The beauties of Bistrita Nasaud

Tourism, history and culture in Bistrita

Daniel Onea, 13.05.2021, 14:00

Today’s stopover is in the central northern Romanian
county of Bistrita-Nasaud. Our journey there started from the most relevant
monuments in the town of Bistrita-Nasaud . Then we headed for the county’s
tourist assets. You may have a relaxation stay or an active holiday in
Bistrita-Nasaud, the accommodation offer has been tailored to cater for for all
pockets and all tastes. Ovidiu Bozbici is a councillor
with Bistrita Municipality‘s Tourism Service. He suggested we should start
our tour with an iconic monument of the town of Bistrita.

Ovidiu Bozbici:

We can start with Bistrita’s Evangelical Church which
has a 75-meter high tower. It has an elevator since 2013, so visiting
facilities have been made available for tourists. They can be taken at a height
of 45 meters, where they can have a bird’s eye view of the town. The
construction began in the early 16th century and lasted for about 50
years. In time, renovation works occurred, on and off. At the moment, European
sources made possible the initiation of large-scale refurbishment works, still
in progress, with roughly four-million Euros worth of funding earmarked for
this undertaking, and we keep our hopes high for the works to be completed by
the end of the year.

The Bistrita fortress is one of Transylvania’s famous
fortified citadels, alongside those in Sighișoara, Brașov or Sibiu.

Ovidiu Bozbici:

We’re next heading to Bistrita’s old
fortress, which initially had 18 defense towers and bastions. Placed at an
equal distance from one another, They were strategically buttressing the
defense wall of the fortress. In turn, the defence wall was doubled by a moat.
As we speak, only one tower of the old fortress is still standing, the Coopers’
Tower, which is roughly 18 meters tall. It is an exhibition venue for the local
artists. Then we have the Sugalete compound. The name of Sugalete speaks about the
lodgings of Bistrita’s craftsmen, supposedly metal workers. It is a
one-of-a-kind compound in Romania, made of a string of 13 buildings. The
construction began in 1480 and lasted until 1520 or thereabouts. Bistrita
compelled recognition thanks to the precious but also semi-precious metal workers.
The mineral ore was extracted from the Rodna mines, lying at around 60
kilometers from the town. Ancient documents have revealed that Moldavia’s
ruling princes received their supplies of jewels, farming tools or weaponry from
there. Speaking about Rodna we also need to say Bistrita was first documented
in 1241. So this year, in 2021, we celebrate 780 years since the first written
mention of Bistrita, which was made concurrently with the great Tartar invasion
of 1241. The Tartars got there, they tossed the old citadel of Rodna, then they
reached Bistrita, in 1241, killing 6,000 inhabitants. Which stands proof of the
fact that Bistrita was a densely-populated town.

A string of museums can be found in the county of
Bistritsa-Nasaud. They are well worth visiting if we want to get acquainted
with the region’s generous past, but also to its crafts and traditions.

Ovidiu
Bozbici:

We have the County Museum,
with its ethnography section, with a natural history section. We have the
Silversmith’s House, one of the town’s most important monuments, which has in
turn been refurbished and turned into the German Centre of today. It is a house
built between 1560-1563, by the seme craftsman who also contributed to the
building of the Evangelical Church. We have the Andreas Beuchtel House. It is
an old house as well, lying in the centre of the town. It was the property of
one of Bistrita’s first sitting judges, who fell to loggerheads with the powers
that be nd was subsequently beheaded. Also, Bistrita has compelled recognition
thanks to its multiculturality. We have the Evangelical church, Orthodox
churches, the Roman-catholic church, the Greek-catholic church, the Reformed
church. Around 80,000 people live in Bistrita, according to the most recent
census.

The visitors who are into tradition and folklore can go
to the commune of Salva in Nasaud area. The councilor of the Tourism Service
with the Bistrita Municipality, Ovidiu Bozbici:

Here they can visit
an exceptional ethnographic museum, and it is also here that you can find a
museum of the traditional apparel. The local woman artist, who is renowned al
over Romania, succeeded to preserve the old Romanian apparel, also
manufacturing, on demand, peacock feather hats, which are very well-known in
Romania, Tourists can then go to Sângeorz-Băi. Here the mineral waters are
famous for healing properties in the case of stomach conditions. If you want to
have a good breath of fresh air, we have the new tourist resort in Colibița, where
tourists can do nautical sports, mountain climbing or rafting. There is also
another new resort in Figa Spa, in Beclean, lying 38 kilometres from Bistrita.
Its salty waters have healing qualities, there is also the mud, as well as the
newly-built outdoor swimming pools, for which it has been officially rated as a
tourist resort of local interest.

Tourism is one of Bistrița-Năsăud Municipality’s priorities. European funding has made possible the initiation of
tourism projects as well as the repair works for 12 out the 20 old passageways.
For this reason, the town got its name of the Town of Passageways. Yet there is
more to it than that.

Ovidiu Bozbici:

We have a large-scale project,
running as the Bistrita Fortress, where we refurbish the walls of the former
fortress and some of the main bastions. Then there is also the project
targeting the Evangelical Church. That implies the complete refurbishment of the
asset, to be included in the tourist circuit afterwards. Another projects,
still under debate, is run as Intelligence Cities Challenge. We thereby try to
revitalize the historical center and make it similar to the center of a
medieval borough.

For updated info on accommodation fees, personalized
routes, maps and prospectuses you can stop for a while in the city center and call
in at the National Tourism Information Centre which is open seven days a week,
for you.