- Latest Articles
-
- Ocnele Mari: Salt Mines, Spa and Rich History
- Baile Govora - One of The Oldest Romanian Spas
- Craiova - The Heart of Oltenia
- Rules for Visiting the Protected Nature Areas
- Bucegi Nature Park - One of Romania's Wonders
- Arad - One Millenia on the Banks of Mures
- Targu Jiu and the Endless Column
- Bucura Lake - The Largest Glacier Lake in Romania
- Traveling to Sfantu Gheorghe
- Lipscani - "The Old Leipzig" of Bucharest
- Cule - Strange Strongholds of a Riotous Past
- Vatra Dornei - A Trip in the Mountains
- Cluj Napoca, Our Second Capital
- Dobrudja and the Danube Delta
- Bucharest – an european capital
- Brasov - Part of the "Heart" of Romania
- Timisoara, Little Vienna
- Rosia Montana
- Periam “Rock la Mures” Fest
- Sinaia
- Vama Veche
- Sighisoara, medieval heaven
- Hunedoara
- Sighisoara
- Sibiu - modernity with a German touch
- A visit in Piatra-Neamt
- Vama Veche versus Mamaia
- The mountain tourism in Romania
- A trip to Muntii Apuseni
- Bran
- Trips and winter sports on Valea Prahovei
- Transilvania – The medieval land of Strongholds
- Bucovina and Northern Moldavia
- Maramures - A Land From Tales
- Tan and Fun at the Black Sea
- The Danube Delta
Cule - Strange Strongholds of a Riotous Past
The "cule" were a special type of “fortified houses” that was very popular in the past centuries, especially in the southern part of Romania. This kind of architecture spread a lot in the 18th and 19th century because of the Turks often raids at the Danube border; coming from their barracks based in Bulgaria – as the Ottoman Empire had conquered the Bulgarian lands in the second half on the 14th century and it remained there for nearly five centuries – the Turks used to rob and destroy everything in their way, so rich people in the area – we refer at landlords (boyars) – had to come up with something to protect at least their family lives.
As you can guess these “cule” were a special type of strong houses, like a fortress or a tower, fitted with very thick walls (often up to 1 meter thick), narrow windows (especially on the ground floor), wooden inner staircase and a square surface – they had been designed to resist. The etymology of the word comes from the Turkish word “kule” which means “tower” and these “cule’ were common in the Balkan Peninsula, in countries like Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria. So, initially they were Middle Age defensive towers, built especially on hills. Later on some of these strong old towers were turned into accommodation and step by step the well off countrymen decided to build their own fortress houses. The “cule” protected the landlords not only against foreign invaders but also against local Robin Hoods and in case of riots.
The “cule” proved to be extremely useful especially during the 18th century, when there were a lot of invaders raids in the historical train of events, such as the Austro-Turkish wars or during the first half of the 19th century when there took place another war between the Russian and Ottoman empires. Landlords used to lock up their values such as jewelry, money, fine pottery etc. inside their strong houses and prey Turks wouldn’t break in or if they broke in they wouldn’t find the hiding-places of the goods.
Often children and young ladies had their secure hiding-places in the “cula”… but don’t imagine these were some sort of spacious rooms hidden in the basement. Not at all! The hidden-places were extremely ingenious and… uncomfortable: think of a small hole (of about 2 square meters) in the pavement of the last floor, where there was no ladder to, with a wooden cover and a carpet over it – in order to disguise the place as much as possible, just in case the invaders would climb somehow to that high place. And then think of 5 to 10 small children packed like herrings inside it!
Write a comment