Cetatea Rupea

History

Rupea sits on a basalt outcrop that's been settled since the Paleolithic, but the fortress itself is first documented in 1324, when Transylvanian Saxons built a refuge castle here to shelter the town below during raids. Over the following centuries they expanded it into a spiral, three-tiered stronghold with its own well, granaries, and chapel — built to hold out through a long siege. It fell into serious disrepair under Communist rule, when its basalt was even eyed for quarrying, before a 2010–2013 restoration funded by the EU brought it back from near-ruin. It reopened to the public in June 2013 and now draws over 150,000 visitors a year.