After the grey clouds and unfriendly wind made us hit the road back home from the The Lakes of Mândra, we decided to choose the detour home for one last stop of the day.
Visiting citadels and especially the fortresses from Transylvania is not a foreign journey for us since we've seen a lot of them, but somehow we missed the one from Slimnic which is going to impress you with both its story and the way it looks after seven centuries since it was built.
However, as soon as we arrived at the fortress we forgot about the grey sky, the powerful wind, the traffic noise and people, because even though Slimnic Citadel is located quite in the heart of a village, it manages to leave behind everything you could see and hear so far and pass through an imaginary portal that places you in the 14th century.
A century that wrote a big part of Romania and Transylvania's history due to all the events that occurred back then that left only ruins everywhere behind, but which are full of stories and feelings to be shared with the people who make their first steps on the little gate.
Thus being said, after 10 minutes of driving away from our previous discovery, and another 10 minutes walking all the way up to the fortress, we got to face a huge broken stone wall that makes the connection between the ground and the sky, between present and past and between modern and ancient times, which is the real proof how tiny you are in front of everything.
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Slimnic Citadel represents a whole complex where you will get lost through the fortified convention hall, imposing towers, gates, chapel, annexes and bastions which started taking birth at the beginning of the 14th century and began appearing on the list of historical monuments only in 2010.
However, the first documentary mention was published in 1282 when the tiny village was located at the northern border with some of the Transylvanian territories assigned to the Saxons in the Middle Ages which could ensure the protection for Sibiu which is the main city of Transylvania.
Initially built with the main purpose to serve as a fortress of refuge, the citadel became the principal target to various attacks, invasions and attempts of destroying it because its placement made it able to protect both Sibiu and Medias, but also the road which was making the connection between the two that was one of the most important ones back on those times.
Being located on the plateau of a hill at the southeast side of the village, the citadel slowly became the symbol of Transylvania and caught more attention than it was supposed to which brought the first problems just two centuries later when a big part of it was destroyed by the Tatar invasion.
In 1717, the citadel enjoyed the first series of reconstructions which brought a big upgrade to its protection level, with a bell tower that was used by both the priest but also to announce invasions, and more firearms that represented a completely new thing for the 17th century.
Unfortunately, just 2 years later, everything was interrupted due to the plague epidemics which was going to break the world apart.
The whole activity was resumed in the 19th century when the citadel became a shelter for the source of raw materials that contributed to building various constructions for the community.
Even though the main material used for building the walls of the citadel was represented by the brick which protected the two courtyards with an impressive thickness of 3,5 meters, one of the walls was completely destroyed in the 18th century by the Kuruc people during the Rákóczi's Uprising which was the first significant war of the Kingdom of Hungary.
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Since not all the walls were upgraded with ramparts, guard roads or throwing holes, they became the main target to be destroyed and make the enemies get better access to enter the citadel. Unfortunately, even though Slimnic Citadel had a completely different purpose, having in plan to also build up a gothic hall church for the locals, everything was abandoned using all the bricks to strengthen the fortress walls which were gathering more and more enemies with each passing day.
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Since the reconstruction of the fortress kept being interrupted over and over again, Slimnic Citadel couldn't be considered as a finished building with a real leader and made it be conquered by the army of a voivode of Transylvania which took advance of its statute and impaled many locals that were hanged on the walls of the fortress to make the others get scared and stay away from it.
But just like some genuine warriors, the locals didn't stop fighting and actually enjoyed the first support offered by Sibiu which helped them regain the citadel which was followed by another series of battles, fires and invasions by the community of rebels.
Unfortunately, Slimnic Citadel haven't really enjoyed any moment of break since it was exhausted almost daily by either different invasions and attacks or by the renovations which were nearly for nothing, until 1855 when it wasn't representing a danger anymore because the walls began to give in and collapse on their own.
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Thus, many centuries later, in 2021, we finally got to make our first steps inside of the citadel which made me feel like I was seeing a part of the famous Colosseum from Rome, Italy, due to the south wall of the main part of the fortress composed from arches with ogival windows.
Even though most of the fortification's parts are represented by ruins, the whole charm of the citadel is increased when you discover it on top of a hill that is standing still, alone, embraced only by the light of the moon and the dark legends created by the passage of years that make the stone walls give the feeling of being able to dominate forever.
Nevertheless, there is this legend that says that there was a witcher who had three beautiful daughters who were very skilled in witchcraft even since they were kids, but time had passed and the moment to get married arrived.
The girls got courted by three princes that promised to build for each of them an outstanding castle in the shortest time possible.
