From Bran Castle — a Transylvanian symbol since 1377 — to the Gothic Black Church and medieval citadels, this region offers an authentic journey through time.
Built in 1377, Bran Castle is the most visited tourist attraction in Romania, associated with the legend of Dracula.
Over the centuries, Bran has been a place of confrontation, a customs house, a royal residence and then a museum. Its medieval walls, adapted and restored in different eras, keep alive the memory of a complex history, which combines legends, politics and tradition.
Bran Museum
The Bran National Museum (Muzeul Național Bran) is located in the center of Bran, not far from Bran Castle, and houses the movable heritage of the royal family.
The museum was established in 1957 in a building located at the foot of Bran Castle, but was moved to its current location, in a former guesthouse in the city center, in 2018.
Inside the museum you will find a valuable collection of furniture, clothing, art pieces and other objects that are part of the heritage of Queen Maria and other members of the royal family, who lived in Bran Castle in the first half of the 20th century.
Peles Castle
Neo-Renaissance masterpiece from Sinaia, 45 km driving from Bran, a royal residence built in 1883, considered one of the most beautiful castles in Europe.
Peleş Castle was built at the initiative of King Carol I, to serve as his summer residence, invested with political, cultural and symbolic functions. After 1914, Peleş Castle continued to exercise its representational and museum functions, without however being inhabited for 6 months a year, as the founding sovereign used to do. Until 1947, it became a court space for official visits or hosted military ceremonies.
Rasnov Citadelle
Since ancient times, the fortifications on the cliff of the Citadel Hill in Râşnov have protected a settlement. The first medieval citadel in Râşnov was built by the Saxons and the Teutonic Knights in the period 1211–1225, during the Crusader rule in Ţara Bârsa, and after the Crusaders were expelled, the wooden and earthen citadel was rebuilt or transformed into a stone one by the Saxons.
The chronicler Simon Massa (1536–1605) claims that during the Tatar invasion of 1335, when Ţara Bârsa was completely devastated, the Râşnov citadel, “situated on a high mountain”, withstood the enemy siege and saved the lives of the inhabitants who had taken refuge within its walls (being a place of refuge for the Râşnov community until the 18th century). This is also the first documentary attestation of the citadel.
Black Church
It has been six hundred years since the bells of the Black Church have been ringing every Sunday. Six hundred years of history, faith, beauty. Inside, the divine music of the organ, along with the warm voices of the people, rise beyond the vaults and bring the old walls to life. The Black Church is the spiritual center of the Saxon community in Brașov, being at the same time the most important scene of the ecclesiastical reform in Transylvania and the cradle of humanist culture for the region. History records that even before the arrival of the Teutonic Knights in these places, on the site of today's church there was a monastery of Catholic nuns belonging to the Premonstratensian order. The German town that formed around this settlement was called Corona. The skill of the inhabitants and the key privileges offered by the kings very quickly transformed the place into a prosperous city. It was natural for the townspeople to want a church building that would reflect the beauty of the city and the piety of its inhabitants. Thus, at the end of the 14th century, construction of the new church began.
The Beit Israel Synagogue in Brașov was built between 1899 and 1901, initially of the Neolog rite, according to the plans of the Hungarian architect Lipót (Leopold) Baumhorn (1860-1932) and was inaugurated on August 20, 1901. The building's surface area is 657m².
The synagogue's construction style is Moorish, with a basilica plan with three naves. There are Gothic and Romanesque decorative elements (rosettes, window and gate frames) present.
The synagogue was renovated in 2001, on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. Since the current community is more Orthodox-oriented than the original, Neolog, one, the bimah (the podium from which the Torah is read) was moved from the end of the nave to the middle, and the benches were moved and some were abandoned.
Council House/History Museum
The Brasov County History Museum is among the most important public cultural institutions of Brasov County.
It holds the largest movable historical heritage of Brasov County (159,255 pieces), covering all historical eras, from prehistory to the contemporary period. The museum organizes various cultural events (exhibitions, seminars, conferences, debates, festivals, etc.), in partnership with public or private institutions and organizations.
The Art Museum
In the halls on the ground floor, temporary exhibitions and a wide range of cultural events (concerts, book launches, round tables, conferences, etc.) are organized. The permanent exhibition of the Braşov Art Museum illustrates the evolution of Romanian art from the 19th-20th centuries (painting and sculpture), Transylvanian painting from the 18th-19th centuries and Braşov art from the portraits of the Braşov patriciate from the 18th century to contemporary artists.
