The Leather Merchants Tower

The Roman-Catholic Parochial House is the first important attraction of the Large Square, being built in baroque style during 1726-1739. In the past, the building used to shelter the Jesuit Seminary. It includes fragments of the Skinners’ Hall. In 1466 this used to be the main office of the tailors’ guild, which in 1688 is organized for catholic services by the Jesuit monks. During 1774-1790, on the second floor there used to be the Catholic Elementary School, which was moved to the Ursulines’ building in order to give place to the State Secondary School that will activate until 1899, when the current building of Gheorghe Lazăr High School is inaugurated. During 1899 and 1907 the County Court will move here. Since the end of the 19th century, the ground-floor will accommodate stores. On the left side there used to be the first information office for hotels, coffee-shops and restaurants of Sibiu, Fleck & Preis, which was moved in 1907 to the Small Square, at no. 9, in order to give place to the Sibiu Branch of the Commercial Bank of Pesta. After 1920, when the bank was closed down, the place was occupied by Siebenbürgische Bank und Sparkasse until it was transferred to State ownership. In the patio of the Parochial House there is the statue of the Saint Martyr Johannes Nepomuk, which used to be initially in the Large Square from where it was removed by the communist regime. The statue was accommodated for a long period of time by the yard of the Brukenthal Museum, until it was moved to the patio.

The Zoo of Sibiu was founded in 1929, being the first zoo of Romania. The zoo was crated at the initiative of an engineer from the Electricity Company who had the idea after finding some foxes by the dam of Sadu. With donations, the small zoo increased its livestock. Boards, stags, eagles, a she-wolf, a wild cat and, since 1930, the first bear cub were brought to the zoo.  At the moment the zoo has an area of 20ha and it hosts over 300 animals of 70 species: bears, tigers, lions, jaguar, lamas, monkeys, Carpathian stags, deer, white buffalos, ponies, camels, zebras, mouflons, snakes, pheasants, parrots, peacocks, pigeons, etc.  At the entry of the zoo there is a secular oak that is approximately 600 years old.

The Hermes House is the former House of the Small Artisans Association, built during 1865-1867 – today the main office of ”Franz Binder” Universal Ethnography Museum. The archaeological researches over here led to the discovery of an old wooden house vestiges dating since the 12th century. The house is built in neo-gothic style, bringing elegance and distinction to the architectural setting of the Small Square of Sibiu. The name of the house comes from the Greek mythology, Hermes being the god of trade. The name represents a symbol, considering that, in the Middle Ages this was the place where the old merchants were trading. The building has a historical importance due to the fact that it is located in the oldest central area of Sibiu City, but also because, in times past, personalities of the time used to live here: Saxon Aldermen, royal judges of the 17th – 18th century, fact proven by the three stone plates which refer to the owners of the old building, previous to the House of the Small Artisans Association. Since 1993, the Hermes House accommodates the “Franz Binder” Universal Ethnography Museum, the first and only extra-European ethnography museum of Romania.

The Luxemburg House is located in the Small Square, at no. 16, being built on the first fortified precincts of Sibiu. The building has facades towards the Small Square and the Albert Huet Square and it consists of an old 15th century gothic wing and a new 19th century baroque wing. The edifice received its current denomination in 2004, with the occasion of the Great Duke Henri of Luxemburg and Great Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxemburg visit to Romania. It is worth mentioning that during 1999-2003 the building was rehabilitated with the support of the Great Duke of Luxemburg. At the ground-floor certain gothic and renaissance elements were preserved (frameworks, arches), but the building stands especially out because of its superb baroque woodwork and its decoration with mouldings at the upper floors. In the 19th century the edifice came into possession of the evangelical priest Johann Georg Schaser, hence the name it previously had.

The Lutsch House, located in the Large Square, at no. 13, was named in this manner after the name of one of its owners of the 16th century, being one of the most important buildings of the historical Sibiu. In the beginning the building had a four-storied tower-residence, similar to the one of the Haller House. The initial layout of the building can be reset based on the layout of the current cellar where certain details were faithfully preserved (stone frameworks with blunt edges, spiral stairs leading to the next floor as well as partial foundations of a chapel with a polygonal loft, in the posterior side of the house - St. Ladislau former chapel). Certain historians agree that this house was built in 1424 by King Sigismund, with the purpose of hosting the kings, voievodes and senior officials who were coming at the time to Sibiu. Up until the end of the 15th century, the house belonged to Altemberger Family, only to be owned during 1537-1593 by Haller Family. Subsequently, the edifice comes into possession of Johann Lutsch. In 1661 the building comes into possession of Georg Reussner and the “legend” has it that the house was allegedly won at a game of bowling. As a matter of fact, the blazon with the digits also displayed two hands, one of which holding a bowling pin. In 1821, the descendants of the last owner donate the building to the state. The last renovation took place in 1999.

The Weidner-Reussner-Czekelius House is located in the Large Square, at no. 16, its denomination coming from the names of three successive owners, who left their mark upon its architecture. The house was established by the annexation of two buildings dating since the 16th century. The right side of the building, where the gateway is located, used to belong to the Weidner Family and it subsequently became the property of Senator Johann Reussner-Jr. The other wing of the building, expanded in depth towards the yard, came to belong to the Czekelius Family, during the final quarter of the 16th century. Over the years, the building suffered numerous alterations, the ground-floor being separated and transformed into a chain of stores. The first house also preserves the only details that have interest for the visitors. In the passage to the yard there is also a stone sculpted door framework. In the centre of cornice there is a name plate shaped like a wide shield with rounded peak inserted with the cipher C. W. (Cirves-Servatius Weidner Jr.) and the year 1582. In the reception hall upstairs fresco fragments were discovered in 1902 (unfortunately, subsequently covered with the painting), which contained scenes of the Trojan War. It seems that the murals belonged to the end of the 16th century and middle of the following century. In the patio there can still be seen the carriage rails from the time when this used to be a storehouse for metal and chemical products. They used to be transported with the carriage from the unloading area at the gateway to the storage area – the last building of the yard.

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.