Alba Iulia, also known as the Other Capital, boasts a rich history, being one of the country's important cities, thanks to the events that took place here over time. Since ancient times, people have preferred these places, as evidenced by the multitude of archaeological finds, from housing complexes and funerary monuments to ancient cult objects and household items.

Historical sources attest to the existence of Neolithic settlements here from the 5th millennium BC, inhabited by tribes of shepherds and farmers. Later, an important Dacian tribal centre, called Apoulon, was established near today's Alba Iulia. In the Roman era, the Roman fortress of Apulum was founded in Alba Iulia, one of the most important centres of Roman rule in Dacia, which functioned from 106-275 AD, due to the cantonment of the 13th Gemina Legion in the area.

The post-Roman era was marked by the invasions of several migrating peoples, some of whom settled in the populated areas of Alba Iulia and its surroundings. The history of the town was marked in the following centuries by the settlement of the Slavs in the area, and later by the expansion of the kingdom of Hungary into Transylvania, which brought in the population of Hungarian origin and a few centuries later, the settlement of the Saxons. Throughout these periods, Alba Iulia was given several names depending on the population of these lands: Apulum during the Roman rule, Balgrad, Gyulafehervar and Weissenburg in the Middle Ages, and after the Austrian occupation it was called Carlsburg.

Moments that marked the history of the city were: The political union of the provinces of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia under the sceptre of the prince Michael the Brave, the peasant uprising of 1784, led by Horea, Cloșca and Crișan, the Revolution of 1848 and the Great Union of 1 December 1918.