Rising from its own ruins, the Marienburg Fortress rises imposingly in Feldioara, on the banks of the Olt River, only 20 km from Brașov, on the road to Sighișoara. Its restoration, carried out between 2013 and 2017, saved the remains of the walls that had survived the last hundreds of years of abandonment and restored it to its 17th-century appearance. The strategic position, with visibility over a vast area, and the natural advantages have made this place attractive since prehistoric times. The plateau on which the fortress rises has revealed, during archaeological research, vestiges of habitation from the most ancient times – Neolithic, Bronze Age, Dacian and Roman periods, but especially the Middle Ages. First it was an earthen fortress, probably fortified with palisades, as the Hungarian conquerors found it in the first centuries of the second millennium. That is what they called it: “Földvár” (earthen fortress). The German colonists brought by the kings of Hungary and the Teutonic Knights called it “The Fortress of Saint Mary” – Marienburg. We do not know what it was called before, but in the Romanian language the name derived from Hungarian – Feldioara was preserved. In the Middle Ages, Feldioara was one of the most important settlements in the region – a seat of judgment and later a free market, a fact testified by the historical monuments restored today and opened, starting with the Fortress, to those eager to discover them! The medieval settlement was founded by Saxon colonists in the second half of the 12th century, and between 1211 and 1225 Feldioara became the residence of the Teutonic Knights who ruled the Land of Bar. Coming from the east, where they had taken part in the Crusades, the Teutonic Order was installed in the Land of Bar by the Hungarian King Andrew II, who thus intended to stop the incursions of the Cumans. A monastic military order of German origin, the Teutons were renowned for their sobriety and seriousness. Because they mourned for Christians who fell in battles with the Muslims, their heraldic sign was the black cross on a white background.

The oldest stage of construction of the fortress dates back to the 13th century, attributed to the Teutons. Over the centuries, the fortress suffered successive destruction and reconstruction, losing its military role at some point and becoming a place for storing food and organizing various events of the Saxon community. FELDIOARA FORTRESS is a national historical monument class A (LMI code BV-II-a-A-11695), being among the most important medieval Saxon fortifications in Southern Transylvania. The restoration project began in 2012, the year in which the feasibility and design studies of the works were drawn up. The restoration works were financed by the Braşov County Council and carried out by SC Euras SRL, Satu Mare. The enclosure walls and the four towers (north, south, east, west), as well as the Zwinger protective wall, were restored. The original fortifications, from the time of the Teutonic Knights, were preserved in their entirety. By marking at ground level, the remains of the chapel and the Cistercian monastery were highlighted in the inner courtyard. The fountain was rebuilt and a lookout area over Țări Bârsei, located on the guard wall, was arranged. Substructures, injections and consolidation works were carried out in parallel with other forms of conservation for the old masonry. The reconstruction followed using wood and brick – custom-made at the factory in Sighișoara on the model of the one from which the walls of the Fortress had been built, stone and ceramic tile coverings. Overall, the project aimed to bring the form that the fortress had in the 17th century, when the fortress was plastered, into the present.

Feldioara commune, Brașov county, ethnographic region Țara Bârsei (German Burzenland), is a fortress built in the 13th century, being the most important fortification erected by the Teutonic Knights in Transylvania. The fortress is a historical monument, code LMI BV-II-a-A-11695. The fortress was a ruin until 2013. It was partially restored, but later completely, between 2013 and 2017. The town On the left bank of the Olt River is the village of Feldioara, 17 km north of the city of Brașov. According to archaeological research, the territory has been inhabited since the Neolithic, passing through the Bronze Age and that of Roman domination, which left important sites of ceramics, glassware or gold objects, as well as a treasure composed of 21 Roman coins. The discovery of five gold ingots dated between 402 and 408 led to the hypothesis that they were used as tribute to the migratory populations of that time, probably the Huns. The name of the locality in Hungarian is Föld-Vár, meaning earth fortress, and in German Marienburg meaning Mary's Fortress. The Virgin Mary was the patron saint of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, the fortress of Feldioara being the most important fortification built by them in the Land of Bârsa. The construction of this fortress took place as a result of the granting to the Teutonic Knights, by Andrew II, of the right to settle in this area and populate the "terra deserta et inhabitata"[4] in order to defend the territories of the Hungarian crown from the frequent incursions of the Cumans. The controversial term "inhabitata" leads to the idea of ​​a deserted and uninhabited territory, an idea contradicted by archaeological evidence confirming the existence of a Saxon cemetery in the locality that has been dated back to the mid-12th century, a period known to be the first wave of Saxon colonization in Transylvania.

As a result, the Teutons settled in Terra Borza (Bârsa Land), initially having only the right to erect wooden and earthen fortifications. As such fortifications were already a thing of the past in Western Europe and as they probably built the fortification directly from stone, Andrew II granted the Teutonic Order the right to build castra et urbes lapideas (stone fortresses and cities) in 1222. As the knights extended their controlled territories as far as Brodnica Land to the north and made incursions southwards towards the Danube, the King of Hungary, concerned about the possibility of creating a state within a state, entered with his armies in 1225 and expelled them from Bârsa Land. A papal act mentions that the Teutons built "cum multa labore... quinnquie castra fortia" ("with much toil... five mighty fortresses").

