Grădinari - Cacova (Kákófalva, Gross-Kakowa) – Caraș-Severin County
In Grădinari, Caraș-Severin County, a stone tower battered by time rises alone toward the sky. On the edge of the village, an old brick bridge hides beside the new, modern one. But just how old is the Tower on the Hill, and how many people might have crossed the Maria Theresa Bridge over the centuries?
The Tower on the Hill of Grădinari, a unique monument in Banat
On Cuca Hill in Grădinari, known as Church Hill, a ruined tower catches my eye from afar. Once part of an Orthodox church built between 1731 and 1779, the Tower on the Hill may be far older than that. According to historian Ionel Bota, the tower may once have belonged to a military structure of the Teutonic Knights settled in Banat. After 1360, when the fortification had already been abandoned, the tower was incorporated into the architecture of an Orthodox church.
The old church, once located in the heart of the former village of Cacova, disappeared long ago. In 1906, the locals decided to demolish it, but the stone tower survived. Toward the end of the 1980s, a restoration project aimed at saving the tower was suspended. Nearly 35 years then passed before the first real intervention at the Tower on the Hill. Volunteers from the Ambulance for Monuments installed a new roof structure to protect the tower.
The Maria Theresa Bridge, saved from collapse at the very last moment
I leave the Tower on the Hill behind and head toward the outskirts of Grădinari, where another equally fascinating historical monument awaits me. At the exit toward Greoni, a brick bridge recalls the days when Banat was part of the Habsburg Empire. The bridge over the Caraș River, used until the mid-1980s, became a ruin over the past decades.
The name used by locals – the Turkish Bridge – may suggest that it already existed in the 1500s, when the Ottomans invaded Banat. On the other hand, the Maria Theresa Bridge name indicates that it was most likely rebuilt during the second half of the 18th century. According to local legend, Emperor Francis I of Austria and Empress Carolina Augusta also crossed the Maria Theresa Bridge on their way to the inauguration of the Old Theatre of Oravița in 1817.
Both the Tower on the Hill and the Maria Theresa Bridge received a new chance thanks to the volunteers of the Ambulance for Monuments. When the authorities shrug with indifference, a handful of dedicated people step in to save the valuable vestiges that keep the memory of a rich past alive.