5. The Grand Square - historical buildings

What makes Sibiu so special? Is it the facades painted in pastel colors, the eyes in the brick-red roofs watching intently, or the stories hidden behind them?
The house on the right of the Brukenthal Museum holds the memory of Miss Johanna Balk, who pierced her heart with the needle of her brooch to remain true to her husband. The house on the left, called the “Blue House”, also known as the "Möringer House”, hosted the pharmacy "La Vulturul Negru". In the eighteenth century, the first city theater was opened here.
To the left of the pedestrian street Nicolae Bălcescu, you can see the façade with 13 windows of the "General’s House". Its courtyard was modified to link the Archive Street with the Grand Square. Next is the "Hecht House", named after its owners. It hosted the first post office of Sibiu, in the eighteenth century. The Saxon University – which was the administration of the Transylvanian Saxons – also had its headquarters here.
The stone frames of the windows, and the lions above them, will draw your eyes to the façade of the "Haller House". Do not hesitate to go through the imposing portal to discover the tower house. A few houses away, you could see the headquarters of the Superior Consistory of the Evangelical Church of Augustinian Confession in Romania. Across the street, the "Lutsch House" was once an inn, bookstore, grocery store, pharmacy, brewery, casino and restaurant.
The Roman Catholic Church, dedicated to the "Holy Trinity", was built in the eighteenth-century on the northern side of the square. The services are held in German, Hungarian and Romanian, testifying the city's tradition of ethnic and denominational tolerance. The next building is the Roman-Catholic parish, the former Jesuit monastery. It hosted the first headquarters of the "State Gymnasium", the current "Gheorghe Lazăr" National College.

🤔 Did you know?

🔍 In the 19th century, the ground floor of the house at number 9 housed the first photo studio in Sibiu and Transylvania. This is where the first woman photographer in Romania, Kamilla Asbóth (1838 - 1908), worked.

🔍 During the Second World War, the Blue House was the headquarters of the German Gestapo.