Timișoara Fortress (, , , , ) is a historical fortress in western Romania around which the town of Timișoara was built.
It is presumed that there was an earlier earthworks fortification built by the Avars, but the first written record is from the 13th century. At the beginning of the 14th century Charles I of Hungary built the first stone fortification, the Angevin fortress. In 1443 John Hunyadi restored the castle and the surrounding walls, which had been destroyed by an earthquake. The fortress was captured in 1552 by the Ottoman Turks, who held it till 1716 when it was taken by the Habsburgs. The Habsburgs reconstructed it, making it much bigger in the style of Blaise Francois Pagan, a precursor of the Vauban system. The Habsburg fortress was besieged only once, during the Hungarian Revolution in 1849.
The increased effectiveness of artillery with explosive shells at the end of the 19th century rendered the walls ineffective. As the walls and the area around them (the non ædificandi area) hindered the development of the town, the walls were demolished and the ditches were filled in.
At the beginning of the 21st century the only remains of the Habsburg fortress are the Huniade Castle, one bastionthe Theresia Bastion, an important tourist attractiona casemate of the ravelin of the Vienna Gate, a portion of the Eugeniu bastion and a small part of the curtain wall between the Eugeniu and Elisabetha bastions. All these vestiges form the historic monument "Timișoara Fortress".
Early fortresses Roman Castrum In the Roman period there was a castrum at Tibiscum,Doina Benea, Petru Bona, Tibiscum, București, Ed. Museion, 1994, , pp. 23, 76 although the Castrum Temesiensis has been located in Jupa, not in modern Timișoara, and it is registered on the List of Historical Monuments.With LMI Code CS-I-s-A-10805.cIMeC, Castrul roman de la Tibiscum , cimec.ro. Retrieved 4 December 2017Timoc, Călin. Fortificații romane din Banat (II). Teregova (date și controverse), Analele Banatului, S.N., Arheologie-Istorie, XII-XIII, 2004–2005, pp. 187–197 Mai mult de un secol de cercetări pe șantierul de la Tibiscum , infocs.ro, cite România Liberă, 27 September 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2017Forțiu, Sorin. Falsele denumiri ale orașului Timișoara , banat.ro. Retrieved 2 April 2017Păun, Liana. De la Tibiscum la Jupa: vestigii romane pe malul râului Timiș. Vezi ce descoperiri fascinante au fost făcute , pressalert.ro, 29 July 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017 It was claimed that there had been two villages named "Tibiscum", one located in Jupa, and the other in Timișoara in 1976,Suciu, Ioan Dimitrie. Contribuții la problema continuității: castrul Timiș, in Revista de istorie, 29 July 1978, pp. 1051–1058 although this was disproved the following year.Bona, Petru and Petrovszky, Richard (1977). Tibiscum și drumurile romane din Banat. Însemnări pe marginea unui articol, in Studii și Comunicări de Etnografie și Istorie, no. II, Caransebeș, pp. 377–388 Even though it is known that the old centre of Timișoara was crossed northeast–southwest by a valluman earthen or turf rampartand that the Austrian topographical engineer Heinrich Kematmüller made a controversial claim regarding the existence of a castrum,Hațegan, Prin Timișoara…, p. 15Hațegan, Timișoara…, p. 18 there is no certain documentary, archaeological or epigraphic evidence that one existed near the site of the Timișoara fortress.
