was in 1455.
Typologically, at this stage, Făgăraş Fortress can be defined as a military defense fortification. Its construction style corresponded to the 16th century Western fortification system, introduced in Transylvania in the 14th century.
The 16th century brought the beginning of the most important changes in Făgăraş Fortress architecture, the defense fortress turning into a castle with a strong outer fortification.
The initiator of these extensive works was Ştefan Mailat (prince of Transylvania from 1534 to 1540 and owner of the fortress from 1528 to 1541), who separated the castle (the nobility house) of the fortress (the military construction itself). Gaspar Békés, owner of Făgăraş from 1567 to 1573, made the moat around the castle – the removed earth being used to strengthen the inner part of the walls.
Probably at the end of the 16th century, during Ştefan Báthory reign (prince of Transylvania from 1571 to1586) and Balthazar Báthory ownership (lord of the fortress from 1588 to 1594), the all four sides of the old fortress turned into apartments and the four towers were incorporated at their level. The construction of the first bastion, which bore the name of Báthory family, began at the same time on the south-east corner of the outer enclosure, but it would be finished later.
The architectural transformations of the 17th century gave the present shape of the fortified complex of Făgăraş. Gabriel Bethlen (prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629), one of the leading builders of the fortress, drawn up in 1623 a 36-point plan for the construction and modernization of the fortress, plan that provided, among other things, the construction of another three bastions with casemates and the manufacturing of a number of 600.000 bricks a year by 1500 permanent serfs organized in three shifts, the bricks being necessary to build the bastions.
The modernization works continued under Gheorghe Rakóczy I, Prince of Transylvania from 1631 to 1648, who paved the four bastions and built the guard house against the northern side of the gate tower. He also paved the moat of the fortress, which in case of attack could triple the volume of water, and repaired the two access bridges: on the east and on the north sides.
In the second half of the 17th century, the last owners did not undertake important works, but they just made some repair and maintenance operations.
The entry of Făgăraş Fortress in the property of the Habsburg Empire in 1696 and its transformation into a military garrison was the beginning of a period of decline, as shown in the inventory of 1726. Serving military purposes, the castle and fortress of Făgăraş lost their former elegance and splendor.
Between 1918 and 1948, the fortress was a Romanian army garrison, but since the end of 1918 to 1923-1924, it served as a place of refuge for White Russians who fled the Bolsheviks, the press of that period noting the donations of Queen Maria for them. Also, in the fall of 1939, a large number of Poles, who left their country after it had been divided between Nazi Germany and the USSR, found refuge in the fortress.
Between 1948 and1960, the fortress was transformed into a communist political prison, being one of the toughest prisons from the communist world. After 1960, extensive restoration works aimed at rendering the aspect of the glorious 17th century to the fortified castle, but they have not been finalized.
Stately and imposing, Făgăraş Fortress, which the great historian Nicolae Iorga considered one of “the jewels of the country”, awaits peacefully “the recognition of the audacious deeds of the past."
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