Detunata Goală

The Detunate are two volcanic peaks in the Metaliferi Mountains (Apuseni Mountains), on the territory of Bucium commune, Alba County, about 13 km from Abrud and 70 km from Alba Iulia. Detunata Goală (1,168 m) is a geological and botanical nature reserve of 24 ha. On its treeless slope you can see curved and bent basalt columns, arranged like organ pipes, in a rock face about 75 m high. The prismatic columns formed through the slow cooling of basaltic lava several million years ago. Detunata Flocoasă (1,265 m), about 1.5 km away, is covered in spruce forest, which gives it its name ("the hairy one"). The name "detunată" comes from the thunder-like noise made when basalt blocks break away from the massif and fall onto the scree below, a sound that carries far across the surrounding valleys. The place also features in local legends of fairies and giants. Over the years the reserve was visited by Emperor Franz Joseph (in 1852), King Ferdinand I and King Michael. Today the trail starts in the centre of Bucium-Șasa, near the village church, and climbs through the forest to the foot of the columns. Detunata Goală is a protected area of national interest (IUCN category IV), declared by Law no. 5/2000, covering 24 ha. Did you know that, according to a local legend, Detunata was born when a giant killed his son, who had fallen in love with a fairy, and the earth swallowed them all, the flames turning into stone?