The Italian architect Giovanni Morando Visconti has made the project of the fortress. He was guided by the general Stefan de Steinville and later by general Weiss. The work at the fortification of Alba Iulia has began on the 4th of November 1715, when the foundation of Carol bulwark, dedicated to the emperor and situated on the Northern side was made. Weiss named his project, the fortification, "Alba Iulia's major fortress in the Principality of Transylvania".
Between the 18th and 19th centuries the fortress has served as the military center of Transylvania and also as general armament dump. The perimeter of the walls is about 12 km; 20.000 serves built the walls.
The fortress has seven bulwarks (Eugene of Savoia, St. Stefan, The Trinity, St. Michael, St. Carol, St. Capistrano and St. Elisabeth) that make it a star shaped one, common to Vauban fortresses. The biggest bulwark is the Trinity one, measuring 116 and 135 m and being decorated in the center with a blazon crowned by outlines and acanthus leaves.
The walls were made of bricks, quarry stones, or out of the Roman ruins, measuring 3 m at the base and 1.20 m at the top, being sustained by abutments in order to neutralize the earth's force. The six gates of the bulwark fortress have been a model for the 18th century Transylvanian architecture. They are looked upon as extremely valuable samples of early baroque.
The planning and the building of the fortress led to the modification of the street texture; that is why the six gates had been placed three towards the town and the other three towards the western drill field. All the roads and the fitted gates were functional. The fortress is outstanding both for its decorative elements and for the beauty of its six gates, unique in European military architecture. Doubtless the artists had been inspired by ancient mythology. Sculptors like Johann Koning, Johan Vischer and Giuseppe Tencalla had made the decorations. On the whole, the fortress stands out as the most important baroque figurative plastic pile.
Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747,[3] located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania. Alba Iulia is historically important for Romanians, Hungarians and Transylvanian Saxons.
The main historical area of Alba Iulia is the Upper Town region, developed by Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire in honour of whom the Habsburgs renamed the city Karlsburg. The fortress, with seven bastions in a stellar shape, was constructed between 1716 and 1735, by two fortification architects of Swiss origin. The first one was Giovanni Morandi Visconti, who constructed two old Italian stile bastions, followed by Nicolaus Doxat de Demoret, nicknamed "Austrian Vauban". The two architects radically transformed (after 1720) the medieval fortress shaped by the former Roman Castrum into a seven-bastion baroque fortress, developing Menno van Coehorn's new Dutch system, of which the fortress of Alba Iulia is the best preserved example.
Inside the fortress one may visit The Union Hall with the National Honour Galery, The National History Museum of Unification, the Princely Palace (Voivodal Palace), the Orthodox Cathedral, the Roman Catholic cathedral, the most representative building for the Medieval Romanic style in Transylvania), the Batthyaneum Library, the Roman Catholic bishop's palace, the Apor Palace, and the University of Alba Iulia.
Built in the 11th and 12th century (it was completed in 1009, and partially renovated under the communist regime), the Roman Catholic cathedral is considered to be an important monument of early Transylvanian medieval architecture. The tomb of John Hunyadi is located here, as is that of the Polish-born Isabella Jagiełło, Queen of Hungary.
The Bathyaneum Library is a late church, built in Baroque style. In 1780, Ignác Batthyány, bishop of Transylvania, adapted the inside of the establishment for its present use as a library. It is famous all over the world for its ample series of manuscripts, incunabula and rare books, such as Codex Aureus (9th century), also known as the Lorsch Gospel, containing the Gospel of Mark and Matthew, David's Psalms, Codex Burgundus (15th century), Biblia Sacra (13th century), the Pentateuch from Orăştie (1850), Şerban Cantacuzino's Bible, and the New Testament from Balgrad (1648). The first astronomical observatory in Transylvania was founded here in 1792.
The National Museum of Unification in Alba Iulia is located in the "Babylon" Building. It was originally built for military purposes (1851–1853) and transformed into a museum since 1887. The museum exhibits over 130,000 pieces of priceless works, organized chronologically: first a Pre-history Section, then Dacian and Roman Period, the Feudal section, followed by the great battles with the Turks, the Liberal Revolution of 1848, the Unification of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859, the World War I, the Union of Transylvania with Romania, and so forth. In its two floors with more than a hundred rooms are housed the basic exhibition, the warehouse, the library, and the restoration laboratories. The Unification Hall, also part of this national history museum, retains historical significance from having hosted, on 1 December 1918, the rally of the 1228 Romanian delegations from all Transylvania, who determined the province's union with the Kingdom of Romania. The building was used in 1895, as a military Casino.
The Apor Palace is situated on the same street as the Bathyaneum Library. It belonged to Prince Apor, and was built in the second half of the 17th century. At the beginning of the 18th century it was the residence of the Austrian army leader, at the time Prince Steinville. The palace was renovated in 2007 under the supervision of the Romanian Ministry of Culture.
The Princely Palace (Palatul Principilor or Palatul Voievodal) was Michael the Brave's residence during the first political unification of the Romanians in 1600. Foreign chronicles pictured it as an extremely luxurious building, richly adorned with frescos and marble stairs, ; later deteriorated. During the rule of Princes Gábor Bethlen and George II Rákóczi the second palace was restored, but not to its previous condition. After 1716, the building was used as an Habsburg Imperial Army barracks.
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