The museum's heritage includes over 4,500 cultural assets (easel painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative art, icons, tapestries, oriental carpets, etc.). The collection of paintings, graphics and sculptures is representative of modern and contemporary Romanian art and of Transylvanian art from the 16th-20th centuries.
The Braşov Art Museum was founded in 1949 as a section of the Regional Museum.
House of the Mureses
The Mureșenilor House was founded in 1968, following a donation made by the descendants of the Mureșianu family. They thus put into practice the cultural testament of academician Iacob Mureșianu, offering the Romanian state, in order to organize a museum, the necessary space, a very valuable collection of furniture, painting, sculpture and especially an archive of inestimable cultural value, numbering over 25,000 documents. The museum is dedicated to the memory of several members of this family with great merits in the cultural and political life of their time.
The Mureșenilor Archive is one of the richest and most important family archives. Leading the “Gazeta Transilvaniei” for more than half a century, the Mureșeni corresponded with all the political leaders of their time, both from Transylvania and from the other provinces inhabited by Romanians. In addition to political correspondence, the Mureșanilor Archive contains – increasing its cultural value – numerous manuscripts of the Mureșanilor and the correspondents of the newspapers they ran. The presence of documents related to the history of the National Anthem “Dețeaptă-te, Române”, a creation of the immortal Andrei Mureșanu, also draws attention.
The First Romanian School
More than a museum, a true reliquary, the Museum of the Church of St. Nicholas in Șcheii Brașovului – The First Romanian School is the place where the first Romanian prints, the first grammars of the Romanian language, the complete collection of old Romanian Bibles, the Historical Archive, a selection of the few traces that Romanians, as the fourth nation, were allowed to leave in the history of Transylvania are sacredly preserved.
The guided tour of the Museum gives you the opportunity to meditate on the meanings contained in the metaphor of the First Romanian School, from the meaning of the oldest to the best, but also the school as a place where children learn the basics of knowledge compared to the school as a cultural movement: the Orthodox School in Șchei in relation to the Transylvanian School.
Romanianism can be learned in a school, but not with benches for fear of a stick, but in a school as a cultural movement, as a way of being.
Catherine's Gate
Catherine's Gate (in German Katharinentor, in Hungarian Katalin-kapu) was one of the gates of the fortifications of the Brașov Citadel, located in the middle of the southwest side, between the Weavers' Bastion and the Blacksmiths' Bastion. As part of the southwest wall of the city's fortifications, Catherine's Gate is protected as a historical monument.
The gate ensured passage through the double wall of the citadel, being, for almost three centuries, the only gate of the city towards the Şchei. Today, only the tower of the outer gate remains. In reality, Catherine's Gate, as well as the gates of the northeast wall of the citadel (Main Gate, Old Customs Gate, Black Street Gate), were each a large fortification complex, true fortresses with bastions and towers
Weavers' Bastion
The tower, defended and maintained by the linen weavers' guild, was built in two stages, between 1421 and 1436 and 1570 and 1573.
In the first stage, the first two levels of the three battle galleries were built. The first level was equipped with large openings for the use of large-caliber firearms, bombards and arquebuses, as well as holes for throwing incendiary materials.
The upper galleries, built between 1570 and 1573, were intended for small-caliber weapons, which could be used through narrow, circular openings present throughout the route of the shooting galleries. Two watchtowers were built for the guard corps that supervised the city both from a military point of view and from the perspective of observing possible fires.
Bastion Graft
Legend has it that the fortification of Braşov was decided by King Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1395, after a military campaign against the Turks. It seems that the first wall belt of the Braşov fortress was finished at the beginning of the 15th century, but, as the Ottoman sieges would prove, the fortifications needed to be improved and so the construction site continued, for repairs or new construction, until the first half of the 17th century. The efficiency of the defense system is demonstrated by the fact that from the Turkish invasion of 1421, until the entry of Austrian troops into the city in 1688, Braşov was never conquered.
In the 14th century, the excess water coming from the springs that flowed through the Braşov Gorges and crossed the streets of the medieval Citadel, was diverted through an artificial canal, called "Graft" (ditch) at the foot of the Romurilor hill. The canal was also used as a natural obstacle within the Fortress's defensive system.
