Hunedoara Castle was the place where Dracula Prince was imprisoned 7 years by Matei Corvin

14 th Century Gothic castle. It was built on old Roman fortifications, on a strategic position, on a rocky cliff at the exit of Zlasti river from a small defile from Poiana Rusca Mountains.
Hunedoara castle is also found as Corvinesti Castle. Hunedora is evocative, with three huge pointed towers, a drawbridge and high battlements. Five marble columns with delicate ribbed vaults support two halls (1453), the Diet Hall above the Knight's Hall below. The castle wall was hewn out of 30 m of solid rock by Turkish prisoners.

The fortress was extensively restored by Iancu de Hunedoara, prince of Transylvania, from 1452 onwards. You enter the castle over a suspended bridge above the abrupt river bed of Zlasti. Under the gate is the guard room and the prison. On the right, you enter the "Knight's hall", built in a gothic style and at the floor there is the "Diet's Hall" with the medalions of romanians leaders and the "Capistrano tower".

Iancu de Hunedoara

The castle was restored in 1952; a handful of its 50 rooms today houses a feudal art museum.
The visitor is impressed by the massiveness of the building.

History

Anjou family built the castle on the older Roman fortifications in 1320.
Sigismund of Luxemburg offered the castle in 1409 to the Voicu nobleman and his family (Corvins) as reward for special military merits. Iancu de Hunedoara was the Transylvanian Prince. Matei Corvin, Iancu's son become the King of Transylvania and Hungary.

Iancu Corvin (Johannes Corvin de Hunyad or Iancu de Hunedoara) enlarged the construction existing in the XIV century; as a result of two succesive construction stages, a new precincts was developed, between 1441 - 1446, equipped with 7 protective towers - 4 circular ones and 3 rectangular ones.

Iancu de Hunedoara also built most of the Chapel, the palace proper (The Council's Hall, The Knight's Hall), the tower of the winding stairway and the South side, which included house hold facilities, during the second stage (1446- 1453). Matei Corvin transformed the castle into a luxurious nobiliar residence. He built the "Matei Wing", with a loggia that has renaissance elements.

Iancu de Hunedoara made incursions against the Turks (Ottoman Empire) and had Vlad the Impaler as an ally. Vlad Dracula attains the Wallachia throne in 1456, with an army and help from Iancu de Hunedoara.

Things are changing rapidly.

In 1458 Matthias Corvin (known also as Matei Corvin) succeeds Iancu de Hunedoara and become king of Hungary.

3 years before, 1455 the Constantinopole, the Christian gate to Europe, had fall to Turks.

Vlad Dracula fight the Turkish army and has a succesful campain along Danube.
On a massive reply the turks made a big invasion in Romania (Wallachia province) and Vlad is forced to flew in the Transylvanian Alps mountains. When Vlad refugiated and ask for help to fight back the Turks, he was imprisoned in the Hunedoara Castle (1462) by the king Matthias Corvin. After 7 years Vlad Dracula was recognized at the court to be an devoted ally. He got Matthias's cousin sister as wife and army support. Vlad the Impaler reconquired the Wallachian South Romania province) throne once again from the Turks collaborators.

During his imprisonment in the Hunedoara Castle, Vlad continued his habits: he beheaded mouses and impaled them. Also he protected bats and was talking with them. The guardians were horrified by his requests to get more flesh in blood at the dinner.

The Hunedoara Castle is combining specific elements of late Gothic style with early Renaissance style made this castle the most known nobiliary fortified residence in Central-Est Europe. The Corvins owned the castle and the estate of Hunedoara up to 1508, followed by 22 other owners up to XVIII century when the castle and estate became the property of the Habsbourg Empire.

In 1618, Gabriel Bethlen, the prince of Transylvania, initiated a new work phase, building, among others, the "Bethlen Wing".

In 1974 the castle become a museum.

The second restoration works has been going on up now, but because because of "unseeable" inhabitants roaming the castle the workers left.

Hunedoara Castle Map