Hunedoara County

Hunedoara County is a county in Transylvania.

Cities

 * — mostly known for the Hunyad Castle
 * — has a museum dedicated to its gold mining heritage
 * — industrial town during the communist rule, now mostly dead as the factories shut down. Two ancient medieval churches worth visiting are nearby.
 * — capital of the Hunedoara county
 * — spa town
 * — close to the bizarre St. Nicholas church of Densuș and to Ulpia Traia Sarmizegetusa — the capital of Dacia under Roman rule
 * — gateway to the Straja ski resort
 * — famous for the coal mines in the past, but plagued by unemployment since the mines closed after 1989. It is now mostly a gateway to the nearby mountains
 * — ancient city with a strategic position throughout history
 * — its dilapidated citadel may have inspired the novel The Castle in the Carpathians by Jules Verne
 * — its Dendrological Reserve has the oldest and most valuable collection of exotic and native plants of Romania, and it is the 3rd largest in Europe
 * — a base for exploring the Retezat National Park and Butii Gorge

Other destinations

 * — one of Romania's most beautiful.

Understand
The county is largely is made up of mountains, divided by the Mureș River valley which crosses the county from east to west. To the north side there are the Apuseni Mountains and to the south side there are mountains from the Southern Carpathians group, Parâng Mountains group and Retezat-Godeanu Mountains group: Orastie and Surianu Mountains (south-east), Retezat Mountains (south), Poiana Ruscai Mountains (south-west).

Hunedoara County was one of the most industrialised areas during the communist period, and was very negatively affected when the industry collapsed after the fall of the communist regime.

The industry in the Hunedoara county is linked with the mining activity in the region. In the mountains, from ancient times, metals and coal have been exploited. Now there is one large industrial complex at Hunedoara owned by Mittal Steel. There are also energy-related enterprises in the county: one of the biggest thermoelectric plant is at Mintia.

The Jiu Valley, in the south of the country, has been a major mining area throughout the second half of the 19th century and the 20th century, but many mines were closed down in the years following the collapse of the communist regime.

The city of Hunedoara has also suffered significantly from the 1990s onwards. Under communism it had the largest steel works in Romania (until Galați took the lead), but activity gradually diminished after the fall of communism due to the loss of the market. This was a blow to the overall prosperity of the town, which is now recovering through new investments.

Agricultural activities also take place in Hunedoara county, which include livestock raising, and fruit and cereal cultivation. The county also has touristic potential, especially through the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains and the Corvin Castle.

See
The Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains, part of UNESCO World Heritage, include:

Other places of interest include:

Do
Retezat National Park and other picturesque regions makes it one of the most beautiful counties in Romania. Also there can be found Dacian and Roman complexes in the Orăştie Mountains.

Skiing in the Straja resort near Lupeni is a popular activity.