Poenari Fortress
Poenari Fortress, a charming medieval fortress, is located on a mountain peak in Argeș County, 27 kilometers from Curtea de Argeș and 125 km from Bran. This fortress has been a historical monument since the 14th century, being an important tourist attraction for those who want to visit Transfăgărășan.
The mountain road, the landscape and the beauty of the fortress are worth the effort to climb the 1480 steps at the crossroads to the ruins of Poenari Fortress. This was the source of inspiration for the writer Jules Verne in composing the novel “The Castle in the Carpathians”.
The fortress is the second residence of Vlad the Impaler, rebuilt to serve as a fortress against the Turks who attacked him. Poenari Fortress was the last refuge of the ruler before he left Transylvania.
The Curtea de Argeș Monastery is a 16th-century Romanian Orthodox masterpiece and one of the country's most significant cultural sites. Located in the first capital of Wallachia, it serves as the royal necropolis for the kings and queens of Romania
Commissioned by Prince Neagoe Basarab and consecrated in 1517, the cathedral is renowned for its unique style that blends Byzantine, Moorish, Persian, and Armenian influences
The monastery is tied to the haunting Legend of Master Manole. According to the tale, the walls would crumble every night until Manole was told in a dream that a living woman must be sacrificed. He was forced to wall in his own wife, Ana, to complete the structure. A spring, the Fountain of Manole, is said to mark where he fell and died after being stranded on the roof by the prince
Sighisoara Fortress
Located 143 km from Bran, founded according to tradition in 1191, but mentioned in documents in 1280 under the name Castrum Sex and later with the German term Schespurch (1298), Sighișoara is the constructive work of German colonists (Saxons) brought to Transylvania to guard the old borders of the Hungarian kingdom in the 12th-13th centuries AD.
As part of the efforts to combat Turkish incursions, political and economic ties with Wallachia and Moldavia were established early on. The presence of Prince Vlad Dracul (father of Vlad the Impaler) in Sighișoara, intermittently between 1431 and 1436, as a guest of the Citadel, can be interpreted as an episode in the joint anti-Ottoman struggle in the 15th century.
The prince was a member of the Order of the Dragon (an anti-Ottoman organization) and had been crowned as ruler of Wallachia in 1431, in Nuremberg, by Sigismund of Luxembourg, Emperor of Germany and King of Hungary. Between 1431 and 1436, Vlad Dracul organized an expeditionary force with which he crossed the mountains and occupied the throne of Wallachia in the autumn of 1436.
Rupea Fortress
Located 90 km from Bran, Rupea Fortress is mentioned since 1433 and later known as a developed commercial center. 4 large fairs were held here annually. The fairs in Rupea were the most famous in Transylvania at the time. During the time of Matei Corvin, Rupea was the center of 12 craftsman guilds.
In the west of the city, on a steep basalt rock cliff, is located Rupea Fortress, which is one of the oldest and strongest fortresses in Transylvania, it being attested for the first time in 1324, although it was built long before that date, but there are no documents in this regard.
In 1601, Michael the Brave passed through here, and later, Ștefăniță Vodă.
In 1688, the first Austrian soldiers settled in the fortress, who renovated the fortress.
The Saxon colonists, who arrived in the second half of the 12th century, made a decisive contribution to the consolidation and development of the locality.
Feldioara Fortress
Feldioara Citadel also known as the Teutonic fortress is the oldest fortification in Barsa Land and it was officially attested in 1225. It is located 21 km north from Brasov and 46 km from Bran on DN 13. It was founded by the Teutonic knights between 1211 and 1225 .
First it was an earthen fortress, probably fortified with palisades, as the Hungarian conquerors found it in the first centuries of the second millennium. That is what they called it: “Földvár” (earthen fortress). The German colonists brought by the kings of Hungary and the Teutonic Knights called it “Saint Mary’s Fortress” – Marienburg.
The fortress was destroyed in 1430 by the Turks and by Vlad the Impaler in the campaign of 1457, the inhabitants rebuilding it in the same year. The enclosure wall on the southern side was probably destroyed after the Battle of Feldioara by the armies of Petru Rareș through the vornic Nicoară Grozav. On the masonry of the tower to the north there is the year 1657 carved, but it is not known whether the inscription is due to the construction of the tower or to a renovation of it.