The documents of the time mention the existence of a stronghold in the XIV century, situated on the current site of the castle, a royal fortress with an ellipsoidal shape and a refuge tower on the North wing, barred on the South side by a stone wall. This estate of the D’Anjou family became the property of the Corvins at the beginning of the XV century (1409), during the times of the nobleman Voicu, as a donation including the fortress and the estate of Hunedoara. It was during this chronological moment in history that the name of the Corvins were mentioned, when king Sigismund of Luxembourg offered the above mentioned estate and the castle as reward for special military merits. Voicu’s son, Ioan Corvin of Hunedoara (Johannes Corvin of Hunyad), enlarged the construction existing in the XIV century; as a result of two successive construction stages, a new precincts was developed, between 1441-1446, equipped with 7 protective towers – 4 circular ones and 3 rectangular ones. He also built most of the Chapel, the palace proper (The Council’s Hall, The Knight’s Hall), the tower of the winding stairway and the South side, which included house hold facilities, during the second stage (1446-1453). After a number of confrontations with the Ottoman Empire, Ioan Corvin, in the meantime appointed military governor of the Hungarian Kingdom, died after the battle of Belgrad (August 11, 1456). Elisabeth Szilagy, his wife and their son, Matthew Corvin, one of the most brilliant kings of medieval Hungary, had the loggia in the North wing built (the Matthew Loggia), the construction of the Chapel and the Council’s Hall completed, and continued the works of embellishing the castle.
In the XV century, the castle was a unique example of nobiliary fortified residence for the area of Transylvania, a dwelling combining specific elements of late Gothic style with the early Renaissance style. The Corvins owned the castle and the estate of Hunedoara up to 1508, followed by 22 other owners up to XVIII century when the castle and estate became the property of the Habsbourg Empire and the castle itself was turned into the administrative headquarters of the mines and the storage house for the iron products (1724-1854). The destiny of the castle is linked, in the XVII century, to the personality of prince Gabriel Bethlen (1613-1629), who had some interior modifications executed, had the castle remodeled for the defensive demands of the times, by having the white tower, the artillery platform, the inner precincts and the Bethlen place built – the palace merges middle and late Renaissance characteristics – and had the new entrance into the castle opened through the new gate tower.
After a series of minor modifications and fires, the last fire in 1854 having destroyed the whole wooden structure of the castle, the first restoration works was started (1868-1874); as a result, the shingle roof of the castle was replaced with a tile roof, some of the towers were super-elevated, a neo-Gothic façade was built, next to the Bethlen palace, and some interior works and fittings out were executed.
The turning of the castle into a museum (1974) was preceded by another restoration and consolidation stage (1956-1968) and, after 1997, the restoration works has been going on up now.

The legend of the well
The legend says that after a fight three Turkish became prisoners in the Hunedoara fortress. After a deal with the owner of the castle in exchange of their liberty they had to dig a well. After 15 years of work they found water but they were not released because in the meantime Ioan of Hunedoara died and his successor did not recognize the deal made by Ioan. Then, one of these Turkish engraved an inscription, which can be translated as “you have water but you have not heart”.