The citadel is situated on a hilltop in the Carpathian Mountains and was built in about 1215, yet the first mention of it was not until 1331.

This castle fortress differs from the norm in that it was built as a defence to protect the commoners from seiges, and because of this it had houses, school, chapel and other common buildings.

There was only one successful seige at the citadel by Gabriel Bathory in 1612 when the people surrendered after their secret water supply was found. After two failed attempts a ransom was paid in order to get it back.

A well was built inside the fortess after the water supply no longer remained a secret so there was no need to leave to fetch it during a seige. The well was built by two Turkish prisoners who were promised their freedom if they did the task. Work started in 1623 and took 17 years to complete, due to the fact where the well was it meant digging through 146 metres of solid rock. It remained in use until 1850 when the wheel broke. The fortress was last used as a refuge in 1848 during the revolution.

It as since undergone some restoration and renovations and is now a tourist attraction which among other things houses a museum.

There is lots of ghostly activity and mysteries surrounding the fortress, some things that have been reported are noises such as footsteps and voices and many entities have been seen including one of a nasty man and a young woman.