Cindrel Mountains (also known as Cândrel Mountains, Cibin Mountains, or the Szeben Alps) are a group of mountains in central

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

in the centre of the

Southern Carpathians The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the ...

, in the North-East of the

Parâng Mountains group The Parâng ( hu, Páring-hegység) mountain group is a subgroup of mountains in the Southern Carpathians. It is named after the highest of the mountains in the group, the Parâng Mountains. Boundaries The Parâng group is bounded: *in the east, ...

. From the

Transylvanian Plateau The Transylvanian Plateau ( ro, Podișul Transilvaniei; hu, Erdélyi-medence) is a plateau in central Romania. The plateau lies within and takes its name from the historical region of Transylvania, and is almost entirely surrounded by the East ...

, with heights between , in the North and East, the heights grow abruptly through a zone of deep valleys at about on the verge of the massif where some villages are situated. The heights continue to grow slowly towards the highest peak, ''Cindrel Peak'', at . Only two other peaks in the range rise above 2000 metres: ''Balandrul Mare'' () and ''Starpului'' (). Mount Cindrel was the site of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Battle of Mount Csindrel The Battle of Mount Csindrel was a World War I military engagement between German and Romanian forces. It was part of the 1916 Battle of Transylvania and resulted in a tactical victory for the Romanians. Background After launching his successful ...

, part of the 1916

Battle of Transylvania The Battle of Transylvania was the first major operation of the Romanian forces Campaign during World War I, beginning on 27 August 1916. It started as an attempt by the Romanian Army to seize Transylvania, and potentially knock Austria-Hungary ...

. Because the massif is easily accessible, the ethnographical area

Mărginimea Sibiului Mărginimea Sibiului ( hu, Szeben-Hegyalja) is an area which comprises 18 Romanian localities in the south-western part of the Sibiu County, in southern Transylvania, all of them having a unique ethnological, cultural, architectural, and historic ...

has formed around the mountain, having

sheep-herding A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

and

wood industry The wood industry or timber industry (sometimes lumber industry -- when referring mainly to sawed boards) is the industry concerned with forestry, logging, timber trade, and the production of primary forest products and wood products (e.g. fur ...

as the main occupations. On the

Cibin Cibin (german: Zibin; hu, Szeben) is a river in central Romania, in the south part of Transylvania. Its source is close to the highest peak in the Cindrel Mountains (known also as Cibin Mountains) of the Southern Carpathian Mountains. Upstream f ...

and the

Sadu Sadu (german: Zood; hu, Cód) is a commune in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania, at the foothills of the Cindrel Mountains, 27 km south of the county capital Sibiu, in the Mărginimea Sibiului ethnographic area. It is composed of a single ...

rivers dams and hydro-electrical power plants were constructed, the oldest being the one from

in 1896. The Păltiniș resort is situated halfway between the village of

Rășinari Rășinari (german: Städterdorf; hu, Resinár) is a commune in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 5,280 inhabitants (2011 census) and is composed of two villages, Prislop (''Priszloptelep'') and Rășinari. Until 2012, ...

and the , with hotels, chalets and a ski slope. The resort has developed around a small monastery in which the Romanian philosopher

Constantin Noica Constantin Noica (; – 4 December 1987) was a Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from epistemology, philosophy of culture, axiology and philosophic anthropology to ontology and logics ...

spent the last part of his life. The main river flowing from the mountain is the Cibin River, which collects most of the other smaller rivers. Between the Cindrel Mountains and the Transylvanian Plateau, the river forms a wide depression—the —in which the main city in the area,

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

, lies. The ethnographic region known as

is located there.

References

External links

Information about the Carpathians Mountains
{{coord, 45, 35, N, 23, 47, E, display=title, region:RO_type:mountain_source:dewiki Mountain ranges of the Southern Carpathians Geography of Sibiu County