Visit Corvin Castle in Romania & See Its Interior

Corvin Castle is a beautiful fairytale castle in the Transylvania region of Romania. It is one of many great Romanian Castles that you can visit. After a few trips to Romania, I really needed to visit one of the stunning castles in Romania. Corvins’ Castle was to be the first of many.

Corvin Castle in Hunedoara Romania

Corvin Castle

They also call Corvin Castle as Hunyadi Castle and Hunedoara Castle. In Romanian they call it Castelul Corvinilor. It is a Gothic-Renaissance castle and is one of the largest castles in the whole of Europe. They started building the castle during the 15th century. They completed the first phase between 1440 and 1446. The second phase was towards the end of the 15th century, between 1458 and 1480. They made other additions in the 17th and 19th centuries.

Visit Corvin Castle in Romania

The castle is on a rock above the Zlaști River, which makes up part of the moat. Corvin Castle is a large and imposing structure with tall towers, bastions, an inner courtyard. It has diversely coloured roofs and a myriad of windows and balconies adorned with stone carvings.

Main Courtyard of Corvin Castle

It is a special place and has a place in the Seven Wonders of Romania. I hope eventually to see all the seven wonders at some point.

Tours

Views From Castle

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An easy way to visit Corvin Castle in Romania is to join a tour. There are various options for tours on GetYourGuide. There are various options with different start points, including trips from Brasov, Sibiu and Cluj Napoca. They also provide compete tours of the country, including various castles.

Things To See At Corvin Castle in Romania

The entire site of Corvin Castle is a lovely place to explore with interesting medieval architecture. There are also some fascinating exhibits to inside see too. The interior of the castle has many parts, including fortifications, a chapel, and grand halls.

The Bridge Over The Moat

Corvin Castle Romania

I entered Corvin Castle across the bridge and through the main entrance. The stone/wood bridge across the moat was a great place to take photos of the building, and if I was that way inclined, great for selfies.

View From Bridge

The river that forms part of the moat run under this bridge and was lovely to admire from above.

Torture In Transylvania Exhibition In The Dungeon

I entered through the main entrance and had a look around the gate rather than heading to the main courtyard. Something drew me to the side rooms. This led me down some stone stairs and into a dungeon that they used in the past as a torture chamber. The dungeon had fascinating exhibits of torture devices and methods used in the castle’s history.

Torture at Corvin Castle

Each torture device had English descriptions of the torture method, and what crimes they these methods as punishment for. All very brutal and fascinating, the exhibition mainly focused on methods used in the 14th to 17th century. The archive had many artefacts showing the torture methods. Some exhibits had lifelike figures enduring their punishments.

Torture Corvin Castle

On exiting the dungeon, it was back through the main courtyard and further into the castle and then up the stairs.

The Castle Chapel An Interesting Part of The Interior

Chapel with red carpet

The Chapel was the first signposted room in the building which visitors can view from above. This chapel seemed an intimate place of worship, which was quite small, with a red carpet up the middle.

Castle Chapel

The room had some nice stained glass windows. Corvin Castle chapel has one small nave and Artex separated by 2 columns. The patron saint of this chapel was St John the Baptist, and they built it in a Gothic style.

The Matia Wing and The Golden Room

Matia Wing Bedroom

The Matia wing is on the north side of the fortress and includes the Golden Room, a bedroom built for King Matia. This wing has two balconies, one overlooking the main inner courtyard that was a great place to snap a photo. The wing included some preserved artwork and furniture, and the golden room has a nice looking four-poster bed.

The Princesses’ Room

The Princesses' room at Corvin Castle

The Princesses’ room is also in the Matia wing, originally part of the castle defences and called the north-west tower. It developed to become the princesses’ room, a living room for the ladies of the castle with a boudoir on the southern part. The ceilings are wooden and built in a Neo-Gothic style, making the place look very artistic and special.

The Council Hall A Grand Part Of The Interior Castle

The Council Hall

Next was to enter the rather grand Council Hall, a sizeable room used for ceremonial purposes. This room was special and had fantastic ceilings, furniture, and artwork on the walls.

Council Hall at Corvin Castle

I can imagine some serious banqueting happening here in the past. The hall has a row of up the centre. To the west of the columns is a renaissance gallery.

