The Public Bath

The Haller House is the most important residential building of the Large Square of Sibiu, built in a gothic and renaissance style. It was first documented in 1472. Only a few elements are still representing the gothic style today: the layout of the house is L shaped, with the façade towards the street, as well as some arches and frameworks. The patio accommodates a two-storied tower-residence having an abrupt ridged roof above the triangular tympanum. The access into the tower used to be done through the spiral stairs from an annexed building, scraped against the tower. In 1537, the house is taken over by the Alderman Petrus Haller, who will transform it into an elegant renaissance building. Petrus Haller was the descendent of a patrician merchants’ family from Nurnberg, with marital relations with the famous merchants’ families from Frankfurt am Main, Augsburg, Vienna and Anvers. The new owner will keep the house in the family for 345 years. It is worth mentioning that the facade of the building didn’t suffer any alterations in over three centuries, as it can be seen from a drawing dating since 1703, illustrating the beheading of Alderman Johann Sachs von Harteneck.

The Hecht House, located in the Large Square, no. 8, was initially the main office of the Mint. It initially belonged to the Florentine bankers and it was later on purchased in 1472 by Georg Hecht, the mayor of Sibiu at the time. The initial construction was built in the 14th century and modified in the 15th century. It has gothic and renaissance details, two stories and a high loft, decorated with two rows of eyelets. At the ground-floor the rooms area arched, and at the upper floors there are mesh like and star shaped arches, as well as a door framework with crossed rods. The arched gangway at the ground-floor is 20 m long, displaying, directly on the left side, a stone framework belonging to the late gothic. In 1745, once the Vienna-Sibiu mail line was inaugurated, this house was used as the first mail office of Transylvania. The Saxon Aldermen lived here for a long period of time. In 1821 the building becomes the main office of the Saxon University, institution equivalent to a Parliament of the Saxons.

The House of Generals located in the Large Square of Sibiu, was built in the 15th century. In the 16th century it belonged to the Royal Judge Albert Huet, only to be purchased by the Magistracy in 1779. During 1784-1904 the building served as registered office of the General Headquarters of the Austrian troupes in Transylvania. This is the reason why it was entitled the House of Generals, being still known under this name.

The Blue House is located in the Large Square, at no. 5, next to Brukenthal Palace. The building dates back to the 15th century but its current name was assigned in 1819. It is built in a late baroque style. The façade, on the height of two levels, is dominated by the triangular attic decorated with the blazon of Sibiu. Certain details inside the monument – the cross arched gangway, some late gothic framework that are fragmentary preserved and embedded into the walls, the arches of the ground-floor chambers – indicate a much ancient age of the house. Over the years, the building suffered a series of interventions; therefore, except for the few preserved elements, it isn’t particularly interesting. The inferior wing of the building used to house during 1768-1783, while owned by the Baron von Moringer, theatre shows and after that, a century later, it served as an Academy of Law, founded in 1844, and a few years later it became the registered office of the Natural Sciences Society (1858-1862). In the middle of the 19th century it also housed the garment shop called “La ducele de Reichstadt” (“At the Duke of Reichstadt”). At present, the inside of the building is home to some departments of the Brukenthal National Museum.

The building of the City Hall plays an important role in the life of the city, being located in an elegant edifice in the Large Square of Sibiu. At the beginning of the 20th century the houses on the North-Western side of the Large Square, next to the tower of the Roman-Catholic Church were demolished in order to build the eclectic style edifice of the Land Credit Bank in 1906, with elements of Art Nouveau. The building is U shaped, consisting of basement, high ground-floor, two stories and a garret basement. The façade full of decorative elements is impressive as well as the Art Nouveau interior design. The building was transferred to State ownership during the communism period, accommodating various administrative and financial institutions. After 1990 these institutions were removed in turn and the edifice became the patrimony of the municipality. Subsequently, extensive rehabilitation and repartition works were initiated, including the extension of the office spaces in the previously unused garret, the installation of an elevator that would enable the access to disabled persons, as well as the transformation of the patio in a covered chamber with waiting room purposes for the people coming to the City Hall to solve certain issues. The inside areas were reconfigured and after the new setup there are 75 office spaces, an exposition hall with other four annexes, three meeting rooms, ten public hallways for access to the offices, plus a multifunctional basement to be used for the archives of the institution as well.

