THE WALLS OF THE ORADEA FORTRESS – CRAISORUL BASTION

Live a fascinating medieval experience, discovering the Fortress in the heart of Oradea! Through the historical past, the unique architectural landscape, but also through the legends woven around some events that marked its existence, the Fortress offers you valuable information in the fields of history, astronomy, culture and art.

Oradea Fortress is among the most notable medieval architectural monuments in Transylvania. Its attractiveness is also due to its pentagonal shape with 5 bastions located at the corners: the Golden Bastion, the Red Bastion, the Crăișorul Bastion, the Bethlen Bastion and the Ciunt Bastion. Their role was to ensure the protection of the two access gates from the east and west. Around the fortification was a defensive moat filled with thermal water that never froze.

The Crăişorul bastion, built between 1569 and 1570 according to the project of Giulio Cesare Baldigara, was located in front of the southern gate of the medieval fortress, the gate that provided direct access to the episcopal palace. Its name evokes its patron: Prince John Sigismund, son of King John Zápolya.

Each conqueror renamed the bastions of the fortress, so that in 1660 the Ottomans named it Juram Tabiesi, and the Austrians gave it the name Saint Teresa in 1692.

A walk in the Fortress will reveal unique aspects of its history!

The story of the place

Through the ages, the Oradea Fortress served as a residence for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oradea (1092-1557), then being a military fortress (1557-1857).

Following the sanctification in 1192 of the founder of the fortress as Saint Ladislaus the Great, the cathedral within its premises became a place of regional pilgrimage, then European, after, Pope Boniface IX raised it to the rank of basilica maior on August 25, 1401, like the cathedrals San Marco in Venice and Santa Maria Portiuncula in Assisi.

In the 15th century, Oradea Fortress was one of the most important European centers of Humanism and the Renaissance. One of the first astronomical observatories of medieval Europe also operated here, which established the "zero" meridian of maps in Oradea, for two centuries.

Architectural features

Following the restoration and expansion works of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Oradea Fortress becomes an Italian bastion-type fortification, with wedge-type bastions at the corners. It is one of the few bastion fortresses in Romania!

The Crăișor bastion has the lower wall inclined at 24 degrees from the vertical, being covered with a facing of shaped stone. The blocks arranged in 15 horizontal assizes have a height between 34 and 39 cm, an average width between 30 and 40 cm and a depth between 55 and 65 cm.

During the siege of 1598, the bastion was destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder stored in a space inside, causing a displacement of its outer peak by about 1.5 - 2 meters.

Unique experiences

Oradea Fortress comes to life in a charming way during the events it hosts, the most representative being the Medieval Festival, organized annually at the beginning of July.

In the Fortress you can visit the Oradea City Museum, two art galleries (Reperaj and Transylvania Art Gallery), traditional ceramic, weaving, leather and wood craft workshops, as well as a sensational ambient perfumery workshop.

The fortress is also known as a gastronomic destination. Several top restaurants welcome you here with delicious dishes.