Râșnov citadel was called fortress because the main occupation of the builders was agriculture. Peasant cities were part of the defense system of the Transylvanian towns exposed to invasions.
Râșnov was mentioned for the first time in 1331 and in the Middle Ages and in Modern Ages was among the 12 villages that formed the district of Brașov mentioned in documents in 1377. To defend against invasions, the inhabitants of Râșnov raised on a hilltop near the city the citadel for defense. Râșnov has a simple architectural style, close to normal houses building, keeping the medieval atmosphere now after 500 years of existence. For the construction, the materials used was stone and brick and the walls had 5 meters height and width reach a meter and a half.
Fortress hosted in 1600 troops of Mihai Viteazul and his wife mrs. Stanca after the defeat of Miraslau.
Archaeological researches from 1970 and the latest ones found in the outside of the citadel a rectangular chapel and is believed to be the Chapel St. George mentioned in documents after the archaeological research in XIV century.
Inside the fortress tourists can visit the museum of medieval art where are exposed armor, weapons, galleries, old furniture, specific ports and also some unusual objects for our time, but common in centuries XVII and XVIII, such as a mask torture and a yoke for transporting prisoners.
Legend of the fountain
Lack of water lead to limit the possibility of resistance for a long time, so, in 1625 it was decided to build a well in the rock on the rock where it was built the fortress. Fountain of the city, 146 meters deep, was dug between 1625-1640, in the last year rising in the city also a church. About this fountain there is a legend similar to the Corvin Castle, that during a siege, residents put two Turkish prisoners to dig a well in the middle of the city to be released. Prisoners dug the well for 17 years, time when they wrote verses of the Quran on its walls. The fountain was used until 1850, when due the break of the wheel it was abandoned.
Be part of this journey and explore Transylvania! Ambient Hotels is waiting for you!
