Ursulines Church

The Church of the Ursulines is a Roman-Catholic church located in the centre of Sibiu, on Gheorghe Magheru Street. It was built in the 15th century and it name comes from the nuns patronized by St. Ursula.

The Ursulines Church was originally the church of the Dominican Monastery. In 1728, after the instauration of the Austrian administration in Transylvania, the edifice of the former Dominican Monastery was handed over to the Ursuline nuns, being populated by a group of nuns brought from Pojon.

Initially, the building of the church was built in gothic style, very similar to the Franciscan church. During 1728-1733, the Ursuline nuns rebuilt the church in baroque style. The edifice preserves to this day some gothic elements such as the buttresses, the threefold windows in the superior side and the late gothic gate on the Western façade. Subsequently, the construction was rehabilitated and modified several times.

On the Western façade of the church, above the entry gate, there is the statue of St. Ursula in a semi-circle housing. The statue of St. Ursula is placed on a baroque style die, below which there is a blue label with the inscription "Ursula".

An unprecedented element is the inscription above triumphal arch that reminds us of the benefactor of the church, the Empress Maria Terezia. The letters of the Latin text, marked in red, indicated the year of the last major renovation (1774).

The church has three relatively recent shrines on the inside.

At the moment, the Church of the Ursulines is used both by the Roman-Catholic community and by the Greek-Catholic community of Sibiu. The Roman-Catholic religious services are celebrated in Latin language on Mondays, Wednesday and Saturday and in German language on Sundays and on commandment holy days.