Rasnov
Rasnov (Risenau in the Saxon dialect, Rosenau in German or Rozsnyo in Hungarian), which comes from the Latin word “rose”, is a town located 15km (9mi) south-east of Brasov and has a population of 15000 people. It appears for the first time in a document in 1331 under the Slavic-Romanian name of “Rosnou” but in reality it is a Dacian-Roman town. In the medieval age it became the second town as importance of the Burzenland area, after Brasov. It had even the right of organizing a local market.
Today, Rasnov is a small tourist town known especially because of its famous peasant fortress, churches or its old architecture. Other attractions located close to the town are the Gorges of Rasnoava or the resort of Poiana Brasov.

The Saxon Peasant Fortress
The fortress was built in order to protect the locals of Rasnov and their belongings in case of an invasion. There is no exact date about its origins; some believed that the Teutonic Knights are among those who built here a first fortification. The first mention about the fortress appears in 1335 when the Tartars invaded the area destroying everything in their path beside the Citadel of Brassovia and the fortress of Rasnov. The fortification was built by the communities of Rasnov, Cristian and Vulcan in a time when the agriculture was the main occupation of the people, hence the peasant fortress name.
It has a simple architecture and is made of bricks and stone. It consists of two main courts, one for the animals, and the other for the humans. The walls are about 5m (16ft) high and 1.5m (5tf) wide. The peasant was built to provide proper shelter for its all inhabitants and animals. They had a school, a chapel, a prison and rooms. It had a great disadvantage: the lack of a constant source of water. This is the reason for being conquered in 1612 for the first and last time. The prince Gabriel Bathory wanted to cut off some of the German privileges and attacked their fortifications, Rasnov being among them. He had discovered the secret creek outside of the citadel where the defenders of Rasnov were going to take water and in this way, after a siege which lasted a month, the Germans had to surrender. That’s why, between 1627 and 1640 a well, 146m deep, was dug up by two workers.
1690 recorded the last Turkish invasion in the Burzenland area while in 1718 a great fire destroyed the lower town and a big part of the fortress. It was repaired in the next years. The fortification played for the last time a military role during the revolution of 1848. Two years later the military installations are either removed or destroyed.
At the beginning of the 21st century the local authorities were almost to destroy it, by not properly taking care of it. Luckily, it was renovated and reopened for the public in 2010.

The schedule of the Rasnov Peasant Fortress:
Summer time:
Daily: 09:00 – 19:00
Summer time:
Daily: 09:00 – 17:00

Entrance fee: RON10