Attractions and Places To See in Alba - Top 20

The Via Principalis was the main road connecting the two main gates of the ancient Roman castrum of Apulum, to the north and south. The road ran in front of the "Principia" of the Roman fort, the headquarters of the 13th Gemina Legion. Carts transporting salt, oil, wine, and military equipment for the camp's inhabitants drove along the stone-paved road. The remains of the road, along which the Roman soldiers walked, were uncovered during the fort's renovation. The Roman-era slabs can be seen here, as well as the masonry canal beneath the road's longitudinal axis, which was intended to ensure its drainage.

The monument to Mihaj Viteazul (Michael the Brave) is the city's most monumental sculpture. The equestrian statue was erected in 1976. Michael the Brave was the first ruler to briefly unite three Romanian provinces: Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania, in 1599 and 1600.

The National Museum of the Union (Muzeul Național al Unirii) is housed in Alba Iulia's largest Romantic-style building, built between 1851 and 1853. It once housed the Habsburg army in the citadel. Its residents were recruited from across the Habsburg Empire, and it was said that "all the languages of the world" were spoken here. Hence, locals called the building the "Babylon Building." With its thick walls and over 100 rooms, it resembles a fortress within a fortress. After the union of 1918, the Romanian army moved in. It wasn't until November 28, 1968, that the National Museum of the Union opened in the building, one of Romania's most famous museums, both culturally and scientifically.

The coronation of Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, King Ferdinand I of Romania since October 10, 1914, and his wife Maria was the trigger for the construction of the new Trinity Cathedral in the center of the citadel of Alba Iulia in 1921 and 1922. Delayed by the turmoil of the First World War, Ferdinand and Maria's ceremonial coronation took place here on October 15, 1922.

The magnificent Royal Gate, with its high gate tower, was built as the portico of the new Holy Trinity Cathedral (Cathedral of the Reunification of the Nation) for the coronation of King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen Maria in 1922. It is located slightly north of the existing fourth gate of the citadel and is accessible via a bridge from Union Park.

The Coronation Cathedral of Alba Iulia, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built with the support of the Romanian royal family between March 1921 and September 1922 according to the plans of the architect Victor Ștefănescu. Its Byzantine-style architecture is inspired by the Royal Church of Târgoviște, the ancient coronation site of the Wallachian voivodes. The coronation ceremony of King Ferdinand and Queen Maria as rulers of Greater Romania took place in the courtyard of this church on October 15, 1922, following a solemn mass in the cathedral. On December 1, 1948, following the ban on the Romanian Church united with Rome, a ceremony for the "Reunification of the Romanian Orthodox Church" was held here. The name of the church was changed to "Cathedral of the Reunification of the Romanian Orthodox Church." Since 1975, the place has served as the cathedral of the Orthodox Diocese of Alba Iulia.

The Romanesque-Gothic Basilica of St. Michael is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia. It was built after the founding of the diocese in 1009, but was so severely damaged by the Tatars in 1241 that a new building was necessary. This was constructed in two phases, between 1246 and 1291 and between 1320 and 1356. In the mid-16th century, St. Michael's Cathedral became Calvinist and remained so during the Ottoman period. Around 1700, the cathedral and diocese were re-Catholicized under Habsburg rule. Of the two towers apparently planned, only the southern one was completed; its current form is the work of several centuries.

The complex Râpa Roșie (Red Gorge) Nature Reserve encompasses specific erosion and stream formations that lend the landscape an impressive appearance. It also boasts a unique flora with many rare and endemic plants. On the nearly vertical wall, strange columns and stepped pyramids, separated by ravines, form a micro-relief that geographers call "Badlands" after the famous model in South Dakota. The formation consists primarily of deposits of red clay with gray and red sandstone.