Historical Monuments

The Alba Iulia bastion fortification is the largest fortress in Romania, which has been standing for more than 300 years. The fortress is the place where you can travel over two millennia back in time, strolling, among vestiges of three fortifications, dating back to as many different epochs. In other words, every fortress built here has embraced a previous one: the Roman castrum, the medieval fortress and the Alba Carolina Citadel. The latter was erected in Alba Iulia at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The first project of the fortification was drawn up by the Italian architect Giovanni Morando Visconti, who headed the first phase of the works. The architect died of plague and w [...]

Alba Iulia was among the first cities in Transylvania to set up a museum in the late 1800s. The initiative was coordinated by the „Society of History”, Archeology and Natural Sciences and materialized in 1888. The mission of establishing the museum was entrusted to Adalbert Cserni, the first custodian and subsequently manager of the place. At the beginning, the museum functioned in a kindergarten near the church in the Lipoveni neighbourhood. Then, in 1900, the museum was moved into a five room kindergarten building in the Maieri neighbourhood. The collections were mainly donations from amateur archaeologists or institutions such as the Batthyaneum Library. The main objects of inte [...]

The State High School of Alba Iulia was the first of its kind to be established in Transylvania after the 1918 Union. Founded on 1 February 1919, the high school was called „Mihai Viteazul” (Michael the Brave).  The new educational establishment didn’t have a place of its own and changed several places in the first phase of existence during the interwar decades. The first place was the building which currently hosts the „Regina Maria” High School of Music and Fine Arts. Its courses started with 300 students who were distributed in five classes. The foundation stone of the new high school headquarters was laid in 1923, on a four-hectare plot west of the citadel, on the Roman Pl [...]

The building (which hosts the „Regina Maria” Arts High School today) was built between 1900 and 1901. Initially a Hungarian civil school, the edifice was taken over by the Romanian state right after the Union of Transylvania with Romania (1918). Then, the place hosted the first state high school established in Transylvania since the Unification of 1918. The educational institution was named „Michael the Brave” and functioned here until 1940, when the new edifice on the western side of the fortress went into use and which still exists, but under the name of the National College „Horea, Cloşca and Crişan”. Subsequently, the building in the Lower Town hosted the General School [...]

Located near the Apor Palace, the building that currently houses both the „1 Decembrie 1918” University library and several other edifices of the Alba Carolina Citadel, had a former military purpose. The L-shaped building was erected in neoclassical style in the 1900's. It initially served as a pavilion for warrant officers in the Austro-Hungarian army. Maps of the period also listed the building under the name of „Officers’ Pavilion no. 6”. Unfortunately, historical sources offer rather scarce information on this building on the old street of the pharmacy. The edifice received a cultural purpose in 2003, when it was taken over by the „1 Decembrie 1918” University and bene [...]

The Alba Iulia Citadel distinguished itself over time as a place of a distinctive tradition in elite training and for preserving important national and universal heritage values. One of the places in the citadel that has still kept these attributes at present is the B wing of the „1 Decembrie 1918” University in Alba Iulia, which has inherited the patrimony of the Jesuit College. The Jesuit monastic order was established in Alba Iulia in 1579 along with the wave of countermeasures against the religious Reformation. The moment marked the beginning of priesthood training within the seminar established in the Báthory Church, also known as the Jesuits Church (today demolished). Historic [...]

In his ambitions as the protector of culture, Prince Gabriel Bethlen wanted to turn Alba Iulia into a „Heidelberg of the East". Therefore, he founded the Academic College in the heart of the citadel. It was set up in 1622 and it received the rank of academic school in 1629, providing three faculties: Theology, Philosophy and Philology. The humanistic school was attended by 40 students who received scholarship supported from the budget of the princely court in Alba Iulia. Here the youth were preparing for various secular careers and practical functions of the Principality of Transylvania. Through its size and the prestige of the teachers who taught here, this higher education institution [...]

Looking at the monument located in the central area of the Citadel Square you would probably wonder what is the connection between Alba Iulia and the battle of Custozza in 1866, during the military conflict between Italy and Austria for the possession of Venice. The 50th Infantry Regiment from Alba Iulia, formed mainly from Romanians and Hungarians, but commanded by Austrians, took part in the battle won by the Austrians in the north of Italy. The initiative of erecting a monument dedicated to the 133 soldiers and officers fallen in Custozza belonged to the officers of the Austrian Regiment in Alba Iulia and was realized 40 years after the battle in Italy - in 1906. The monument made out [...]

The story of the Lossenau monument begins on February 11th, 1849, when in Simeria, the Hungarian revolutionary army faced the Austrian troops led by Ludwig Losy von Losenau. As a result of that battle, the Austrian commander was severely wounded and died a few days after. Although today little biographical data is known about the Austrian colonel, his death made Alba Iulia produce one more monument. The initiative for the erection of the monument belonged to the officers of the Habsburg army from the Alba Iulia garrison. The first stone was placed in 1852 in the presence of the emperor Franz Josef. Located in the middle of the Citadel Square, the work is shaped as a pyramid tower and deco [...]

