Liteni Fortress

Liteni, Romania, Romania

---

Liteni Fortress, located 3 km southwest of Liteni village in Cluj County, Romania, on a cliff above the Iara Valley, is a medieval royal stronghold first documented in 1324 as "Castrum Leta" and likely built after the 1241 Mongol invasion as a refuge for local authorities. This elliptical-shaped fortress with thick walls, an old tower, upper and lower sections, a rock-hewn cellar, and gate tower changed hands among nobles like Sigismund of Luxembourg, Ladislau Kán, and Ioan de Hunedoara before severe damage from a 1562 powder magazine explosion during a siege. Rebuilt by Geczy János in 1569, it housed his family until the late 17th century, losing military significance and possibly destroyed in the early 18th-century Rákóczi uprising, leaving picturesque ruins today accessible by trails amid the Apuseni Mountains.