Each county of Romania is unique through its local history and legends, as well as through the traditions preserved from long ago.

We invite you to visit all the counties included in Attractive Romania, and for the experience to be complete, we present the stories and customs of each area, so that your trip is unforgettable! 

This time we make a stop in Harghita County. Here you can find no less than 16 objectives included in the route of Saint Ladislaus, castles, curias, Roman castra, fortresses, fortified churches, as well as traditional gastronomy and households with authentic architecture.

Roman Castrum in Sânpaul »

Harghita County hides numerous heritage sites, folk traditions and legends that blend perfectly with the spectacular landscapes of the area. Few know that, although far from the Danube and other areas of interest of the Roman Empire, they built a powerful castrum at Sânpaul, discovered late by archaeologists. The Castrum of Sânpaul is the only important fortification on the upper valley of Homorod Mare. After the conquest of intra-Carpathian Dacia and the pacification of the region, it was very important that the road on the Homorod Mare Valley, which connected Barbaricum (the areas inhabited by barbarians) in eastern Transylvania (the Ciuc Depression) with the interior of the province, was well protected and supervised by the army and the Roman authorities.

A fascinating thing that also happened in Sânpaul, where the traces of Roman structures stretch in the central part of the village under the current buildings and households, is the reuse of building materials in the following eras.

When we go to famous places like Malaga, we see Roman columns on the walls of the Moorish Alcazaba, taken from the theater at the base of the fortification, or how the building that housed the Spanish Inquisition in Barcelona is composed of Jewish tombstones taken from Montjuïc. Similarly, in Sânpaul, in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Era, the ruins of the Roman castrum were used as a stone quarry for the construction of houses or places of worship. For example, on the occasion of the construction of the Unitarian church, a road and numerous shaped stones were discovered in the wall of the old church.

The reformed church in Daia »

Harghita County has numerous churches belonging to various Christian denominations existing in the area, but perhaps one of the most spectacular is the Reformed church in Daia. Did you know that this church, dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, is unique both for its 56- cassette ceiling and for the vaulted upper part of the sanctuary, which is decorated with blue-green frescoes painted between the ribs, in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance?

The Reformed Church is known in academic and art historian circles as one of the churches with the most beautiful painted frescoes, which managed to poetically capture both the beliefs of the community and the historical reality of the period crossed. It is like a painted encyclopedia, willing to reveal its story to those who take the time to study its details. For example, the coat of arms of the Árpádian kings, with white and red stripes, the coat of arms of Sibiu, which features a crown with two crossed swords, the coat of arms of the Saxons, with the three white leaves, as well as the coat of arms with a bison head with a star and crescent of Lénárd Barlabási, vice-voivode of Transylvania, who supported the construction of the sanctuary, as well as the coat of arms of Ulászló Jagelló II, a Polish king who had a Hungarian wife.
Harghita County also hides, in addition to churches of inestimable historical value, castles and mansions, such as the Urmánczy Castle (built by an Armenian family), the Gyárfás Mansion, the Adorjan Imre Mansion or the Mikó Fortress. You can discover all this and much more in the Attractive Romania mobile travel application, part of the cultural tourism program.

The Gyárfás Mansion »