The Solitary Tower

At the southern part of the castle, you can see the solitary tower. They built this in Ioan of Hunedoara’s first stage of construction. The Solitary tower has two defence levels: the gunman’s room and the embattled level. Fire damaged this circular tower in 1854, but they restored it during the 20th century.

Turrets Transylvania

The tower has some fantastic views through arrow slits and other windows of the entire castle. This included viewing the main bridge in and the surrounding area. Heading down the tower stairs led to the Administrative palace, then on to the courtyard level where the smithy was located.

The Smithy – Blacksmith

The Smithy

A forge that was first mentioned in the 15th century and on the ground floor of the administrative wing. The blacksmiths of the time had a close relationship with the knights of the era and worked together to create the perfect weapons, including swords.

They considered the blacksmith an important part of society because of their ability to create valuable and useful items. Currently on display are many tools and bellows used by the smithy and was fascinating to see.

Corvin Castle Courtyard

The Courtyard of Corvin Castle

From the smithy I entered the main courtyard of Corvin Castle, which is a very nice area and gives access to all parts of the castle. It has balconies overlooking the goings-on.

Hunting & Castle Construction Exhibitions

Lynx Fur

Off the courtyard were some rooms on a balcony type walkway. This included a hunting room with wall-mounted heads, skulls and furs, including lynx and wolf.

Medieval Stone

They dedicated another neighbouring room to the stone used in the construction of the buildings.

The Knights Hall A Fascinating Area Inside The Castle

Knight

Opposite the courtyard and under Council hall was the main knight’s hall, which contained an exhibition of suits of armour and weapons used.

The Knights Hall at Corvin Castle

This hall had the same style ceilings and pillars as the hall above. This was fascinating seeing the weapons used from forks to swords, and there was also some artwork on display.

The Legend of The Well

The Well

From the courtyard, I exited through an archway to the well, which has a legend attached to it. Basically, the story tells of 3 Turkish prisoners who Ion of Hunedoara promised freedom on completion of the well. It took the prisoners 15 years to complete digging through solid rock to find water.

Unfortunately for the prisoners, Ioan has passed away and his wife decided not to respect her husband’s promise and killed the prisoners. Their last wish was to write on a piece of stone in the well. The prisoners wrote on the stone “You may have water but you have no soul”. The stone is now at home in the chapel.

Fortifications

From the well, I headed along the fortifications of the main castle towards the mace tower. Views were fantastic, including the river, the outer fortifications and the moat in between.

The Mace Tower

The Mace Tower

AKA The Painted tower, The Mace Tower is the tallest tower of the original construction which started in 1440. It only has one defensive level, but its original purpose was as a watchtower.

The mace name comes from the semi-spherical dome shape at the top. In the second half of the 15th century, they covered it with a fresco of rhombs which led to its other name, The Painted Tower.

Where is Corvin Castle in Romania?

On my Interrail trip, I needed a town to visit near to the border. This was while travelling on the Bucharest-Vienna train line. We opted to stay in Deva because of timings of trains to suit travelling with the dog. Corvin Castle was near to Deva and had a good regular minibus service to Hunedoara from the train station.

I arrived in a minibus from Deva at the bus station and walked, using old faithful Google maps, to get to the castle. The route changed many times because of groups of stray dogs taking an interest in my puppy; I carried him and changed the route to avoid any trouble. We arrived using an unconventional route for sure, approaching on dirt roads along the river that formed part of the moat of the castle.

If you want to do it easily, there are tours available on GetYourGuide from many Romanian cities.

Is it Dog Friendly?

Tourist Shops Outer Courtyard

They allowed the dog in the outer courtyard, where there were tourist shops and shops selling refreshments. This had a big grass area, seating overlooking the castle, and what looked like stadium seating facing towards the main building.

The dog could not enter the castle across the bridge, so it was time to take turns exploring or on dog duty. I purchased tickets from the ticket office and established the no camera sign meant no proper cameras, but mobile phones were OK to use. Happy days.

Visitor Information & Tickets

Corvin Castle has two sets of opening times, one for summer and one for winter. The best place to find out about opening times, book tickets and current prices in on the castle’s website.

Is Corvin Castle in Romania Worth Visiting?

Is Corvin Castle Worth Visiting

I had finished my tour of this stunning fairytale castle and had really enjoyed my visit. I recommend a visit to anyone that likes history and architecture. After my exploration, it became my turn to look after the puppy before visiting the Torture museum next door.

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