Avar Fortress In the 15th century the Italian architect Paolo Santini de Duccio claimed that he had built fortifications in Timișoara over old Avar earthworks.Hațegan, Prin Timișoara…, pp. 16–19 The idea that such a fortification existed was repeated by Nicolae Ilieșiu, who identified it with Zambara.Ilieșiu, Timișoara…, p. 25 It has since been proven that Zambara never existed, the name was a misspelling of Zanbara, which in turn is a misspelling of the name Zurobara.Postelnicu, George. Originea orașului Timișoara, in Analele Banatului, an IV, no. 2–4, fasc. 5 (Avril–December 1931), pp. 189–194 Zurobara is older than the Avar periodit was mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century and it has been located near Unip, from Timișoara.Forțiu, Sorin. Zambara (Zanbara), clarificari inca necesare?! , banat.ro. Retrieved 3 April 2017Halunga Otilia, Noi descoperiri arheologice în adâncurile Zurobarei, singura cetate dacică de câmpie, Agerpres, 30 July 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2017 Descoperire arheologică importantă. Cetatea dacică Zurobara nu mai este doar o legendă antică , tvr.ro, 31 July 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2017
Angevin Fortress
The name Castrum Tymes (Thymes, Temes, Castrum Temesiensis, Castrum Temesvariensis) is found for the first time in documents in the 13th century.Hațegan, Timișoara…, p. 11Hațegan, Istoria…, vol. I, p. 14Opriș, Monografia…, pp. 25–27 After his first visit to Timișoara, in the fall of 1307, Charles I of Hungary built the first stone fortress () between 1308 and 1315, on the site of an existing clay fortress, using Italian craftsmen.Szentkláray, A kővár építése, A vár helyeHațegan, Timișoara…, p. 34Hațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, pp. 56, 58Hațegan, Istoria…, vol. I, pp. 17–18Ilieșiu, Timișoara…, pp. 26–27 The reason for choosing this site was that the Mureș and Tisza rivers, the Danube and the mountain passes of western Romanian Carpathians prevented surprise attacks.Szentkláray, Károly Róbert korában
Paul Niedermaier and Mihai Opriș have speculated that the fortress was composed of two rectangular parts of about 170 × 110 m, having a total area of about 2 hectares.Hațegan, Timișoara…, pp. 38–40Opriș, Mică monografie…, pp. 10–11Opriș, Monografia…, p. 10
The fort was situated within the perimeter of the current Alba Iulia – Dimitrie Cantemir – Carol Telbisz Streets and Huniade Square. Paul Niedermaier believes that the street network of the fortress was rectangular and that there were two main streets, one from north to south and the other from east to west. The north–south street was a commercial road which joined the two gates and it was situated between the current Alba Iulia and Lucian Blaga Streets. The east–west street was situated near the current János Bolyai Street. A castle was built in the southern part, in a similar perimeter, on the site of the previous Hunyadi castle. The castle was Charles I's royal court and residence between 1315 and 1323. During this period Timișoara was the capital city of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Water Tour (Water Tower) was built to defend the bridge between these two fortified areas. Later the tower became one of the symbols on the coat of arms of Timișoara. There was an inhabited rural area with irregular plots north of the fortress.Szentkláray, Az udvar elköltözése TemesvárrólHațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, pp. 58, 67
On 19 June 1404 Filippo Scolari became the Ispán (count) of Temes County.Hațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, p. 167Hațegan, Filippo Scolari, p. 16 He found the Angevin fortress in poor condition and in need of major restoration. During his reign the areas exposed to attack were restored and strengthened with palisades. The castle was also restored and Scolari used it as his residence until his death in 1426. At the same time various public edifices in the city were erected or rebuilt, which led to the revival of the city's economic life.Hațegan, Timișoara…, pp. 41–43Hațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, p. 200Hațegan, Filippo Scolari, p. 72
