Corvinesti Castle

CORVINESTI Castle

The most important monument of Gothic lay architecture in Transylvania (14th c.), is to be found at Hunedoara. Built on the place of a former Roman camp, it served as a defence stronghold, as well as a princely residence. In 1409, together with 40 villages of the same area, the Hungarian king Sigismund of Luxembourg offered it as a present to the Romanian prince Voicu (father of Transylvania's future ruling prince Iancu of Hunedoara) as a reward for his military deeds (the legend of the Raven, in Romanian "Corb", from which the name of the Corvinesti dynasty derived, hints at a love affair between the king and prince Voicu's wife). A visit to the medieval castle may take one to the Gallery, to the towers with picturesque names, i.e. the Do not fear, Capistrano, the Maces' Tower, to the Knights' Hall, an impressive reception hall, to the White Bulwark, a former food storehouse, to the Council Hall (with paintings on the walls displaying Romanian princes' coats of arms), to the Chapel. They say that the 30 m deep Fountain within the castle's walls was dug in by three Turkish prisoners who were promised to be set free when they had reached the water level. When, after 15 years of toil they did accomplish the task, their masters did not want to keep their promise. So the legend has it that the inscription they wrote on a wall nearby expresses the Turks' bitter disappointment "You may have water, but you have hardly any soul".