Today it's time for another adventure, a trip to medieval times in the heart of Transylvania.
For the last few weeks I've been trying to show you this wonderful place, called the medieval fortress, that is situated in the vicinity of the city center of Targu Mures, Romania. It's a 4.3 hectare area, full of brick walls, buildings, a reformed church dating back to as early as the 14th century. If you're interested in my other posts, please scroll down to find the links to them.
Inside the fortress walls, there's a glass building, used as conference room. I find it interesting, kid of like the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris. This glass cupola was built not long ago and has a small terrace next to it.
Imagine attending a conference here, while enjoying looking at the medieval walls, the green trees, while the sun is shining through the glass. And when there's a break, you can enjoy the fresh air sitting on the benches placed next to the cupola.
As I said in my other posts, the fortress is important from historical, cultural and artistic point of view as well. Exhibitions are organized here all the time, graphics, painting, wood carving, you name it. Small music and theater performances are also hosted here but now due to the pandemic, most of these events are on hold.
However, there are a few art pieces exposed here, like this one.
A strange artwork, two iron flags, named Give More Skies To The Flags, by Mircea Cantor.
This board says what it is about, unfortunately the quality of the board is shameful as it's already full of rust and this board is not the only one that is rusty.
While I was enjoying the view and taking photographs, I met this little cat, who most likely was hungry as he was very vocal and instead of running away from me, he came towards me. Unfortunately I didn't have any food in my bag and the nearest grocery story must have been far, so he left hungry. As you can see, he was turning his back on me, which was understandable. Otherwise you don't see cats roaming around in the city. There are a few stray cats, but not herd like elsewhere.
Around the medieval church there were many ruins restored recently. This one for example must have been a building. The foundation is restored and as you can see, there's also a basement which, to my surprise, it was closed at the moment of my visit.
This is the view turning right at the top of the stairs. You can see some restored ruins on the left, some other ruins under the arcades on the right, a bastion and two church towers in the back. On the left, the two green towers belong to the catholic church, that is situated in the city center. The other with cupolas is the orthodox cathedral, that is opposite to the catholic church.
Another interesting detail that I'd like to point out is the holes in the medieval brick wall. Those were of strategic importance, used to fire at the enemy when the fortress was attacked.
More ruins or remains, I don't know how to call these restored things. Standing on top of the stairs, looking at these I tried to imagine what could have been here back in medieval times. Must have been a building but can't figure out the destination.
Under the stairs and little bridge there are more ruins.
This is the most enjoyable part of the ruins. These wooden arcades are something to admire if you're there. I must have been an architecture in my previous life as I love buildings, rocks, stones, bricks and wood, and if all of these can be found in a building, that's even better.
Look at this structure, isn't it amazing?
Unfortunately the inside area is protected, there's a big padlock on the gate, which is understandable. Imagine thousands marching in and out weekly, destroying what's protected in there.
Stay tuned for the next and final episode as I'm going to shw you some interesting things.
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