Lipova

Lipova lies on the Mureș where the river emerges from the hills onto the plain. Known as Lippa in Hungarian, it was an important medieval town and a royal residence during the reign of Charles I. Its position on the route between the Banat and Transylvania made its fortress and market valuable to successive rulers.

The Ottomans conquered Lipova in the sixteenth century, but Transylvanian troops under György Borbély retook it in 1595. For the next two decades it served as an administrative centre for the Arad district, surviving attempts to recapture it. The fortress returned to Ottoman hands in 1616. A covered bazaar in the town recalls the commercial life of the Ottoman period, when Lipova again formed part of the contested frontier along the Mureș.