Alba Iulia

Sister cities

• Cetinje

History

The modern city is located near the site of the important Dacian political, economic and social centre of Apulon, which was mentioned by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy and believed by some archaeologists to be the Dacian fortifications on top of Piatra Craivii. After Dacia became a province of the Roman Empire, the capital of Dacia Apulensis was established here, and the city was known as Apulum. Apulum was the largest urban centre in Roman Dacia and was the seat of the XIII Gemina Legion. Apulum is the largest castrum located in Romania, occupying (). Analysis of the necropoles of the city prior to the 11th century show that they were used by a population different from the conquering Hungarians. Archaeological evidence shows Bulgarian presence in the 9th century. The Gesta Hungarorum mentions a Hungarian regent named Jula or Geulathe maternal grandfather of Stephen I of Hungary and lord [regent] of Transylvaniawho built the capital of his dukedom there during the 10th century. Geula was baptized in the Byzantine Empire and built around 950 in Alba Iulia the first church of Transylvania. The ruins of a church were discovered in 2011. According to Ioan Aurel Pop and other historians, here lived Hierotheos the first bishop of Transylvania, who accompanied Geula back to Hungary after Geula had been baptized in Constantinople around 950. After Stephen I adopted Catholicism, and the establishment of the Catholic Transylvanian bishopric, recent archaeological discoveries suggest that the first cathedral was built in the 11th century or possibly before. The present Catholic cathedral was built in the 12th or 13th century. In 1442, John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, used the citadel to prepare for a major battle against the Ottoman Turks. The cathedral was…

Most-observed species

• Canadian Fleabane

  Erigeron canadensis L. · Magnoliopsida
  113
• False-acacia

  Robinia pseudoacacia L. · Magnoliopsida
  112
• Californian Burr, Burweed, Cocklebur

  Xanthium orientale L. · Magnoliopsida
  92
• Ragweed

  Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. · Magnoliopsida
  85
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  81
• Annual Fleabane

  Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. · Magnoliopsida
  53
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  52
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  47

Most recent

• M 4.3 — 2015-12-29
  7 km WNW of Brezoi, Romania
• M 4.6 — 2013-09-08
  1 km WSW of General Berthelot, Romania
• M 4.3 — 2013-09-08
  2 km NNE of Tote?ti, Romania
• M 2.6 — 2006-12-08
  10 km NNW of Horea, Romania
• M 3.4 — 2006-08-10
  6 km NNW of Uricani, Romania
• M 3.1 — 2006-08-09
  5 km SSW of Uricani, Romania