P h o t o g e o g r a p h y

Citadel of Visegrád.  Visegrád is a small town north of Budapest, located on the right bank of the Danube. Visegrád is famous for the remains of the Early Renaissance summer palace of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and the medieval citadel. The name Visegrád (Vyšehrad) is of Slavic origin, meaning acropolis, literary " the upper castle " or " the upper settlement ". The castle of Visegrád is called Fellegvár in Hungarian, with the literal meaning " cloud castle ". Citadel (Upper Castle), Salomon Tower (Lower Castle) and Royal Palace The town is famous also as the primary meeting place of the Visegrad Group - an alliance of four Central European states – Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of furthering their European integration, as well as for advancing military, economic and energy cooperation with one another. Lower Castle The name refers to the tradition of meetings of kings of Hungary, Bohemia an...

Făgăraș is a small but very old city near Brașov in Romania’s Transylvania region. The town is beautifully situated between the Fagaras Mountains (Transylvanian Alps) in the South, and the Olt River, in the North. The city boasts one of the finest Renaissance castles in the country. The First document about the settlement from Făgăraș dates back to the year 1291. At that time was there a wooden fort, surrounded by a moat and wave of land. The fort was burned by the Tartars in 1241. In the 14th century on the same site, the castle was erected from stones. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the castle was enlarged since this was an important place from which to defend the southern border of the former Hungarian kingdom. In that times it was considered one of the strongest fortifications in Transylvania. The fortress was surrounded by a deep moat which, in times of war, could easily be filled with water from a nearby river. A bridge over the moat provided the only access po...

Rupea Fortress is one of the most interesting medieval castles in Transylvania, Romania. The name of the citadel comes from Latin rupes meaning " stone ". Guarded by thick strong walls, the impressive and huge fortress is located on top of of 120 m-high basalt massive and it is perfectly visible from the scenic road Sighisoara-Brasov. It is a refuge castle, also known as a peasant citadel with four areas reinforced with polygonal towers, two interior courtyards and three defence towers. Rupea Citadel has the form of an ascending spiral (snail shell). The castle is built on four premises: Upper citadel, Middle citadel and Lower citadel. Rupea Citadel is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Romania, the first signs of human settlements dating from the Paleolithic and early Neolithic. There was a fortified city in the Dacian time. According to the legend - Decebal, the last Dacian King, took his life on the hill. He cut his throat with a single move of his ...

Among the most scenic and impressive landmarks in the Transylvania (in Romania) are refuge castles, also known as peasants castles. These are a castles, that were not permanently occupied but were acts as a temporary retreat for the local population when threatened by war or attack. One of the most impressive castle is located in a town of Râșnov in the immediate vicinity of Brașov. Rasnov Fortress (also known as Râșnov Citadel) is located on a rocky hilltop in the Carpathian Mountains, about 200 meters above the town of Râșnov. From the walls of the castle offers a beautiful view of the Bucegi Mountains and Piatra Craiului Mountains. The citadel was built in 14th century by Teutonic Knights as part of a defence system for the Transylvanian villages exposed to outside invasions and was later enlarged by the local population. Strategically located on the commercial route linking the provinces of Transylvania and Walachia, Râșnov differs from other fortresses in that ...