The great underground labyrinth near the Corvinor Castle. What is hidden under a legendary hill in Hunedoara VIDEO

More than 400,000 tourists visit the Corvinilor Castle in Hunedoara every year, but very few of them climb the Sânpetru Hill to explore the spectacular place, which preserves numerous historical vestiges and enigmas.

Corvinilor Castle in Hunedoara receives thousands of visitors during the busiest days of the tourist season.

Annually, the number of people who cross the threshold of the medieval ensemble in Hunedoara exceeds 400,000 people, and the cost of an entrance ticket reaches 40 lei, for adults.

Very few guests of the castle built in the 15th century by the Huniaz family manage to go beyond its “borders” to climb Sânpetru Hill (video), from its vicinity, one of the most spectacular places in Hunedoara.

What is hidden under Sânpetru Hill

A trip of about 20-30 minutes, started on foot, from the streets that bypass the Corvinilor Castle in Hunedoara, brings the tourists who come to the castle to a place full of secrets.

On the Sânpetru Hill in Hunedoara, travelers find the remains of a Dacian fortress, identified by some historians as the ancient Singidava, traces of a children’s cemetery from the time of the Dacians and two caves inhabited in prehistoric times, later used as temporary refuges for some locals.

In the 1950s, an anti-atomic bunker was secretly dug under Sânpetru Hill in Hunedoara (video), in the shape of the letter H, with two entrances protected by armored doors and a total length of 800 meters. The shelter is currently under conservation, being considered a place reminiscent of the “Cold War” that began in the middle of the 20th century.

Both the caves on the Sânpetru Hill in Hunedoara and the underground galleries of the anti-atomic shelter built under this hill gave birth to the strange legend that, in the past, the Corvinor Castle in Hunedoara corresponded to the medieval Citadel of Deva through a tunnel, about 15 kilometers long – what is the distance between the two settlements.

About 200 meters below the galleries of the caves dug by the waters and those of the shelter built by people, an extensive underground lake with drinking water was discovered in the depths of the Sânpetru hill, with the help of drilling in the 1950s.

Image 1/19:
Sanpetru Hill from Hunedoara Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (55) jpg

The huge underground basin has accumulated over time the waters from the precipitation from the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, from the water losses of the rivers and from the underground springs of the massif spread over 120 square kilometers.

Along with its legends and vestiges, the Sânpetru Hill in Hunedoara, mostly covered by forest, also delights its guests with the panorama that depicts it.

Its rocks separate the Cerna and Zlaștiului valleys, two rivers that spring from the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, cross the Forest Land of Hunedoara and join at the foot of Corvinilor Castle and the hill on which it was built.

The Dacian fortress of Singidava

A dirt road goes up from behind the Corvinir Castle to the Sânpetru Hill plateau, in the place where in Antiquity there would have been a large Dacian fortress. Located about ten minutes’ walk from the castle, the plateau cut into the slope formed by steep rocks is rarely visited by people.

Two telecommunication relays were stuck in its middle, in place of some of the archaeological remains of ancient Singidava, according to some scientists. The archaeologist Tiberiu Mariș (1948 – 2018), who researched the Dacian settlement located on Sânpetru Hill in Hunedoara, claimed that the Dacian fortress of Singidava was located here.

“I came to the conclusion that Singidava could not exist anywhere else but here, on Sânpetru hill. On Sânpetru hill in Hunedoara there was a Dacian fortress of the “dava” type. I discovered the traces of this fortress, which I identify with Singidava. How this fortress will be called is not known, but it is not without interest that in the forest, i.e. among the inhabitants of the Poiana Ruscăi Mountains, Hunedoara is still called “Inidoara”, which, without special efforts in terms of phonetic evolution, may be the name of the old city Singidava”, informs archaeologist Tiberiu Mariș, former director of the Corvinor Castle museum (video).

The Dacian fortress on Sânpetru Hill would have been built here around the second century BC. BC, after the top of the hill was leveled.

It was fortified with stone walls and had wooden structures, and here the traces of some dwellings and rooms were discovered where provisions, monetary treasures were kept and, below, in the garden of the castle, the necropolis where dozens of children and more were buried many Dacian warriors.

Image 1/19:
Sanpetru Hill from Hunedoara Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (22) jpg

Scientists have linked the existence of the alleged Singidava to the large iron deposits in the area exploited since Antiquity. Some stone blocks from here would have been used in the construction of the Corvinor Castle.

“I discovered in the walls of the Corvineşti Castle a series of conchical limestone blocks with all the specific characteristics of the well-known murus Dacicus“, pointed out archaeologist Tiberiu Mariș.

The mysterious caves on Sânpetru Hill

From the plateau of Sânpetru Hill, travelers can continue their journey on a path that climbs the spine of the hill towards the two neighboring caves, about 50 meters each, located 15-20 minutes’ walk from the castle.

Image 1/16:
Sanpetru hill from Hunedoara Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (35) jpg

“The first cave, smaller in size, can be visited easily, even without light, because part of its ceiling has collapsed, so that daylight can penetrate. The cave has two entrances, one of which is very low. The second cave is a little more difficult to walk through, due to the low ceiling height, in some places approaching the floor up to ten centimeters“, pointed out speleologist Iosif Tamaș.

The caves have preserved vestiges of their prehistoric and Iron Age habitation, but their guests of recent years have wrought great destruction upon them, driving away the colonies of bats that ruled them, and leaving in their place numerous rubbish and remains of fire-hearths.