Deva is a Romanian city located within the County of Hunedoara of which it is capital. This city, with more than 79,000 inhabitants, counts with a very interesting history and is a very attractive destination which all those tourists who go to Transylvania for a vacation in Romania should not miss.
The city of Deva was born as a fortress town called Singidava in Ancient Times. The origins of the actual name of this city, Deva, can be found on the ancient name Singidava, being dava an ancient Dacian term which can be translated as “fortress”. Singidava started being called Deva towards the medieval times, and there are several maps from that époque referring to it as Dewan or Dewa as well. Nowadays, tourists can still visit some ruins of The Citadel, which was built during the 13th century, and which is without any doubt one of the main attractions offered by this destination,
According to historians, during the middle Ages the city of Deva was a very important administrative and military center. But this prosperity became interrupted when, towards the year 1545, an important amount of its constructions were destroyed by an Ottoman Turk attack. Despite of this, the city was quickly rebuilt in such a way that towards beginnings of the 17th century it was prosperous and important again.
The Renaissance arrived to Deva through the hand of the Prince Gabriel Bethlen. This prince requested the re-construction of what was known as the Magna Curia Palace, also later known as the Bethlen Castle, in a typical Renaissance style, providing the city with a very interesting and unique touch.
Nowadays, Deva is a prosperous and attractive town which receives an important amount of visitors from around the world on a constant basis. The economy of this city is based on a variety of resources, among which, we can name, for example, power industry, engineering services, education services, and tourism among others. Besides this, it might be interesting to know that this city has a variety of unique floral species and was named a protected nature reserve area by the Citadel Hill.