Transylvania

Area Description

Alba County - Brasov County - Bistrita Nasaud County - Cluj County - Covasna County - Harghita County - Hunedoara County - Mures County - Salaj County - Sibiu County

Other zones : Crisana and Banat - Dobrogea - Maramures - Moldova and Bucovina - Muntenia and Oltenia

     Derived from the Latin word "transilvana", meaning over the forests, the name of Transylvania survived after many gloomy periods throughout centuries.
     Transylvania is situated in the center of Romania, surrounded by the Carpathians.
     At present, Transylvania is divided into 10 counties, which cover 96,837 sq. km.
     Transylvania is the home of a wide diversity of people: Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, Armenians, and Jews etc.
     That is why the architecture in Transylvania is a mosaic of many different styles: Byzantine, Romanian, Gothic and Neo-Gothic, Renaissance, Barocco.
     The peasant and German strongholds and settlement (some of them dating from the 13th century) are the main attractions of the region: Prejmer, Harman, Biertan, Feldioara, Viscri etc.
     The towns of Brasov, Sibiu, Sighisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Bistrita, Sebes and Medias are the landmark of a remarkable history and civilization.
     Middle Age traces are all over the place: murals, towers, bridges, ramparts, narrow streets and squares, strongholds built in the way of the Tartars, the Turks and other plunderers. The 200 fortified churches and Saxon strongholds are unique in Europe. The visitor can become the witness of an apparently lost history !
     Transylvania is also the legendary realm of Bram Stoker's Dracula. The vampire's traces are to be found in Bran, Tihuta pass, Sighisoara.
     But, most of all, we are sure that the traveler will appreciate the spiritual traditions of the Land Over the Forests.