Upside-Down House

Pro Odorhei Foundation built the Memorial Park. The statues represent 12 famous historical and cultural personalities: Kós Károly, Bethlen István, Wesselényi Miklós, Bethlen Gábor, Fráter György, King Szent László, Prince Csaba, Hunyadi János, Báthori István II. Rákóczi Ferenc, General Bem, Nyírő József, and the thirteenth is the anonymous Wandering Szekler. The sculptors are: Blaskó János, Hell Tibor, Krisztiáni Sándor, Lessenyei Márta and Tóth Emőke. Text and photo source: https://tourinfo.ro/

CLOSED UNTIL MAY 31, 2026 Building on the experience of the temporary butterfly house in Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely, we opened the first permanent butterfly house in Romania, at Praid/Parajd, Harghita county, on the spring of 2012. The building, created for this very purpose, is divided into two parts and is house to a reception area that communicates with a gift shop and to a so called “flying space” with a tropical microclimate that is decorated with tropical plants, a small lake and a circular walkway. Our butterflies come to us from South-American, African and Asian butterfly farms as puppets. After their arrival, the puppets are installed in a hatchery especially built with this purpose, and, depending on species, wonderful butterflies hatch from the caterpillars after a few days. Each year, the butterfly house can be visited in the warm months and one can watch, usually at the same time, 8 up 9 different common species and several hundreds of specimens from the 6-7 changing species of butterflies. Because butterflies’ lifetime is of only a few weeks, we are attentive, when changing, to bring new species, thus inviting our visitors to come again and again. Among our permanent guests, we would like to highlight the virtuoso Blue morpho butterfly (Morpho peleides), the graceful Zebra butterflies (Heliconiinae), the ever lazy Owl butterflies (Calligo memnon), as well as the Paper kite butterfly (Idea leuconoe), which floats in the air like a silky sheet. Our butterfly house offers moments of relaxation and of excitement, both to children and to adults. Open every day from May to September. TICKETS • 10 RON - children, pupils, students • 12 RON - adults, pensioners • under 3 years old are admitted for free

The foundation stone was laid in September 1895, and the most impressive building of the former Lower Market, the current Town Hall, was commissioned in 1897. The former headquarters of Odorhei County was built in eclectic style, according to the plans of the architect Sztehló Ottó. Its constructor was the engineer Ferenczi Endre, but an important role was given to Haberstumph Károly, the city’s main architect. As for the construction of the rooms, the conference room, located at the end of the enclosed courtyard, richly ornamented with wall and ceiling paintings, has a special value and since 2003 it has been named Szent István (St. Stephen). It is the most representative hall in the city, which hosts symposiums, conferences, high-quality concerts, festivals and other events. Text and photo source: http://www.odorhei-turism.ro/

Three main streets, along with several other side streets, which surround the historic core of Odorheiu Secuiesc, form the center of the city. The Reformed Church, built the middle of it, once split the city in the Lower Square and The Upper Square (today Városháza Square and Márton Áron Square). There are historical buildings and monuments in the center of the city, their architectural style being defined by Baroque, Classicism and the 19th century architecture. Public buildings, churches, shops, all evoke a historic atmosphere, despite the fact that the center has gained its appearance today only in the twentieth century. Text and photo source: http://www.odorhei-turism.ro/

In 2011, the largest statue of Jesus in Eastern Europe was built on Gordon hill in Harghita, between Odorheiu-Secuiesc and Praid. Called “the Heart of Jesus”, the statue is about 22 meters high, and is made of iron and stainless steel. The statue costed 200,000 EUR and was paid by donations gathered by the Lupeni village hall. Inside the statue, there are metallic spiral staircases up to the head, from where you could admire the wonderful view around. Photo: Mihálydeák Antal, Fülöp Attila

