Let's travel together #299 - Castrul Roman Arutela (Arutela Roman Castrum)

Two weeks ago I confessed that I had my first reconnection with nature in 2024 which sadly happened a lot later than planned.

As we hit the road with the main purpose of having a very colorful destination with some forests that are more or less known in Romania for the wild flowers that are covering the ground in spring, we really didn't plan anything else for the rest of the day thinking that these forests will keep us busy most of the day.

But as I shared in my previous post, due to all the global warming we barely found a few flowers standing still which made us very sad about this aspect, but we still catches up with a few reasons to still have our smiles on.

Anyway, as we were heading to the forests, we followed a road that we are very familiar with since we moved to Sibiu, which is on Valea Oltului. This one is quite famous for all the beautiful sceneries you get to enjoy no matter the season because we are talking about a road that takes you through the heart of the mountains, also being accompanied by the Olt River which is one of the most important rivers of Romania.

The funny thing is that, even if we chased the same road dozens of times, we never observed the place that makes the subject of today's post, until back in that day. The reason is that even if the ruins of the Roman Castrum were lying on a valley, there were quite a few large trees that covered this place entirely from peoples' sight unless they would make their way there. And since it's placed some meters down the level of the road, the mission of noticing it was even harder.

The road can be barely seen in my images but it crosses the dam that you can see and you can make an idea of the level difference between the two.

Anyway, for a while now, it seems like all the trees from this valley were taken down, spotting Castrul Roman Arutela becoming easier now, which was also the case when heading to the forests. So we said that once we come back home, it's a promise to make all the way down and see what's everything about. My parents decided to wait us at the car since they were quite tired and the night was slowly coming by, so along with my sister and my boyfriend, we made our way to the ruins stirring so much curiosity from all of us.

Arutela Roman Castrum dates since 137-138 AD which makes it one of the oldest places I've seen in my country, and it represents one of the most important Roman settlements from antiquity.

These aspects brought to the ruins the title of an important historical monument for Romania, and it's placed on the left shore of the Olt River mentioned before.

A long time before the vegetation and the trees covering the castrum and keeping it curious from peoples' sight, this monument was entirely covered by water and it only came to the surface thousands of years after it was randomly discovered while making diggings for mineral springs.
Between 1888 and 1889, The Ministry of Domains asked for services of capturing of sulphurous thermal waters which not only that offered results with this purpose but also turned out as a very happy activity as it led to discovering ruins but also parts of history such as coins that were thousands of years old, along with metallic objects of the same century.
Even if Arutela Roman Castrum was first discovered in 1890, building railway tracks seemed like a more important aspect than preserving history, such as it ended up being again covered, this time by the ground, with the purpose of building up a path for the trains that had to cross Valea Oltului.
Almost 80 years later, the construction site was opened up again to upgrade the railway tracks and possible starting to work on the road as well, which led to the decision of revealing the ruins and letting them spread moments of history even in the 21st century.

But after many centuries being entirely covered either by the ground or water, the castrum ended up partially being ruined, hence why, what can be seen in 2024 is not even a half of what the original looked like, still being restored after following the original sketch, but making it impossible to be as the original because of the surface that now also serves for the dam and for the road.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

The front side of the whole fortification doesn't say too much, as every single room and plan was safely stored behind the tall walls, not allowing anyone to see what was on the inside. The main gate remained closed even for the current times, which would be a sad aspect if there was no other way to enter the fortress, but happy or not, the rest of the walls were ruined so you can abord the ruins from pretty much any side.

Once you make it to the other side, the same two towers that seemed so imposing from outside of the ruins, tell a different story now. Not only that you can admire their whole shape, but you can also enter and visit them while to revive the memories of how life looked like when living inside these, they being quite narrow.

And even if the materials used were very powerful so this will resist almost forever (which seems like becoming real), staying warm during the winter was a hard challenge for everyone.

The doors from the bottom come with spiral stairs which take you to the top, but currently, they are mostly burns because of all the homeless people living inside during the night.

Hence why, the same situation also applies to the top side of the towers where you will find lots of garbage, clothes, but also one bed mattress.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

I missed taking pictures with any of these as I was checking the inside rather in a rush than the rhythm I usually enjoy when exploring, but the smell of urine, alcohol, and possible illness made me want to stay away from breathing in and out the same air for too long. Though, I still took some pictures with the rest of the ruins that mix so nice with the scenery of the mountains and the river.

All these remains of history that don't represent too much in 2024 are the real proof of how much surface the whole construction was covering a long while ago, and every single perimeter was carefully created to include equal squared rooms for barracks, supply deposits, stables for war horses, soldiers' pavilion, blacksmithing, and a lot more.

Sadly, most of them were gone not during the historical challenges the Arutela Roman Castrum had to face, but after resting for a long while in water and then under the ground. There are thoughts that a big part of the castrum can be still found on the bottom of the Olt River.

Those living inside the stone walls were supposed to protect Valea Oltului which was known as Trajan's Road that was both important military but also for commerce. Later on this led to having a proper road and a railway path that makes the connection between Transylvania and the Danube a lot easier, along with more parts of the country that were not even possible back in those times.

Arutela Roman Castrum represents just one of the many reasons I love being Romanian and managing to live here with the occasion of learning something new day by day and revealing some more pieces of history that sadly is never taught in schools but which would make a lot more sense for many of us rather than the wars which only show the bad parts in everything.

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In order to reach Castrul Roman Arutela you need to follow the European road E81 or 703G towards Sibiu or Calimanesti (depending on the side you are coming from) that will make you cross this place. Once you reach Turnu Damn which can also be visible in my post, right next to it you can spot the castrum and make your way down to it. There isn't any marked trail with this purpose but you will see the castrum from the distance and be able to follow it without any guidance.

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (260+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 550+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

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