Map of Arad: The Fortress

The building of the fortress placed on the left bank of the Mures was ordered by Mária Terézia. The plans were made by the planner group leaded by Philipp Harsch. The fortress built in Vauban-Tenaille style has a shape of a hexagram, three lines of underground forts and multi-line circumvallation what can be flooded by water. Its construction took up to 20 ears (1763-1783) and several thousands of addicts worked on it. The main gate has pristine as the interior buildings baroque features. Inside the fortress there was built a catholic church as in the surrounding buildings there were housed the friar monks. Till 1918 here was the biggest prison of Austro-Hungary. In time of the 1848-1849 revolution the Hungarian republican army besieged the fortress being in the hand of the Austrian troops. The Austrians had bombed the town daily for 9 month. At the end in the summer of 1849 the republicans had captured the fortress but 46 days later the Russian and the Austrian troops brought the to the occupants terms. 500 officers of the revolutionary army were closed in the dungeon and most of them were executed. In 1919 the Romanian army took over the control of the fortress.