Apart from Ardeu you,passionate tourists of the past,can admire other historical monuments in the area. One of them is the Roman castrum from Cigmău. It dominates the Mureş from a high peak,west from Geoagiu.
http://ran.cimec.ro/sel.asp?Ocat=2&nr=8
Few people know that the town Geoagiu holds one of the oldest stone churches in the country. Specialists think that the church dates back in the 11th century.
http://cimec.ro/scripts/arh/cronica/detail.asp?k=2231
http://www.biserici.org/index.php?menu=BIA3&code=16101&criteria=&quick=&order=P.TOWN,C.NAME,P.NAME
http://www.replicahd.ro/replica_db/index.php?pagerun=2&p=1130&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Still in Geoagiu we can see the Baths – which were built by the Romans to exploit the thermal spring. The Baths are north of the current thermal spa.
Something unique in Romania will also attract you,traveller,in this area. It is part of the Roman road,paved with slabs. You can find it west of Geoagiu and south of the spa.
http://ran.cimec.ro/sel.asp
The old church in Bozeş (included today in the town of Geoagiu) was included on the Monuments List because of its age (the 16th century.
http://www.cultura.ro/sectiuni/Patrimoniu/Monumente/lista/hunedoara.pdf
You can also visit an old wooden church,from the 16th-17th centuries,in the village Almaşu Mic de Munte,part of the same Balşa parish.
http://lacasedecult.cimec.ro/RO/Documente/LemnAsp/detaliu.asp?k=3439
A one of a kind monument is the Fortified Cave at Mada,on the left side of Măzii Gorges. You can reach the church meandering on a steep path.
http://www.cimec.ro/scripts/arh/cronica/detaliu.asp?k=1210
Scholars became interested in caves around Ardeu since mid-19th century. The most valued contributor to the study of the area in this period was Gábor Téglás (1888). In his work Újabb barlangok az Erdélyrészi érczhegység övéből,he gathers topographical,archaeological and historical data on the then known and researched caves (Cofta Sârbilor Cave,Raiu area,Piatra Peşterii area). New bits of information bring the amateur speleologists (Zarand Speleology Club in Brad,Proteus Speleology Club in Hunedoara) once they published Cave Survey in Romania in 1982 (author Cristian Goran). Up until 1980 27 caves have been surveyed in the areas generically named Cetatea Ardeului and Pleaşa Ardeului. Part of these caves proved to be archaeologically important. Artefacts discovered on a number of occasions (land survey,stratigraphic control surveys,poaching) prove that these caves have been “occupied” during the Neolithic (Starčevo-Criş Culture),Late Copper Age (Coţofeni Culture),Early Bronze Age (Şoimuş cultural group),Bronze Age (Otomani Culture) and the Middle Ages. The last one to approach the study of artefacts discovered in the Ardeu area is Cristian Constantin Roman (Human dwelling in caves in southwestern Transylvania,Sibiu,2008).