The oldest daughter picked the highest peak of the mountain from Tălmaciu where the castle was built in a single day, the middle girl chose Slimnic where the citadel was built in three weeks, while the youngest daughter picked the lowest mountain that remained from Cisnădioara saying that she will never be able to do anything in life alone without the help of the God whom she has trust in that will build a castle and a church on the mountain picked.
Since the youngest daughter was the shyest and most faithful between the three sisters while the other two were very proud and rude, there is no wonder that both the fortress from Tălmaciu and Slimnic were exhausted by many invasions and attacks which only left ruins behind, while the citadel from Cisnădioara is considered one of the most beautiful and well maintained such building from Romania.
However, all these stories bring a completely different mood when they are shared by Mr. Weidenfelder who is one of the very few Saxons that are still living in Slimnic and who is taking care of the fortress by living in one of the tiny rooms inside the citadel.
Many tourists are passing by, without even realizing that the man built an entire home place from the imposing building, growing chickens behind one of the main walls, as well as rabbits right into the walls of the secular fortification, next to a room called Camera împăcării (The Reconciliation Chamber) that reminded me of the one discovered on the Fortified Church of Biertan.
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Anyway, even though the citadel is a large ensemble of military architecture that attracted many troubles, the single tower which survived without suffering too much damage during the invasions, is the bell tower composed of three levels, the first one representing a gothic chapel where the priest is still living. And just like we are used to see people paying attention to the most imposing parts of a building, forgetting about the little, but significant ones, the bell tower was sheltering one of the most precious bells in the world that was widowed during the World War I.
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What really impressed me was to find out that even though we are talking about a building that is part of the 14th century, the citadel was adapted to the current times, hosting theatre shows during the summer, as well as weddings, but also let tourists set their tents between the imposing walls of the fortress and spend the night in a very important historical monument for both Romania and Transylvania.
Unfortunately, during the winter the citadel is very few visited to at all, while the summer gathers more tourists together who are enjoying the view offered from all four angles of the bell tower from where you can admire the modest village with beautifully lined houses smouldering in silence.
However, since every citadel has an administrator who dedicates himself to maintain the place so more people will get to see it, as I previously said, the one from Slimnic Citadel also lives there and you can easily feel like you are visiting someone instead of some ruins.
But in order to help the man take care of the construction as long as possible, there is a small fee of 3 RON (0,61 EUR) needed to be paid by every tourist, who can visit the ruins full of history anytime between 10 AM and 7 PM.
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Slimnic Citadel is on the road between Sibiu to Medias, and it can be reached by either car or bike by following the next round-trip: Sibiu - Sura Mica - Ocna Sibiului - Slimnic - Sura Mare - Sibiu.
However, the fortress is located just 10 km away from Sibiu and it can easily be included into a one day journey, having lots of interesting locations nearby that are waiting for new tourists to plot their vacation.
For us, the day ended smoothly somewhere at 4 PM after we got to explore five different locations from Transylvania, each one of them with its own history and impressive things that found a special place into our hearts, but which also added another brick to the wall of knowledge we created by visiting all the corners of our home country, Romania.
The citadel, not only made us feel haunted by the dark and painful events that took place between the walls of the construction but also brought some more colours into a cloudy and cold day of later winter, through the many beautiful flowers that are adding a crisp look to the historical monument, the freshly mowed green grass, as well as traditional vessels displayed everywhere that offer a very friendly and clean feeling for anyone that passes by.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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That is quite the fortress there. I like to imagine what it would be like to live in an impenetrable castle with exquisite features.
You and your sis are so alike in photographs. I’m sure personalities differ quite a bit however.
Great photographs! Keep exploring!!
I'd like to live for a while in such a place too! I'm sure there are cool stories to be shared every single day 😀
Also yep, me and my sister are twins, but we are very different talking about personalities, passions, preferences and more ☺️
Thanks for stopping by and take care! 🤗
It does have a Colosseum vibe to it. The legend of the girls was fun to read.
The legends always make the place more interesting to be explored ☺️
WOW, it is truly amazing!'
I noticed the same people at the back, that must be your family?
Yep, that's right! My journeys are a "family business" and I can't see myself on a trip without them! 🤗
So much history in that place! Thanks for another wonderful report, Gabriela! 😎
Yep, yep, thanks for stopping by!
#posh
Your post is reblogged and upvoted by me. It is a good post. Thank you @gabrielatravels
Thanks for your support!
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Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1172.
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Oke! You are my personal guide from now on! Beautiful!
Thanks!