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Presently, seven monuments and sites of Romania are included on the World Heritage List. Among them is also the complex of the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains.
The complex is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1999 and determinant for its admission was the value of the component archaeological sites.
The Dacian settlements and fortifications, unique in Europe, represent exceptional achievements of the Dacian civilisation and have an inestimable cultural value.
The Dacian fortifications are situated in the south-western part of the historical province of Transylvania, in Hunedoara and Alba counties. They are accessible through national and county roads as well as by air or railway, easier options for the foreign tourists.
In the beginning of the XIXth century, the Austrian state undertook some systematic research for ancient material traces in Sarmizegetusa, marking the beginning of a new era in the knowledge of the monuments from the Orăștie Mountains.
Since the 20s, XXth century, a program for systematic archaeological studies was developed for the Orăștie Mountains, studies connected to the names of Dimitrie M. Teodorescu, or, later, Constantin Daicoviciu, Hadrian Daicoviciu, Ioan Horatiu Crişan, and Ioan Glodariu.
Starting with the year 2012, a much ampler project of archaeological research was founded, under the coordination of the National Museum of Transylvanian History of Cluj-Napoca and financed by the Romanian Ministry of Culture.
This program aims to the investigation by modern means and methods of the entire area, the scientific publication and the valorisation for the public of the research results. Until the present day, this is the most important archaeological project ever endeavoured in Romania.