Corvin Castle
Castelul Corvinilor
Interesting facts
- According to legend, the 28-metre courtyard well was dug over 15 years by three Turkish prisoners promised freedom, who were never released once they struck water.
- A fire in April 1854 swept through the entire building, and with earlier blazes it earned the castle the nickname Black Castle.
- Its 19th-century rebuilding was continued by Imre Steindl, architect of the Hungarian Parliament, who aimed to renew the castle rather than faithfully restore it.
- According to legend, a raven snatched a ring given by King Sigismund to the infant John Hunyadi, and the bird with the ring became the family's emblem.
- The castle is reached by a long bridge carried on five tall piers rising from the bottom of the valley.
- The year 1480, carved in stone above the main gate, marks the end of building under Matthias Corvinus.
- In 1817 Emperor Francis I stayed three days and gave 30,000 guilders for repairs, but soon after the work ended lightning struck the chapel.
- The Capistrano Tower is named after John of Capistrano, the Franciscan preacher who fought beside Hunyadi at Belgrade in 1456 and lodged in the castle.
- After 1724 the state treasury used the castle as a mining office and a store for iron.
- Its double walls flanked by both round and rectangular towers were an innovation in the Transylvanian architecture of the time.
Why it is worth it
Corvin Castle is the Transylvanian castle of the imagination made real: a steep-roofed Gothic fortress on a limestone crag, raised on a rock above the Zlaști stream. It is one of the largest medieval castles in Romania still standing, and a building that served both as a stronghold and a lordly residence. It stands in the south-western part of Hunedoara, long an iron-working town.
In 1409 King Sigismund of Luxembourg granted the royal estate of Hunedoara, with an existing fortification, to Voicu (Vajk), a knight at his court. His son John Hunyadi – voivode of Transylvania, regent of Hungary from 1446 and the most celebrated general of his age against the Ottomans – rebuilt the old keep into the family's seat from the 1440s. The core of the castle, including the Knights' Hall and the Diet Hall with their rib vaults, the defensive towers and the keep named Nebojša ('fear not'), dates from his time. After Hunyadi's death in 1456 his son Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, continued the work from 1458 with a new wing; in the Matthias wing a painting illustrates the legend of the raven (corvus) with a ring that gave the family its name. In the early 17th century Prince Gabriel Bethlen added a new palace facing the town, and the White and Artillery towers.
Later centuries were less kind: from 1724 the castle belonged to the state treasury, fires and neglect took their toll, and what you see now is the result of heavy 19th- and 20th-century restorations that some critics consider more romantic than accurate. It is nonetheless a remarkable interior to walk through – the halls, the circular stair, the towers once used as prisons, and the Diet Hall's painted medallions of Wallachian and Moldavian rulers. Guides tell visitors that Vlad the Impaler was held here, but there is no firm evidence of that; it seems he visited his ally Matthias. The castle has doubled as a film set, including for The Nun and the 2024 Nosferatu.
Getting there
The castle is at the edge of central Hunedoara, less than a kilometre from the town centre. The nearest airport is Sibiu (SBZ), about 94 km away; Timișoara (TSR) at about 120 km and Cluj-Napoca (CLJ) at about 130 km have more international flights.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Corvin Castle, also known as Hunyadi Castle or Hunedoara Castle, is a Gothic-Renaissance castle in Hunedoara, current-day Romania. It is considered one of the largest castles in Europe and is one of the Seven Wonders of Romania.
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