The castle is located in the South-Western part of Transylvania, in the town of Hunedoara, in the county of the same name and the story of the Corvin Castle (also known as the Hunyadi Castle) begins 600 years ago when, in 1409, the noble Voicu (Voyk), together with his brothers, Radu and Mogoș, received from the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxembourg an estate that also included a royal citadel.
The royal fortress was a stone-built fortification, ellipsoidal, oriented North-South, with 2m thick walls made of dolomite limestone and river stone from nearby quarries and waters.
The son of the noble Voicu, Ioan (John) of Hunedoara (also known as John Hunyadi or John Corvin) decided in 1440 to turn the fortress on the Sânpetru Hill into an imposing castle with an architecture that made it look like an indestructible fortress in the face of enemy attacks.
Although Ioan of Hunedoara only lived for a short time in the castle, being almost his entire life in military campaigns, he wanted to give it a look that would reflect his own personality.
In the following years, new walls were built, flanked by seven circular and rectangular towers, as well as interior spaces, the works being completed in 1446. These works can be admired today, such as the Scepter Tower (the painted tower) The Capistrano Tower, the Empty Tower (or the Turn of the Lily) and the Tower of the Drummers (both are circular towers), as well as the Old Gate Tower, the Tower of the West Gate and the Tower of the East Gate (these are rectangular towers).
The second stage of construction dates back to 1480 when the Chapel, the Administrative Palace, the Great Palace and Loggia Matia were built. If for the first buildings the Gothic style is used, the loggia is one of the first Renaissance-style buildings in Transylvania.
The Great Palace, located on the Western side of the castle, has two impressive halls arranged one above the other. The ground floor, called the Knights Hall, is divided by a row of octagonal columns of red marble. This was the dining room for festive occasions. Above is the Diet Hall, the place where all the members of the Diet of Transylvania gathered, debated and took decisions. Access to this room is by a spiral staircase with the Corvin family coat of arms on its portal.
Inside the castle you can discover the artillery terrace, a military construction made in the seventeenth century in the time of Prince Gabriel Bethlen.
On 13 April 1854, during a thunderstorm, a lightning caused a fiery fire. The flames turned into ashes the shingles roof, the beams, the wooden stairs, the ceilings and devastated almost the entire castle, the only wooden door that had not been affected was that of the nearly 500-year-old prison. For almost 10 years, the castle was abandoned, but then it underwent the most extensive restoration process, nearly 40 years old.
Today, the Corvin Castle is one of the most important points on the map for tourists coming to Romania, attracted by the history of the knights’ era, and who will now be able to experience a trip back to those times during their visit to the castle.
Romania Color is ready to accompany you when you decide to visit the Corvin Castle