One of the fortresses built by the Teutonic Knights, after their departure, was called Sanctae Mariae and was built on a hill at Feldioara, surrounded on three sides by the Homorod River. The experience of the Teutonic Knights as builders, accumulated in the Holy Land and in Asia Minor, brought to the Transylvanian lands construction techniques and solutions found in the great Crusader castles of Tyr (in English Lordship of Tyre), Crac des Chevaliers and Ascalon. Of the old Teutonic fortress, only a remnant of a stone wall in the north-west part is preserved today. This wall proved to be completely different from the rest of the ensemble in terms of construction technique. Large boulders were placed at its base, on top of which a wall of boulders bound with good quality mortar was erected. According to topographic data, it seems that the fortress was surrounded by a new enclosure, the second one, inside which there was a chapel, a "Knight's House" and an infirmary, the knight's house playing the role of a refectory on the ground floor, a dining room, a storeroom on the first floor, and a bedroom on the top floor. During the Tatar incursions in 1241, both the chapel and the other buildings were destroyed. On the ruins of the fortification, the Cistercians who controlled the locality by an order given by Bela IV, built the current church. The Romanesque chapel of the Teutonic Knights is probably incorporated into the Gothic choir and the ruins of the Knight's House which are part of the foundations of the basilica body.

At the ruins of the fortress that can be seen today on the hill, barely visible traces of the presence of the Teutonic Knights remain. The towers and curtains from the beginning were probably built by the Saxon community that remained after their departure, but the exact period cannot be specified. After the great Tatar invasion that brought great damage to Transylvania, there was a real effervescence in the construction and erection of new fortifications. As the fortress of Feldioara was practically destroyed, the locals rebuilt it with an oval enclosure, following the shape of the plateau, making its entrance from the south, erecting defense towers, today only the western one can be seen. The towers were provided with levels separated by platforms, communicating through wooden stairs. The eastern tower is assumed to have also been provided with platforms but had a semi-cylindrical vault. Of the southern tower, only the elements at the base are preserved. The curtain is 6 to 7 meters high, halfway up you can see the holes where the beams of the consoles supporting the guard road were fixed. In the southern part, there are also masiculi, and in the western part of the curtain there is a well with a depth of about 70 meters. A reconstruction of the fortification may have been made after 1420, a fact determined by the existence of a document from 1439 that mentions that the inhabitants of Feldioara fortified a "castrum" in order to defend their property. Thus, during the time of Sigismund of Luxembourg, the fortress of Feldioara was a peasant one and the locality received the right, thanks to it, to be a city.

The fortress was destroyed in 1430 by the Turks and by Vlad the Impaler in the campaign of 1457, with the inhabitants rebuilding it the same year. The southern enclosure wall was probably destroyed after the Battle of Feldioara by Petru Rareș's troops through the vornic Nicoară Grozav. The year 1657 is engraved on the masonry of the tower to the north, but it is not known whether the inscription is due to the construction of the tower or its renovation. Restoration of the fortress 2013–2017 The restoration project began in 2012, the year in which the feasibility and design studies of the works were drawn up. In 2013, the Brașov County Council took over the administration of the restoration works of the fortress from the Feldioara City Hall, a project started by the city hall that same year. The Brașov County Council provided funding for the entire restoration project. The restoration costs totaled 12,379,295.67 lei, with the entire investment estimated at the start of the works at twenty-three million lei. The tender was awarded at the amount of 15,362,951.61 lei by SC. Euras SRL from Satu Mare. According to other sources, the value of the investment was estimated in January 2017 at 10.5 million lei compared to the 15.3 million at which the work was awarded in 2013.[8] The restoration works of the fortress began in March 2013. Other sources mentioned in March 2017 that the total value of the investment reached 13.8 million lei, with another 30,000 lei needed to complete the works. Feldioara Fortress restored - 2013 - 2017

The entire project included, in addition to the restoration of the fortress walls, an in-depth archaeological research on the entire site. The research was led and organized by archaeologist Daniela Marcu-Istrate. As a result, it was discovered that the archaeological site had been inhabited thousands of years ago. Various very well-preserved artifacts from the Neolithic (Cucuteni culture), Geto-Dacian and medieval periods were discovered. All artifacts will be utilized in a future museum development. All the enclosure walls and all the towers in the north, south, east, west, as well as the Zwinger protective wall were restored. All the original fortifications, from the time of the Teutonic Knights, were preserved in their entirety. By marking at ground level, the remains of the chapel and the Cistercian monastery in the inner courtyard were highlighted. The well, which is about 70 meters deep, was rebuilt and a viewing area was arranged over Țări Bârsei, located on the guard wall. Due to the fact that the shape of the fortress was not fully known, only the walls and towers about which historical information remained regarding how they looked in the past were reconstructed. Substructures, injections and consolidation works were carried out in parallel with other forms of conservation for the old masonry. For the injections that were made to the masonry and to restore the degraded surfaces of the plaster, a special hydraulic lime was used that contains raw material extracted from the Dolomites Mountains, NHL5 certified, imported from Italy. According to engineer Alexandru Stoica, coordinator of the works:

"...And for the stone we use, we went to several quarries within a radius of 100 km to find a stone as close as possible to the historical one. Also, the fortress's guard road will be built of fir wood as it was originally. We found the fortress in an advanced stage of degradation. As a result of the works and excavations, vestiges were discovered in the perimeter of the fortification about which there was no information. The restoration works are complex, they are carried out with great risks but also some fear, because the walls are shaky and it is not known when they will give way. When it starts to snow, the works will cease until spring. So far, the project has carried out excavations with archaeological supervision, simultaneously with a research for this purpose, works to support the degraded elements and dismantle degraded masonry." The reconstruction followed using wood, brick "... made to order at the Sighișoara factory on the model of the one from which the walls of the Citadel had been built"[8], stone and ceramic tile coverings. Overall, the project aimed to bring back to reality the form that the citadel had in the 17th century, when the citadel was plastered. In order to eliminate the confusion that may arise between the restored and the original walls, the restorers used wood as the material.

Daily schedule 07.00 -22.00 (Romanian time) Departure location - Brașov

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