Hunedoara

Hunedoara county in Romania lies în South-Western Transylvania, bordered by Apuseni Mountains (North), Orastie and Surianu Mountains (South- East), Retezat Mountains (South), Poiana Ruscai Mountains (South- West) and crossed by Mures, Rau Mare, Strei, Crisul Alb and Jiu rivers, with large depressions such as Zarand and Hateg. Retezat National Park and other pictoresque regions makes it one of the most beautiful counties in Romania.

Its history begins along with the Dacians, who built a strong defensive system of fortresses in Orastie Mountains, nowadays part of UNESCO World Heritage. After the Roman conquest, the capital of Dacia province was also established here, in Hateg depression, named Colonia Augusta Ulpia Traiana Dacica Sarmizegetusa, last name after the former Dacian capital. After the Romans left Dacia, the first pre-feudal entities apperead: Deva, Strei, Dobra, Hunedoara. After the Hungarian conquest of Transylvania, Hunedoara became a county.

During the Middle Ages, in the town of Hunedoara, the Corvins[?], a powerful Romanian feudal family from Transylvania, part of which is King Mathias of Hungary, founded the most important Gothic style secular building in Romania - The Corvins Castle. Also, in Orastie, one of the first Romanian printed books, Palia, was produced.

The capital of the county is Deva. Other important cities are Hunedoara, Petrosani, Orastie, Hateg and Brad. Petrosani is a very important city in Romania nowadays, being the key town in Jiu Valley, a very delicate Romanian area, due to its numberous unemployed former miners.