Alba County
Where Rome conquered Dacia for gold and 1918's National Assembly declared Greater Romania, making Alba Iulia the symbolic birthplace of the modern nation.
Alba County exists because Rome conquered Dacia for its gold. The Romans established Apulum (now Alba Iulia) as Roman Dacia's largest urban center and headquarters of the XIII Gemina Legion after Trajan's conquest in 106 AD. The Rosia Montana gold mines had been worked since the late Stone Age, but Roman colonists from Dalmatia industrialized extraction - wax tablets from 131 AD document their operations. Mining continued through medieval Saxon settlement, Austrian Empire expansion, and into 2006 when the state mine closed before EU accession. Alba Iulia's significance transcends mining: the city served as capital of the Principality of Transylvania from 1541-1690, and on December 1, 1918, the 1228-member National Assembly declared unification of all Romanians - making Alba Iulia the symbolic birthplace of Greater Romania. King Ferdinand I and Queen Maria were crowned here in 1922. The Alba Carolina fortress (1716-1735), designed by Giovanni Morando Visconti for Emperor Charles VI, remains Central Europe's largest star-shaped fortress. Today's economy includes chemicals, textiles, machinery, and Mures River valley vineyards. By 2026, heritage tourism around the fortress and the UNESCO-listed Rosia Montana will define Alba's development path.