AREA

    Known some decades ago almost exclusively with the denominations of
Cibinului or Sibiului Mountains, the Cindrel Mountains occupy an important sector within the group of Parâng Mountains delimited on the south-west by the Frumoasei Valley, continued toward west by the valley of the Sebes River, and toward south-east by the valley of the Sadu River. To north-east these mountains border the Transylvanian Plateau, in whose space they loose their edges, separated as the fingers of a giant hand.

    Having a surface of about 900 square kilometres and a maximum altitude of 2,244 m in the peak whose name they bear, the Cindrel Mountains are characterized by massiveness and gentle relief, produced by a uniform geological structure, consisting exclusively from crystalline schist. Upon the contact of these mountains with the Transylvanian Plateau and sometimes even on some of the northern peaks, one can find the chain of Romanian villages, Romanian from ancient times, comprised into a distinct ethno-folk, historical and socio-economical unit, known under the denomination of Marginimea Sibiului.

    The spiritual capital of Marginimii has been and continues to be nowadays the city of Saliste or Salistea Sibiului, as it is known by those inhabiting other regions of the country. (http://www.saliste-sibiu.ro)

    In almost all the present localities from this area, there has been discovered traces of the existence of primitive human communities; furthermore the Dacian citadel discovered of the Catanasi Hill near Tilisca Village, proves once again the continuity of human dwellings on these grounds throughout centuries.

    The first historic records of the villages from Marginimea Sibiului begin starting from the XIII-th and XIV-th centuries. In the year 1365, the king of Hungary - Ludovic I de Anjou (1342-1382), based on the medieval practice and in order to promote good economical and social relationships with Wallachia, offers to the Romanian ruler Vladislav Vlaicu (1364-1377), the nephew of Basarab I Intemeietorul, two dukedoms with a predominantly Romanian population: Amlasul and Fagarasul, situated in the south of the Transylvanian Voivodeship. These two dukedoms would be feudal possessions of the Wallachian rulers from the XIV-th and XV-th centuries (Vladislav Vlaicu 1365; Mircea cel Batrân 1386; Mihail I 1418; Dan al II-lea 1420; Vlad Dracul 1443; Vladislav al II-lea 1447; Vlad Tepes 1456; Radu cel Frumos 1473 and Basarab cel Batrân Laiota 1476) who in the reigning title of their times also included the medieval title of herteg of Amlas and Fagaras.

    The Dukedom of Amlas in the year of its disposal to the Wallachian ruler Vladislav Vlaicu (Vlaicu Voda) comprised nine Romanian villages (Saliste, Sibiel, Vale, Gales, Cacova-Fântânele, Sacel, Tilisca, Aciliu and Orlat) and three heavily fortified citadels (Salgo citadel from Orlat, Tuscania citadel from Tilisca and the citadel from Sibiel). The Saxon settlement Amlas (Omlas), the present village of Amnas, which gave the name of the entire dukedom, continued to be under the possession of the Hungarian kingdom.

    After only one year, on the 10th of October 1366, the villages of: Orlat, Sacel, Tilisca and Aciliu are taken back as well as the first two citadels, hence remaining only the villages  Saliste, Gales, Vale, Sibiel and Cacova/ Fântânele (quinque villis Olaceis - five Romanian villages) and the citadel from the mountains, south of Sibiel. This citadel remained further on in the possession of the Romanian rulers from the south of the Carpathian Mountains appears to have been constructed before the year 1315. The citadel had three almost concentrically moats, walls of stone with a thickness of up to 2.80m, while their height reached till 8.40m. The entire fortification had a circumference of 175 m, its length and width being of 65 m, respectively 34 m.

    In order to reach the dukedom of Amlas, the Wallachian rulers used to old mountain road that connected Wallachia with Transylvania, a road going along the following points: Novaci, Urdele mountain pass, Obârsia Lotrului, Piatra Alba, Steflesti saddle, Cindrel alpine plateau (2244 m) - Frumoasa (2168 m), Dusi, Pripoane, Crint, Fântâna Marului, Santa, Saliste. In order to reach the citadel of the dukedom, from the point Pripoane, they followed the road through Baltile Rosii, Piciorul Fântânelelor, padina Godia, and Cetatii peak.

