Fairies Fortress 2006

The Fairies' Fortress. The Fortress Hill (altitude 960m), Covasna, Covasna County, Romania

Travelling through The Siculi County (Ţara Secuilor) in the first half of 19th Century, with the aim of describing the places, the traditions and the way of life around, Orbán Balázs reaches the head town of Orbai district, Covasna: "post station, with over 4000 inhabitants, holding weekly and country markets, it was likely to become the head city of the district, its development favoured by its numerous baths, besides its growing commerce,". Orbán Balázs highlights the archaeological importance of the area, pointing out and describing in professional terms for the first time the Fairies' Fortress („A székeyföld leírása", Pest 1869). Here, he says, "there was once a fortress, on which history says nothing, a fortress on which the popular tradition recalls fairy tales... a vulture's aerie which, before the invention of fire weapons could have resisted any enemy".
The first research of the site (owed to archaeologist Alexandru Ferenczi, in 1942, followed by C. Daicoviciu and Z. Székely) established, based on material evidence, that the impressive monument was built by dacians more than two thousand years ago. Starting with 1998 new systematic research has been conducted on the site by a team of archaeologists and architects lead by Dr. Viorica Crişan (National Museum for the History of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca), Dr. Valeriu Sârbu (Brăila Museum, Brăila) and Dr. Monica Mărgineanu Cârstoiu ("Vasile Pârvan" Institute of Archaeology, Bucharest).
Ascending from the town of Covasna, along Covasna Valley, upstream to the Fairies' Valley and then leaving the stream line on the left, going on, up the Miska stream, the visitor meets unusual scenery: the hills Chel (Koposs hegy), Dolomir and Solyomko, the rocky top called The Wind Gate (Poarta Vânturilor), all above 1300 m high, surround in a crown like enclosure the Fortress Hill, allowing broad views just in the direction of the town and the Târgu Seciuesc Depression. On the east, south and west slopes of the Fortress Hill - resembling a frustum - unfold the embattled terraces of the fortified Dacian complex.
The most spectacular built structures uncovered so far - representing the lower, supporting part of retaining-defensive walls belonging to some of the terraces - are built of local stone (sandstone slabs) set with clay.
Based on archaeological evidence, the Fairies' Fortress is dated between the 2nd Cent. BC - the beginning of the 2nd Cent. AD

Cristina Popescu

The Temporary Protection. Objective: protection and primary conservation of wall structures

The mission of the project: to realize the primary reinforcement and protection of the walls with minimal efforts; to maintain the integrity of the monument and to fit it in its present context/environment.
In the summer of 2006, at the end of the archaeological campaign, the Association ARA initiated - through those of its members which take part in the archaeological and architectural research of the site - a project for the protection of the site by means of primary, temporary reinforcement of stone structures, in danger of collapse. The project was guided and supervised by Letiţia Cosnean (architect) and Cristina Popescu (archaeologist).
In the first step all the structures were propped with wooden panels. Besides the advantage of its being abundantly present around the site, the wood - in the forms conceived for the propping - has the quality of harmoniously blending the new protective structures and reinforcements in the surrounding landscape and, moreover, of activating the memory of the site with suggestions on the features of the original Dacian walls. The wall-supporting system - made of modular panels, comprised of horizontal boarding, vertical posts and rammed earth filling, with stone and wood beams - rhythmically follows the perimeter of the walls and thus clearly unveils the outline of the original structures (otherwise not easy to read by the common visitor).
Therefore, the intervention does not impede on the monument's image, but on the contrary, with its "palisades", it brings up images affinitive with the original structures of the fortress walls, the massive foundations of which used to sustain wooden structures.
The modular panels prove their utility in case of new research requirements - in case of extending or reopening of investigated areas in future campaigns the panels can easily removed and reassembled.
The funding necessary for the ensure both the work force and the materials was provided by the National Museum for the History of Transylvania, in Cluj-Napoca, through the director of the archaeological mission of the Fairies' Fortress, Dr. Viorica Crişan. The works have been carried out with the employees of the 2006 campaign of the archaeological mission.

Setting up a signal network and fitting out the tourist tracks that connect Covasna to other cultural targets - among these the Fairies' Fortress - is one of the objectives of the Association ARA in 2007. As a preliminary step in a complex urban-scale intervention, planned to signal all the cultural features and to set tourist circuits, the Association ARA, in partnership with the National Museum for the History of Transylvania, have submitted a project sketch to the Local Council of Covasna.

Letiţia Cosnean