The greatest Gothic-style castle in Romania, the Corvins Castle was built by the Anjou family on the site of a former Roman camp. The castle served as a fortress until the mid-14th century when it became the residence of Transylvania's ruler, Iancu de Hunedoara.  The Corvins Castle is a result of a two construction stages during the time of Ioan of Hunedoara (first half of the 15th century). At that time the military building was transformed  into Gothic residence that follows the most advanced models of military and civil contemporary architecture. Matia Corvin (15th century) and Gabriel Bethlen (17th century) added numerous Rennaisance elements. The final stage of construction was in 18th century. After these series of modifications and fires, the last fire in 1854 having destroyed the whole wooden structure of the castle, the first restoration works was started (1868-1874); as a result, the shingle roof of the castle was replaced with a tile roof, some of the towers were super-elevated, a neo-Gothic facade was built ad some interior works and fightings out were executed. The access to the castle is made on a wooden bridge which is sustained by 4 massive stony piers that are placed in a riverbed.