Huniazi Castle Hunedoara Romania

The uniqueness of the monument in Hunedoara consists in the representativeness of the military 15th century architecture in southeastern Europe.

Hunedoara Castle, also known as the Huniazi Castle, is built on a strategic position, on a rocky cliff at the exit of Zlasti river from a small defile from Poiana Rusca Mountains.
It's construction began in the XIV century, over a royal castrum, also built over the remains of an old roman stockade. A 1399 document reminds of a royal castrum and a castellan of Hunedoara. The castrum has been given in 1409 by the king of Hungary, Sigismund, to the noble Voicu and his family. From that period are an inside wall and a triangular bastion.
The initial core was designed by Voicu's son, Iancu de Hunedoara and his wife, Elisabeta Szilaghi.
Later, Matei Corvin, Iancu's son, transformed the castle into a luxurious nobiliar residence. He built the "Matei Wing", with a loggia that has renaissance elements. In 1618, Gabriel Bethlen, the prince of Transylvania, initiated a new work phase, building, among others, the "Bethlen Wing".
The castle's bailey holds a 30 m deep fountain, dug by Turkish prisoners, with the promise of release if they find water. A Turkish inscription is on the wall: "You have water, but no soul".
In the north-west there is the "bear's trench", where the wild animals were kept, and the ammo bastion, that looks like a terrace in it's upper part. From the terrace there is a wonderful view of the city of Hunedoara and it's surroundings.
A lower scale copy of the castle was built in Budapest during the time when Matei Corvin was king of Hungary.

On the coat of arm of the Corvin family is carved a raven with a golden ring in its beak.
This family symbol has a legend. It is said that Ioan of Hunedoara was the illegitimate son of king Sigismund of Luxemburg of Hungary and his mother was Elisabeta, a very beautiful woman from the Hateg region. In order not to dishonor her, the king married Elisabeta to one of his knights, Voicu. Sigismund also gave her a ring, as a gift for the unborn child, which will help him to be recognized when he will go to the royal court.
During a trip of the family, when they halted for lunch, the ring was forgotten on a side of the towel were the food was placed. A raven, attracted by the shining of the ring stole it.
Ioan of Hunedoara takes a bow, strokes the raven down and gets his ring back. When Ioan grew up and got to the royal court tells this story and the king, impressed by it, decides that the family's symbol shall be the raven with a golden ring in its beak.
Moreover, the Corvins' Family name comes from the Latin word "Corvus" which means "Raven".

The Corvins' Castle was a host and a subject for many prestigious cinema productions (artistic movies, documentary movies or advertising spots), here being filmed famous moments of the Romanian or Universal History ("François Villon", "Vlad Tepes", "Mihai Viteazul", "Alexandru Lapuoneanu", "Michelangelo Buonarotti", "The Damned Kings", "Vlad", "Jacqou le Croquat", "Blood Rayne", "Martin Luther", "Henry the 8th"). read more...

Huniazi Castle Info

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