Rucăr-Bran Pass

The Bucegi Mountains as seen from the village of Moieciu in the Bran Pass

The Rucăr-Bran Pass, also called in English the Bran Pass, is a mountain pass in Romania, linking the counties of Braşov and Argeş. It has some of the most spectacular natural views in Romania, looking over the Bucegi Mountains of the Southern Carpathians.

The communes of Fundata (including Şirnea village) and Moieciu lie within the Pass.

History

In 1382, Bran Castle was built by the Transylvanian Saxons of Braşov to defend the Pass from the Ottomans.[1]

In the year 1413, a customs post in the Pass was licenced by the ruler of Wallachia. This charged a duty on all goods brought through the Pass.[2] Southwards the usual trade route ran to Cetățeni, branching out to Popeşti and Hirsova.[3]

During the First World War, the Prussian General Kurt von Morgen was able to force his way through the Bran Pass at the head of two and a half Divisions, outflanking the mountain positions of the Rumanian 22nd Division.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ Leif Pettersen, Mark Baker, Romania (Lonely Planet, 2010), p. 141
  2. ↑ Nicola Williams, Romania & Moldova (Lonely Planet, 1998), p. 157
  3. ↑ David Turnock, The Making of Eastern Europe: from the earliest times to 1815 (1988), p. 41
  4. ↑ Peter Young, The Marshall Cavendish illustrated encyclopedia of World War I (Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1984), p. 1720

External links