Lugoj was once a strongly fortified city that developed along the river Timiș.

During the Middle Ages

and eighteenth century, it was of greater relative importance than at present.
A diploma dated Wednesday 22 August 1376, signed by King Sigismund of Luxemburg, shows that
Lugoj city was donated to Losonczy family. At the end of the 14th century, after the Battle of
Nicopolis (1396), the Turks crossed the Danube, invading the region of Banat and reached the gates
of Lugoj. The city was strengthened with trenches, ramparts and palisades in 1440 by the initiatives
of Hunyadi, as a comite of Timis , in order to its defense system. It resisted Ottoman pressures until
1658, when the Prince of Transylvania asked Lugoj and Caransebeș to accept the decision taken by
the Diet of Sighișoara to agree to Turkish occupation.
After the defeat of the Turks during the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Habsburgs went on the
offensive and briefly occupied the cities of Lugoj and Lipova (1688). On September 25, 1695 the
battle between the armies of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire that took place near
Lugoj ended with the defeat of the Austrians.
After signing the Treaty of Karlovitz (1699), the region of Banat remained under Ottoman rule for
nearly 20 years. The Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718) was signed and the Turks were expelled.
The Habsburg Monarchy wanted to repopulate the Banat, which had emptied following the years of
occupation and earlier bubonic plague. The government recruited Germans
from Bavaria, Swabia and Alsace-Lorraine, particularly farmers to revive agriculture in the rich
floodplain. They traveled down the Danube River on boats to this area. They later took the rafts
apart to use to build their first houses. In this area, the first German colonists settled on the left bank
of the river Timiș (circa 1720), creating what was called "German Lugoj". The government had
offered them the privileges of keeping their German language and religion; most were Roman
Catholic.
In the 18th century, many public buildings were built in the city, including the Roman Catholic Church
and the Orthodox Church "Assumption". In 1778, following the incorporation of Banat into Hungary,
Lugoj became the county seat of Caraș. In 1795 the government unified the Romanian Lugoj and
the German Lugoj.
Eftimie Murgu settled in Lugoj in 1841. In June 1848 he chaired the second National Assembly of
Romanians of Banat, where they expressed in postulates the National Order of Romanians during
the Revolutionary Movement from Banat, whose center was Lugoj.
In the summer of 1842 a great fire took place, in which about 400 houses and important buildings
were destroyed.
In August 1849 Lugoj was the last seat of the Hungarian revolutionary government. It served as the
last refuge of Lajos Kossuth and several other leaders of the Revolution prior to their escape to
the Ottoman Empire.
Under the imperial resolution of 12 December 1850, Lugoj became the seat of the Greek-Catholic
Diocese of Banat. Lugoj was the seat of Krassó-Szörény County from 1881 to 1918. Following the
break-up of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I, the region of Banat, after a brief period of
Serbian occupation came under Romanian administration. Severin County was organized and
named, and its seat was located in Lugoj until the temporary abolition of counties in 1950.
The Iron Bridge, a symbol of Lugoj, was built in 1902. On November 3, 1918 a Great National
Assembly took place in Lugoj. The right of self-determination of the Romanian nation was
proclaimed after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I.
In modern times, the city was the home town of famous Dracula actor Bela Lugosi.
It is the seat of the Eparchy of Lugoj in the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic.