WELCOME TO ALBA IULIA: Start your day in Alba Iulia with a delicious breakfast in the cosy comfort of a town hotel and end it with a breathtaking gladiator fight by blazing torchlight.
If you only have one day to spend here, in the very heart of Transylvania, make sure you don’t miss the Roman fort of Castrum of APULUM, with the Roman road between the southern and northern gate of the fort. 2000 years ago, no less than 3 Roman Emperors walked the same road as you today.
TIP FOR A DAY TO REMEMBER: If you want more from the day you spend in Alba Iulia, book a really unique Roman soldier guard to join and “protect” you and your group through the whole visit.
See: Garda Apulum
AN ABSOLUTE MUST-SEE: the Roman-Catholic Cathedral of Saint Michael, part of the TRANSROMANICA since 2012. It is the most valuable architectural monument of Transylvania, marking the late Romanesque architectural style and representing a great example in this respect for the Eastern Europe.
The construction of the Cathedral began in the 11th century, and later Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements were constantly incorporated. The Romanesque cathedral has an early period marked in the floor of the present-day cathedral, where you can find the most ancient Romanesque sculptural element in Romania, Maiestas Domini, but also late Romanesque periods, realised during the second phase of the 13th century, with a rich ornamental repertoire. What you will find inside is peace and quiet. On the other hand and on the other side of the cathedral walls, outside, just in front of the monumental cathedral, you’ll be impressed by unique moments of living history: each day, at 12 o’clock, near the cathedral there is the changing of the guard ceremony, and each Friday a reenactment activity with Roman and Dacian soldiers.
OTHER PLACES TO MAKE PLACE IN YOUR HEART FOR: A real Romanian landmark, the biggest Vauban Citadel in Romania and Easter Europe, Alba Carolina with all ist 7 gates, the Coronation Cathedral, the Principia Roman Museum, the Route of the 3 Fortifications, the National Union Museum, the Batthyaneum Library with its Codex Aureus, the Union Hall and lots more.
IF TIME IS ON YOUR SIDE: You can also take a two-days-tour around Alba Iulia, to discover other places where the Romanesque history is at home: the Romanic citadels of Calnic and Coltesti, the Gravilor Citadel in Garbova, all of them in Alba County (less than 50 km away from Alba Iulia). The Citadel of Deva, in the neighbouring county, Hunedoara might also be a point of interest, as well as a lot of fortified churches, all around Transylvania, each of them unique in its own way. And that’s just a very small part of what Transromanic Romania has to show you and to share with you. Discover the rest by yourself, you’ll be truly amazed!
THE BEST TIME TO COME: Anytime. Because the history isn’t less interesting and impressive in winter than in summer, in spring than in autumn. Yet the perfect time to come is in the tourist season, between the end of April and end of September. This way, you are sure you won’t miss some of the most spectacular and stunning historical reenactment shows you’ve ever seen; moments that will take you out of the history books and let you see and live history right in front of you. During the tourist season, every Friday afternoon, the Roman soldiers, the gladiators and the dancing nymphs are ready to take you on an incredible trip, two thousand years back in time.
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