The best city hikes and walks around the Mures

The bronze statue of a soldier armed with a rifle and bayonet guards the third gate of the fortress.

The third gate, located in the east of the Alba Carolina citadel, is the main entrance to the fortress itself. It is located exactly midway between the two bastions of St. Eugene and St. Capistrano. Designed in the form of a double triumphal arch, it is remarkable for both its size and the richness of its decoration.

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 bell depicts scenes from the three Romanian principalities of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia. As a whole, it is a monument to the unity of Greater Romania since 1918.

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 Fourth Gate of the Alba Iulia Citadel (Poarta a Patra) is also called the Bishop's Gate. The gate, which provides access from the west to the castle courtyard, is decorated in the Baroque style. The upper part of the gatehouse housed the living quarters of the Austrian army personnel, while the guard rooms were located below. During the summer months, actors reenact historical events here every Friday starting at 7 p.m.

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 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.