Mălăiești Fortress

Mălăiești Fortress lies on the southern edge of the village of Mălăiești, Sălașu de Sus commune, on a hill known locally as Dealul Cetății, between the Mălăiești and Domnească valleys, in the southern Hațeg Country. It is one of the few surviving fortifications of the Hațeg knezes, together with the tower at Răchitova and Colț Fortress, and served as a refuge for the knezes of Sălașu de Sus, where the ruins of their manor court can also be seen. The core of the fortress is a keep measuring 6.60 by 6.70 m, with walls 1.35-1.50 m thick, surrounded by a small stone enclosure of about 20 by 22 m. According to the monument record, the keep and enclosure were built in the first two decades of the fourteenth century and later raised, and around 1588 four polygonal towers were added to the enclosure. The fortress was abandoned in the seventeenth century. Archaeological test excavations took place here between 1961 and 1970 and in 1978. The ensemble is a class A historic monument (LMI code HD-II-a-A-03363), with the keep and the enclosure wall listed separately.