The tomb of Michael the Brave

 

The tomb of Michael the Brave is located 3 km south of the center of Turda. This is where Michael the Brave's body was buried. Michael the Brave's body is buried in the area known as the Turzii Plain.

"Here the great voivode Michael the Brave was killed on August 9, 1601."

Initially, at this location, his wife (Lady Stanca), with the permission of the Transylvanian prince Gabriel Báthory, managed to build a Byzantine-style chapel, later deliberately destroyed by Hungarian nationalist fanatics.

The chapel was built in the form of a cross, as depicted in a watercolor made in 1820, purchased by the Turda historian István Téglás (1853-1915), then by the count József Kemény (1795-1855) from Luncani.

In 1923, a wooden cross was built at the site of the former chapel by the Romanian Women's Committee of Turda, at the recommendation and request of King Ferdinand I, expressed during his visit with Queen Maria to Turda in 1919.

The creation of the Cross was made possible with the support of the "Historical Monuments Society" from Bucharest. The wooden cross, currently displayed at the Turda History Museum (since 1977), is crafted in a folk style. It has engraved the inscription: "Here the great voivode Michael the Brave was killed on August 9, 1601".

The new monument (obelisk) was inaugurated on May 8, 1977, in place of the wooden cross erected in 1923 by the Romanian Women's Society of Turda, on the occasion of the celebration of a century since the declaration of state independence of Romania.

Measuring 1601 cm high, the Monument is the work of sculptor Marius Butunoiu. It is made of reinforced concrete, covered with Ruschita travertine, on a rectangular volcanic tuff base. It has three sides symbolizing the three Romanian principalities united under Michael the Brave in 1601. At the base of each side are the coats of arms of the three Romanian principalities, made of white marble from Simeria, as well as the tombstone, by the Cluj artist Vasile Rus Batin. The old wooden cross is located at the Turda History Museum. 

 

After the glorious victory on August 3, 1601 at Goraslau against the noble troops commanded by Sigismund Bathory, Michael headed to Cluj, where he arrived on August 11. From there, he set off for Turda, near which he set up camp and then sent most of his troops to Făgăraș, where his imprisoned family was. On August 16, at the head of the imperial troops, he arrived on the Turzii Plain and his bitter enemy, General Basta, whose presence was not expected there according to the campaign plan, arrived. For this reason, it is said that disagreements took place between the two commanders, during which, according to the chronicler Szamoskozy, one of Michael's nobles said, "We lost Transylvania on the Turda Plain, and here I will regain it."
Regardless of how things happened, it is certain that Basta had the imperial mandate and the express intention of suppressing the voivode. After Michael decided to separate his army from Basta's, on August 18, on the eve of the voivode's departure to Wallachia, the general convened the council of commanders from his camp and discussed the summoning and arrest of Michael. The killing of the great voivode was decided when Basta realized that through his claims and personality, Michael was against the interests of the Austrian imperials.

A imposing monument stands on the spot where the glorious voivode was sacrificed by the House of Austria and reminds us that Michael's sacrifice was not a futile loss, but a call, a battle cry passed from generation to generation, whose fate will be fulfilled only in 1918, when at Alba Iulia, the capital of the three countries united under his scepter, a people who have fought with exemplary perseverance for centuries, will regain the act by which the Romanians find themselves within the borders of a reunited country.

In 2005, the Michael the Brave Monastery was built near the monument, a copy of the Michael the Brave Church built in Bucharest by Michael the Brave.