The stone obelisk is impressive on one hand by his 20 meters height that makes it visible from kilometres. The monument is placed in front of the 3rd gate of the Citadel, on an artificial hill that in the past was meant to protect the main gate of the fortification from the direct shooting of artillery during a possible siege. The obelisk was erected in order to celebrate 150 years from the execution of „Horea, Closca and Crisan”, the leaders of the 1784 Uprising. By its dimensions and artistic features, the monument was supposed to look according to the importance of a commemorated event. Although it was finished with a two years delay, the inauguration on October 14th, 1937 was an [...]

The moment of the uncovering of the statue, November 28th, 1968, was a real special one. 50 years passed since the union of Transylvania with Romania. Nicolae Ceausescu participated to the event, while occupying the most important function in the state –Secretary General of the Romanian Communist Party. The word was that he decided that the work should be realized by the sculptor Oscar Han because the artist was an old man and this might have been his last important work. In reality, his artistic activity continued. The placing of the statue in front of the Princely Palace was not random. The edifice is the place where Michael the Brave lived and activated during his short 10 months ru [...]

The most visible trace of the Apulum Castrum is the gate on the southern side named Porta principalis dextra. It is the only one of the four gates of the rectangular castrum that was preserved until nowadays. The monument, of a great importance for the ancient history of the Romanian space, is highlighted inside the Three Fortifications Tour, arranged in the southern and south-eastern side of the Alba Carolina Citadel. The vestiges present us only a small part of the former aspect of the gate and about a third of its 1880 years elevation. Nevertheless, it is a living testimony of the Roman civilization in this area and is about a flourishing period of the ancient Apulum. Porta Principal [...]

Rectangular in shape, with a gate placed on each side and with main roads that connected the gates placed on opposite sides. This is how the Apulum Roman castrum was planned by the engineers and the architects of the Roman Empire, almost two millennia ago. If you wonder how did the roads cutting the ancient Apulum looked like, we can tell you that in Alba Iulia we have a section of Via Principalis. It was the road that connected the main gates of the castrum, the southern and the northern ones. Via Principalis was passing in front of the „Principia” of the Roman castrum, that is to say the headquarters of the 13th Legion Gemina. Here, a part of the 1800 years old building is visible [...]

The main building of „1 Decembrie 1918” University is one of the most grandiose edifices within the fortress of Alba Iulia, erected in the late 1800s. Ever since it was established, it was designed for education, housing, at first, the Majláth Roman Catholic Superior Gymnasium. The edifice, of considerable size, was built on the site of a former Gothic hall church. The neoclassical building impresses in particular through its main façade decorated with columns with fluted shafts, monumental Ionic and Doric capitals, and various other ornamental registers with vegetal-geometric motifs. Triangular fronts, columns and other classic decorations bring to the viewer the image of an ancien [...]

An attraction of utmost importance in Alba Iulia for the last four decades has been the Trade Unions’ House of Culture. Construction works began in April 1974 and were completed in a record time so that the building was put into service on 18 December 1976. 12 enterprises from both Alba County and the country contributed within a collective effort to build and furnish the new cultural edifice, focusing on modern techniques and solutions. The cultural institution has a 548-seat showroom and a 30-seat lodge, as well as a 165-seat for conference room. In addition to its cultural function, the building houses a gym, offices, and commercial premises. The Trade Unions’ House of Culture is [...]

The former Caragiale Theater is a building in Alba Iulia which has been serving the culture for nearly 150 years. Its story began in the late 1800s when a kindergarten located in the city park was refurbished and was given the role of a public place of entertainment, a sort of „club” frequented by the „good people”: businessmen, magistrates, officials, teachers. The building was completely refurbished, extended and upgraded ahead of the Coronation celebrations in 15 October 1922. In those days it also received the name of „Caragiale Theater” and on 1 December of the same year, the theatrical season opened officially. The place kept its entertaining role during the interwar pe [...]

Located in Alessandria Square, the Capitoline Wolf statue was named after a northern Italian city which is twinned with Alba Iulia. The monument was donated to the city in 1993 by the Honorary Consul of Italy in the Alba, Hunedoara and Sibiu counties. Capitoline Wolf statues are similar all over the world, but their pedestals are generally different. The base used in Alba Iulia is a Roman column like the one used for the replica standing on Capitol Hill in Rome. In 2009, the Municipality of Alba Iulia gifted the Italian city of Alessandria with a replica statue, which was seated in the „Square of Alba Iulia” of the Italian city in the region of Piedmont. The she-wolf in Alba Iulia i [...]