    As we can easily observe, beginning with the last part of the XIV-th century, through Crint have passed a series of Romanian rulers or their legal representatives for the administration of the ancient dukedom of Amlas. Also through here it passed in the year 1368 an army corps of Wallachia, which fortified with soldiers of the dukedom attacked the royal citadel of Salgo and other possessions of the nobles from the area, following the deterioration of the Romanian-Hungarian relationships from those years.

    In the summer of 1493 on this old trans-Carpathian road, an Ottoman army led by Ali-beg (Michaloglu) reaches beyond the mountains and attacked by surprise the villages from the dukedom of Amlas. Following the burning and pillage of the villages: Saliste, Orlat, Cristian, Ocna Sibiului, Turnisor, Rasinari and the city of Cisnadie, full with preys and without any losses, the Turks tried to leave hastily Transylvania through Turnu Rosu mountain pass. At the entry of Olt River in its canyon, close to the village of Boita, the Turks are caught up by the Transylvanian army led by the vice-voivode Stefan Telegdy and the old mayor of Sibiu, Georg Hecht. Numerous peasants from the pillaged villages entered the fight together with the soldiers, thus trying to recover their relatives taken by the Turks in slavery. The Turks were defeated, the preys returned to those harmed and the prisoners freed.

    In the mural chronic of the Evangelical Church from Sibiu, this event has been recorded briefly: 1493. The Turks are defeated at Turnu Rosu by shepherds.

    Starting from this year we no longer find in the documents the small village of Crint that at some point appeared recorded in the old charters together with other villages from Marginimea Sibiului. It appears that the charter has been destroyed with this occasion and it never was restored.

    The southern border of Transylvania was guarded, even since the XIV-th century by Romanian frontier guards (plainicii) who performed this service in exchange of some facilities and exemptions from some taxes. In the year 1667, the prince Mihail Apafi I (1661-1690) reconfirmed and strengthened the institution of frontier guards. This institution would exist until the establishment of Romanian border regiments by the empress Maria Theresa, in the year 1763, when old the frontier guards would be replaced by the permanent service of guarding the border from the mountains.

    In the vicinity of Crint, close to the present forest range of Dusi, during the existence of border guards (1763-1851) and until the Great Union Day from the year 1918, was established Dusi Customs, an important passing point toward Wallachia. Here it used to exist together with the Customs inspectors, the post of border guards „statie de jandarmi, finant si cârciuma - gendarme station, bank and pub". The ruins of these buildings can be observed at present on the left side of the road, close to the forest range of Dusi.

  Following the nationalization from the summer of 1948, the chalets from the resort of Crint pass into the property of the state. From this year and until 1974, the tourist resort of Crint belonged to the Sibiu County Office of Tourism. The access into this micro resort took place through the road: Saliste, Santa Salistei, Fântâna Marului, and Crint. The present forest road that starts from the village of Sibiel, in those years only reached until close to the confluence of the Ardeiul stream with Scorusetul stream.

    Through the Decision no. 322 from the 30th of May 1974, the Executive Committee of the Sibiu Popular County Council performed the transfer of the tourist resort of Crint from the Sibiu County Office of Tourism to the Ministry of National Defence, respectively „Nicolae Balcescu" Military School for Active Officers from Sibiu. The instruction fields were received following Decisions no. 320/17th of May 1975 and nr. 73/18th of February 1978.

    In the year 1974 there were started the works for the extension of the road that connected the valley of the Sibiel stream to the Crint camp, a road passing south from the Crint Hill (Grindii); the repairs being finalized in the year 1975. After more than 6 years (October, 1981), a new road was constructed along the valley of the stream Ardeiul, which after crossing the dam of a micro hydro-electric power station went up in Crint, thus easing the access to the camp. These two new roads were realized thanks to the efforts of the militaries beneficiaries of the instruction camp. Throughout the years the entire accommodation and instruction facilities of the camp had been modernized.

    In the vicinity of Crint camp, one can find a series of touristic and cultural objectives that complete the value of the environment, from which we stress: Fântânele chalet, Poiana Soarelui chalet, Gales Ethnographical Museum, Museum of glass icons from Sibiel (http://www.sibiel.net/), Museum „Cultural values from Saliste", National camp of monumental wood carving from Santa Salistei (Poiana Soarelui), Foltea church, reconstructed in 1926 in the memory of the heroes from Saliste who died in the First World War, the ruins of the Dacian citadel from Tilisca, the agro-touristic resort Saliste (the old domain of Nicu Ceausescu).