The Stronghold Of Csicsó Ciceu

The stronghold of Csicsó was built into a tall rock south-west at Csicsó at the location called Vármezõ, between the Egres and Várpatak Streams, at the eastern edge of the Central Hargita. It may be visited from the accommodation road starting from Csicsó that is crossing. This road leads to west, almost up to the ruins. The touristic mark blue circle is rarely visible – we may observe only two of it during our way, therefore it is recommended to ask the way from local people due to the frequent bifurcations. Unfortunately, the huge trucks of recently abandoned quarry of Csicsó have destroyed this road, thus it cannot be accessed by car. Approaching the castle rock of Csicsó, a path marked by blue triangles leads to the remains, and it is hard to observe, too. Benkő Elek describes this castle in the following way: ”Castle Rock”, the mountain peak lying 7 kilometres west of the valley of the Olt in a height of 933 meters, with a surface of 80x23 meters, is surrounded in north by the ruins of an bending stone wall, in some places interrupted by beds of temporary streams. The rest of the plateau has vertical rock walls, here has been no human wall erected. Unlike the nearby castle of Rákos, its walls are thinner /1,32-1,56 m/, built of smaller, flatter pebbles, using more limestone. This rock castle with an asymmetric shape is 65 meters long and 25–30 meters wide. Its ground walls, grown over with vegetation, can be observed even today in 1-2 meters height on the northern side. Similarly to the nearby pagan Castle of Rákos, it had to be part of the third stage of the border defence system of Transylvania. According to the tradition, the Franciscans of Csíksomlyó have lived a while in this castle until their monastery was built.