Alba Iulia

Alba Iulia stands on the Mureș in western Transylvania, where the river and surrounding hills meet routes between the Carpathians and the Hungarian plain. Roman Apulum occupied the site, and the rectangular outline of its legionary fortress continued to shape the later Upper Town. Salt, grain, wine and livestock from the surrounding country supported the settlement.

By the High Middle Ages Alba Iulia was the seat of Transylvania’s Catholic bishopric. Its cathedral, walls and market gave it religious and military importance within the Kingdom of Hungary. Romanian, Hungarian, Saxon and Jewish communities all left traces in the town, although their legal status and influence changed over time.

After the Hungarian kingdom divided in 1526, Alba Iulia became the capital of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. The Principality of Transylvania emerged under the Treaty of Speyer in 1570, and the city remained a princely residence until 1711. Gabriel Bethlen made the court a centre of learning and religious patronage in the early seventeenth century. Habsburg rule brought the star-shaped Alba Carolina fortress between 1716 and 1735. Its bastions enclosed the medieval and Roman core, while Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant institutions continued to compete and coexist. By the end of the period the town had accumulated a Roman camp, bishopric, princely capital and fortified Habsburg city in one compact height.