Bethlen Castle or "Magna Curia" that houses the museum of Deva is the oldest historic monument building of Deva that has been preserved. In 1582, governor Francisc Geszty raised a house at the foot of the Deva Fortress. In this house lived princes Sigismund Bathory, Basta, ?tefan Bocskay, Gavril Bathory, and, from 1613 to 1621, Gabriel Bethlen, the one who raised the Magna Curia in 1621. Some transformations were undertaken in the first half of the 18th century, when it got a relevantly Baroque look, as they added a monumental staircase and a lobed balcony. The museum collection includes pieces of archaeology (prehistoric, Dacian, Roman, premediaeval, early mediaeval): Roman reliefs from Ulpia Traiana and Micia, mining tools, smith's workshop, medical instruments, bronze pieces, coins history items , works of fine arts and decorative art, Romanian and foreign rare books, side and fire arms; ethnography items: costumes, tools, pottery of Botiza, glass icons; natural sciences items (botanics, paleontology, malacology, vertebrate entomology specimens, etc.);a library (40,000 vols.). The museum underwent reorganization in 1970, 1981 and restructuring in 1991. The museum owns goods listed in the National Cultural Heritage Treasure.

B-dul 1 Decembrie 1918 nr. 39

0254/212.200; 0254/216.750

9 - 17; Monday: closed

muzeucdr_deva@smart.ro