The village won the ”Europa Nostra” award. In the Southwestern part of Harghita county, 25 km away from Odorheiu Secuiesc and 18 km away from Cristuru Secuiesc, lies Inlăceni, a village unchanged for hundreds of years, beautiful as in the stories of childhood. The age of the houses is measured in centuries, most of them rural architecture monuments raised in a time when the planks were joined together with wooden slats. They look very similar with each other. Built of stone and wood, they are painted white or azure, covered with tiny tiles made in the village, and the flower garden in front of the house is indelible. The entry in the house is made through a mezzanine, by climbing a wooden ladder or a few steps made of stone. The ground floor and the basement are reserved for the kitchen, the storage rooms and the cellar. But the peculiarity of Inlăceni’s unique status in Romania is the multitude of streets and alleys that cross the village and whose number exceeds that of houses. Slightly concentric, they spread to the four entrances in the village, crossing the property of the people. They are twisted like the mythical edifice built by Dedal, hence the name "labyrinth village", which was assigned to the locality. Cover photo: Mihálydeák Antal  Text and video sources: https://www.descopera.ro; https://www.youtube.com/  Magyar Művészeti Academy of MMA

Closed for restoration. Urmánczy Castle in Toplița/Maroshévíz was built between 1903-1906 on the banks of the Mureş/Maros River. The owner at that time was Urmánczy Jeromos, of Armenian origin, and the architect of the building was Giacomuzzi Virgilio (Vigilio) from Tyrol. The castle is made in the Art Nouveau style, combined with the popular features related to the name of Kós Károly, a special style in the context of the Transylvanian castle architecture. The dominant feature of the castle is the water tower on the right side of the main facade, with the main entrance on the ground floor. Inside the castle, the two-storey tall main hall offers access to the rest of the rooms: to the men's rooms overlooking the garden, to the dining room and to the owners' apartment. Upstairs were the children's rooms and guest rooms, while in the basement there were the servants' rooms, the kitchen, the storerooms and the cellar. Over time, the castle building served as the headquarters of the local hospital, of an ethnographic museum, and of the local dance ensemble. After 2009, the building was returned to the legal heirs. Currently, it has no function, but is open to visitors every Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm.

Fântâna Brazilor bog is located at an altitude of about 950 m, in the central-western part of the Praid-Dealu volcanic plateau, in Gurghiu Mountains.  The Fântâna Brazilor bog was declared a Natura 2000 site in 2007. It appears as Luc or Ruc in the literature, but locals generally call it Datka. It is the Westernmost bog with pine trees in the Eastern Carpathians. The bog is surrounded by a spruce forest (Vaccinio-Piceetum abietis). Among the important fauna species are the red forest frog (Rana dalmatina), the red mountain frog (Rana temporaria), salamandra (Salamandra salamandra), and the mountain lizard (Zootoca vivipara). You can visit the peat bog on a visitor trail constructed with the help of the local community. If you visit on your own, please don't forget to pay the entrance fee at the small shop right before arriving at the entrance. You will discover along the path the specific processes and flora of the Siberian marshlands and forests, even insectivore plants and poisonous ones.  If you need more professional guiding, please book your time at the phone number attached here.  Text and photo source: https://www.korpa.ro/

The Snail’s Hill is a geological reserve that spans an area of ​​8 hectares at Corund/Korond. It is considered the largest aragonite occurrence in Romania, receiving a national protected status since 1980. The study of the aragonite in the area date from the 18th to 19th centuries. János Bányai (1938) argues that precipitation processes formed the carbonate deposits from saline, carbonated solutions with low temperature. The water spring from Snail’s Hill is in the form of a natural, active spring. The water appears at the base of the carbonate deposits or through the cracks of the rocks, bubbling smelly gas. The freshly depositing material is aragonite and calcite. Knop Vencel, the teacher of Czech origin invited to take courses at the Zlatna Industrial School of Stone Sculpture and Grinding, began de exploitation of aragonite in 1909. The teacher moved to Corund and established the Aragonite Polishing Factory. The peak of exploitation and processing of aragonite in Corund is placed between 1931-1939. As a result of these mining activities, the diverse forms of natural deposits were harmed, but nowadays a wald through the rocks gives a unique opportunity to discover the beauty of aragonites and banded calcites. You can visit the reserve on your own on a nicely maintained visitor path. If you need more professional guiding, please call the phone number to book your visit. You can buy simple visiting ticket, or you can opt for a combined ticket, which contains the entrance fee for the Salty bath UNICUM, lying on the foothill of the rocks. Entry fee: 5 RON