Hunyad CastleCastelul Corvinilor

The Hunyad Castle is a castle in Transylvanian Hunedoara, present-

day Romania. It was built in the XV century by Iancu of Hunedoara, one of our rulers.

It was built mainly in Gothic style, but has Renaissance architectural elements. It

features tall and strong defense towers, an interior yard and a drawbridge. Built over the

site of an older fortification and on a rock above the small river Zlasti, the castle is a large and imposing building with tall and

diversely colored roofs, towers and myriad windows and balconies adorned with stone

carvings.

It was both a sumptuous home and a strategically enforced point. The last defense tower (called "Ne boisa" = Do not be afraid), which remained unchanged from Iancu de Hunedoara's time, and the Capistrano Tower (named after the Franciscan monk from the castle court) are some of the most significant parts of the construction.

• Other significant parts of the building are the Knights' Hall (a great reception hall), the Club Tower, the White bastion, which served as a food storage room, and the Diet Hall, on whose walls medallions are painted (among them there are the portraits of Matei Basarab, ruler from Wallachia, and Vasile Lupu, ruler of Moldavia). In the wing of the castle called the Mantle, a painting can be seen which portrays the legend of the raven from which the name of the descendants of John Hunyadi, Corvinus came.

The legend of the Raven

• It is said that Ioan of Hunedoara was the son of Sigismund of Luxemburg, the king of Hungary and a beautiful woman from Tara Hategului (Romania), Elisabeta.The king gave her a ring as a gift for the son she gave him. During a trip she stops to have something to eat and she puts the ring near her plate. A raven saw the ring (these birds love bright and shinny objects) and stole it. Her son took his bow and an arrow, killed the raven and got back his mother’s ring. Everybody was impressed by his deed and they decided to have as a symbol of their family a raven with a ring on its beak.

The latin name of the bird is “Corvus” and it gave the name of the family – Corvini. In the Middle ages the raven symbolized Wisdom and long life.