Costești-Cetățuie Fortress
A Dacian fortress in the Grădiște valley, a seat of the Dacian kings that guarded the road to Sarmizegetusa Regia.
Costești-Cetățuie stands in the Grădiște valley near the village of Costești (Orăștioara de Sus commune); the upper plateau of the hill is 514 m high. It was a strong defensive fortress with a large civilian settlement at its foot, and the usual residence of the Transylvanian Dacian kings. Another of its roles was to protect the road to the fortress of Sarmizegetusa Regia.
The first line of defence was an earth rampart 6–8 m wide at the base and 2–2.5 m high today, in which thick wooden posts were set, bound together with wattle daubed with clay — a palisade behind which the defenders sheltered. The fortress is one of the six Dacian fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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