Hunyadi Fortress In 1441 John Hunyadi became the county executive of Timiș.Szentkláray, Hunyadi JánosHațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, p. 226 On 5June 1443 a powerful earthquakeOros, Eugen. Seismicitatea, seismotectonica și hazardul seismic din zona Timișoara , in Buletinul AGIR no. 3/2012, pp. 16–19 severely damaged the city walls, the castle and other buildings.Hațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, p. 229Szentkláray, Elemi csapásokEngel, P. (1992). Temesvár. Város és vidéke a középkorban, in História, 14, no. 1, p. 6Hațegan, Prin Timișoara…, p. 29 Hunyadi restored the fortress by reusing stones from the walls and supplemented them with materials from the quarries in Vršac. Between 1443 and 1448 the walls were rebuilt higher and stronger, except the west side which remained as Scolari had built it because it was less exposed to attack due to the swamp stretching approximately .Szentkláray, Hunyadi a várat helyreállítjaHațegan, Istoria…, vol. II, p. 12, citing Castaldo: "a mile and a half, where Castaldo used the Italian mile, about . From the north to the current Eugeniu of Savoia Street, the fortifications were extended with an earthen wall reinforced with palisades and a moat.Hațegan, Prin Timișoara…, pp. 30–32Hațegan, Istoria…, vol. I, p. 26Ilieșiu, Timișoara…, pp. 32–33 All of these defended the inhabited zone to the north of the Angevin fortress and this eventually became the core of the city.Ottendorf, De la Viena…, pp. 11–14 To the north of the town a large rural area, the Palanca Mare (verbatim the "Big Palisade",Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan" (2009). Dicționar explicativ al limbii române, 2nd issue, București: Ed. Univers Enciclopedic meaning "alongside the long palisade"), developed.Ottendorf, De la Viena…, p. 7
Hunyadi also restored the castle, keeping the wall on the west in its initial position, but extending the castle to the east by about .Ilieșiu, Timișoara…, p. 406 The castle had its own spring and reserves of water. An artillery battery was installed in the Water Tower. There was an inhabited, but weakly fortified, island to the south of the castle: The Island, Palanca Mică (verbatim "The Small Palisade", meaning "alongside the short palisade"). The island and the swamps to the east and the west protected the castle from cannon fire. To the north the castle was defended by the fortress. Thus, even if the castle was not inside the fortress, it acted as a keep.Hațegan, Prin Timișoara…, pp. 44–48Hațegan, Istoria…, vol. II, pp. 12–13 During the reign of Hunyadi the fortress had four gates: the Arad Gate, the Gate of Lipova (Praiko), the Ardeal Gate, and the Water Tower Gate.
Ladislaus the Posthumous borrowed 20,000 Florins (1 Florin contained about 3.4 grams of fine gold) from John Hunyadi for his military operations. In 1453, when Ladislaus was coming of age, John retired and Ladislaus gave him the Timișoara Fortress to cover his debt. The deed of gift, dated 20August 1455, was recognised by the chapter of Cenad on 3September 1455 and it reconfirmed him as a king on 7April 1456.Hațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, pp. 245, 247 Initially the restoration work on the fortress was carried out at the expense of the royal treasury. Once it became the property of the Hunyadis they maintained it from their own funds. The castle was enlarged; a second floor was built and the old keep was built up to a height of . The guards, the knights' room, the prison and the stables were situated downstairs. The royal rooms, the guest rooms and a chapel were situated upstairs.Hațegan, Istoria…, vol. I, p. 27
Huniade Castle was used as a headquarters by Pál Kinizsi, county executive of Timiș from 1478 to 1494. It came into his full possession in 1489Hațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, pp. 271, 289, 291 and, like his predecessors, he also strengthened the walls and the bastions.Hațegan, Prin Timișoara…, pp. 34–35Hațegan, Istoria…, vol. I, pp. 30–34
On 15June 1514 the fortress, defended by Stephen VII Báthory, was besieged by a peasant army led by György Dózsa. To capture the fortress Dósza attempted to reduce the swamps surrounding it by diverting the Timișel River into the Timiș River. He ordered the digging of a channel from the area of the current Fabric Quarter to the vicinity of the modern Giroc, it was not completed before John Zápolya’s army arrived and defeated the peasants on 15July.Szentkláray, Dósa György lázadásaHațegan, Cronologia…, vol. II/1, p. 306Hațegan, Prin Timișoara…, pp. 42–43Hațegan, Istoria…, vol. I, pp. 36–37