Altemberger House, which currently houses the History Museum, is considered the most important ensemble of civil gothic architecture of Transylvania. The house was built at the end of the 15th century on the request of the mayor of Sibiu at the time, Thomas Altemberger, the construction team being led by the mason Andreas Lapicida. The ensemble includes 10 wings, plus a tower of defence and it served as an office for the town’s city hall for a period of 400 years (until 1948), being also known as the Old City Hall. The tower inside the building used to house the archives of the town and of the Saxon University during 1546 and 1923, which was subsequently moved to a new location on Arhivelor Street. In 1984, the History Museum, which was active since 1959 at the ground-floor of Brukenthal Palace, moved to this building. With a history and architecture profile, the museum presents the local history, mock-ups, photocopies, cutting weapons, firearms, insignias, tombstones, treasure house and numismatic collection. The Latin inscription above the door reminds us of the visit of the Emperor Joseph the 2nd. Due to the fact that the legendary founder of the city was named Hermann, the visitors are greeted in the patio of the museum by decorative figures, entitled Hermann’s, that illustrate the typologies of the townsfolk at the end of the 17th century: the healer, the knight, the banker, the butcher, the innkeeper, the infantry man, the student, the mayor and the minstrel. In the second patio, known as the Garden of the Martyrs, there are works of figurative sculpture, such as the four consoles of loggia representing the elegantly and meticulously executed portraits in stone of some men, decorating an area with elements of renaissance influence.

The House of Arts is one of the historical buildings of Sibiu mentioned as the Hall of Butchers in the church’s registry books of 1370. It is considered the oldest “guild house” of Transylvania. In the beginning, the building only had a ground-floor, the arches of which were preserved until today. The first floor was built later on and it was meant for storing, consisting of only one hall. The ground-floor was exclusively used as business area being split into 11 rooms for the carving and marketing of meat. The eight open arcades were owned by the ancient community, as it was mentioned in the town’s Bylaw of 1589. During the 16th – 17th centuries, the grand hall of the first floor served as a gathering area for the skinners guild and after that it became an oats storehouse. In 1765, the building was transformed for a few months into a show room for the actors of a theatre group managed by the actress Gertraud Bodenburger. With the occasion of some building repairs performed in 1787, on the Southern façade the blazon of Sibiu was applied with the crossed swards and the lily pads, according to the model of the time. During 1962 and 1967, the building was rehabilitated and was since then given to the cultural circuit. To the end of the 20th century, the building came into possession of Brukenthal Museum, the ground-floor serving as area for contemporary art storages and the grand hall was used as exposition area open to all kinds of artistic and cultural appearances. This is the time when it receives the title of “House of Arts”. Since the summer of 2007, the House of Arts changes its purpose, is administered by “Astra” Museum National Complex and becomes the registered office of “Emil Sigerus” Ethnography and Saxon Popular Art Museum.

After the Tartar invasion of 1241, Sibiu was fortified between the 13th and 14th centuries, in four phases, with massive red brick walls. This led to the name Red Citadel which was assigned to the city of Sibiu. The walls expanded on approximately 4 km, provided with 39 defence towers and 5 bastions. Today we can see Soldisch and Haller Bastions, as well as the following Towers: Stairs, Council, Woodworkers, Gunsmiths, Potters, Thick, Leather Merchants, Munitions. The outside defence wall of the third fortification belt of Sibiu can be seen along Corneliu Coposu Avenue. Between the roadway and the wall there is a green area, dating since 1791, which was firstly set up between the Haller Bastion and the Thick Tower, only to be subsequently extended to Cisnădiei Bastion, known as the “invalids promenade”. Another part of the wall is located along Manejului Street, on the Eastern side of the Ursulines Church. The wall displays here a stream of semicircle arches which used to serve as support for the guard gallery. At the end towards the Ursalines Church, the wall forms two arcades that support a passage gallery towards the monks’ yard long-ago. Currently, this gallery makes the connection to Constituţiei Street. In bygone days, here used to be the Barbers Tower, close to the Salt’s Gate. The oldest construction of Sibiu, preserved in its initial form, can be found in the yard of Huet Square no. 2, where there is a 30 m section of the defence wall from the first fortification precincts of Sibiu, dating since the 13th century. The wall that can be seen on Cetăţii Street, between the Woodworkers Tower and the Potters Tower, is built during 1357 and 1366. A the present time, the wall has the aspect of the second half of the 15th century, when it was rebuilt with brick and provided with ample arcades on the inside, that support the guard road. A part of the defence wall from the third fortification belt of Sibiu is located between the Soldisch Bastion and Mitropoliei Street, on Ioan Lupaş Street, in the yard of Octavian Goga High School. Another section of the defence wall, over 200 m long, located in the subsidence area between the Upper and the Lower Towns, can be seen on Centumvirilor Street, between Odobescu and Tribunei Streets.

The Munitions Tower is located in the yard of Independenţa Vocational School, in the North of the citadel, on Ocnei Street. It was built in 1552 on the place of an older blacksmiths tower, and it used to be part of the strongest fortified compound of the city, that used to defend the Pit Gate (or the Cobblers Gate). The name of the tower comes from its purpose at the time, being a tower for the storage of the powder required for the light and heavy firearms and a defensive tower. It is a massive circular layout tower, having a roof with thick walls, with small size fire holes, built in such a way as to withstand siege gunfire. Only a small portion is exposed towards the exterior side. The access to the inside used to be done through a ramp that led to the entry located towards the current Zidului Street and towards the guard road of the wall. The tower’s lightning rod is preserved until today. The tower was rehabilitated during 1974 and 1975, its last purpose being to accommodate the creation shops of the Artists Union.