Almas fortress – Almasu, Salaj County, Romania

Almas fortress near the village of Almasu, Salaj, was built between 1247-1278, as one of the oldest and most powerful medieval fortress in Transylvania.

The fortress is first mentioned in 1370, when the king Louis the Great donates the fortress to the magister Bebek GyΓΆrgy and his sons Imre and Detre, but also to his grandchildren GyΓΆrgy, LΓ‘szlΓ³ and Ferenc.

Over the XV and XVI centuries, the fortress has been under sieges, resulted from the conflicts between the nobility of Transylvania and the Hungarian king. During the war of 15 years, the General Basta besieged the fortress, and offered its defenders the freedom in exchange for surrender the fortress. In the end the Basta's soldiers slaughtered all the inhabitants of the fortress.

It is supposed that between 1545-1546, the fortress belonged to Petru Rare – lord of Moldavia.

Fell into ruin the fortress was rebuilt only in 1627, by Csaky aristocratic family, but in 1662 was again besieged and destroyed.

In 1658 the fortress suffered the last great siege and was occupied by Tatars who came from the direction of Cluj and went toward the Mesesan gate. Besiegers have enslaved the locals and burned the fortress, this time remaining in ruin.

The ruins are entered in the List of Historical Monuments 2004 of Salaj County. Almasu ruins from Almasu, situated at 1500 m from the village, are enshrined in the National Archaeological Record of Romania.

At the right edge of the forest (where we stand facing the fortress) at about 500-600 m, there is a mausoleum and a crypt, but unfortunately the mausoleum is destroyed.

The access is from the village center of Almasu (indicated). The road is accessible by car up to 100 m from the fortress. Every year many people gather to celebrate the fortress : once in 1 May and second time in August when the people celebrate the "Almasu Days".Less