Râu de Mori in the Hateg Land
    Lying in the South-West of Transylvania,the Hateg Land is one of the most important and best-known civilization hearths in the Romanian historical space.Its varied relief consists of plains washed by the Strei,the Râul Mare and the Galbena and their numerous tributaries,rushing down from Piedmontese hills and hillocks covered by forests and rich pastures.The Hateg Land is situated on the main highroad uniting Transylvania with Banat,being closely connected with Oltenia through the Vâlcan Pass. Just like Transylvania, whose South-Western stronghold it used to be,the Hateg Land appears as a natural fortification watched over by the Orastie Mountains to the East,the Parâng and the Vâlcan to the South,the Retezat to the South and the East and the Poiana Ruscai to the North,forming an ideal historical-geographical area for the preservation of human communities.Hateg came into being on the place of the old nucleus of the Dacian state and of Roman Dacia.Since it was first mentioned in documents in 1247,it has been quite a distinct subprovince,through its social structures that have long been exclusively Romanian,as well as through original creations of material culture,with traces that have been preserved to date.In the 15th century,"the Hateg Land"or district consolidated its entity and historical individuality,becoming Transylvania's main fortress of defense against the Ottoman incursions at a time when the numerous brave princes and free Romanians there turned into a basic pawn of the Transylvanian armies and of the fortresses on the Southern front of the Hungarian Kingdom.Witnessing an upsurge and assertion in the time of Ioan of Hunedoara,coming from those places and of the big victorious anti-Ottoman battles,the Hateg Land has preserved its political-administrative individuality during the Middle Ages,until its old organization was dismantled in mid-19th century.Its human structures were always based on the gentry,with a very complicated evolution,very interesting for that matter.

    The space has not undergone too much of a change.Cooperative farming was confined only to the central"plain"zone,while the villages closer to the mountains stuck to the traditional values.The industrial units have been concentrated only in the town of Hateg.Hydrographic improvement building-sites have substantially changed the axis of the Râul Mare,but after the completion of works,life around the sites came back to normal at a slow pace.
    Râu de Mori, one of the Hateg communes lies 19 km far from the town of Hateg,situated in the central-Southern part of the Hateg depression separating the high plain from the hillocks heralding the mountains.It is the commune centre.You can reach this locality only by car or by coach.There are two main ways of access,both starting in the town of Hateg,which is the turntable of the whole traffic in the zone.The latter boasts the only bus terminal in the area.Moreover,it lies about four kilometres far from the Subcetate railway station.A railway line,less frequently used starts from there and passes through the town of Hateg,its terminus being Sarmizegetusa(17 km towards Caransebes).To the South-West ,DN 68 is the highway to Caransebes.There are two possible ways of access from that road.The first starts ll km on the left hand side(South-Eastwards),passing through Ostrov(about 7 km).The second starts from a point 15 km far from Hateg,on the same highway,passing through Clopotiva and Brazi(about 8 km).Worth mentioning is that the road branches off to Râu de Mori 55-60 km far from the town of Caransebes and about 36 km far from the little town of Otelul Rosu.The second major variant of access by car or by coach is along the DN 66 highway,from the town of Hateg to Petrosani, three km away,in front of the Sântamarie Orlea commune,South-Westwards, where another approximately 15 km long highway takes you to Râu de Mori.From the junction,it is 46 km to the town of Petrosani.