The Potters Tower

This is the first ever bastion built in Sibiu and one of the oldest of Transylvania, its construction being started in 1551 by the Habsburg military commander Castaldo, based on the layouts of architect Alessandro Clippa, during the Mayorship of Petru Haller. The bastion was supposed to provide security for the road coming from Brașov as well as for the South-Eastern corner of the citadel. Haller Bastion is made of brick and filled with soil, having walls with a total length of 223 m and a maximum height of 9 m. Its shape is similar to the ace of spades. For a better defence, the walls are provided at approx. 1 m from the upper limit with spacers made of rock that would prevent the installation of siege ladders. The openings of the blockhouses for the cannons are preserved to this day, both towards the Thick Tower (two), as well as towards Manejului Street (three). The “eyes” camouflaging the blockhouses that used to provide fire cover of the bastion flanks are noticeable. The Bastion stood against the sieges of Sibiu during 1602-1603, 1658, 1704, but most of all against the one from 1660 led by Gheorgy Rackoczy the 2nd. In 1771, since it was no longer necessary for the protection of the citadel, Haller Bastion was used by the Austrian army, the owner of the land, as equestrianism school. The school was active until 1911, when the Public Financial Administration took over the bastion and opened a midwives school which subsequently became a maternity hospital.

The Thick Tower, located on Cetății Street and on Corneliu Coposu Avenue, is a massive construction on a semicircle U-shaped layout, protruding approx. 25 meters outside the exterior wall. The walls are made of brick, with stones at the base, having a platform on which the cannons used to be placed. The tower was built around the year 1540 by Markus Pempfflinger, the royal judge of Sibiu, and it was part of the fortifications subsequently included into the city’s defensive belt. On the inside there used to be blockhouses provided with fire holes. Two brick ducts have also been discovered, one thought to have served for water drainage from the exterior ditch and the other one for the communication between the defence soldiers standing on each side of the tower. At the initiative of Martin Hochmeister, typographer and initiator of the first bookshop of Romania, who became the mayor of Sibiu, a hall was included into the massive Thick Tower in 1787 – the Thalia Hall, where the first Romanian theatre was established and one of the few existing in Europe. The style of the hall was rococo and it used to have two balconies and one box reserved exclusively for the Governor of Transylvania. After it burnt during a fire, in 1826, the theatre building was rebuilt in a Viennese style. Romanian theatre troupes conducted by Mihail Pascaly, Tardini-Vlădicescu and Matei Millo have performed on the stage of this theatre. Later on, many personalities of the Romanian culture have performed on the stage of Sibiu theatre, among them the famous composer George Enescu. The theatre activated continuously in this hall until 1949, when another devastating fire took place. During 1990-2004, the County Council of Sibiu rebuilt the Thalia Hall, at the same time changing its purpose. Today, the Thalia Hall hosts the State Philharmonic of Sibiu.

In front of the Southern gate of the Evangelical Church there is the statues of Bishop Georg Daniel Teutsch (1817-1893), sculpted in brass in 1899 by Adolf von Donndorf. G. D. Teutsch was a bishop and historian, honorary member of ASTRA Association. The monument depicts him standing, in his sacerdotal habiliment, holding the Bible in his left hand and with his right hand leaning on a small column on which there are documents symbolizing the medieval rights enjoyed by the Saxons.

The only element that survived from the first defensive belt of the old citadel is the Stairs Tower, one of the few Roman constructions of Sibiu. This one is dating since the 13th century, the current shape being due to the modifications of 1542. The tower is shaped like a massive one-story brick construction, having at the first level an arched gangway that reaches the stairs which are connecting the Upper Town and the Lower Town towards Turnului Street, and on the side there is an arched gangway towards Redemption Corner (Busswinkel) below the curved wall that surrounds the garden of the parochial house. Right below the Stairs Tower, though a patio you can reach the yard of the Asylum Church, where allegedly existed an older building made of stone which was mentioned in a document of the year 1292 as being a hospital. It is the oldest document confirmation of a hospital in Romania. Below the arch of the Tower we go inside the Stairs Gangway (13th century), consisting of two stair lines and arcades – being one of the representative images of medieval Sibiu, as it is the exit gate towards the Lower City.

The House with Caryatides, also known as the Little Palace, is located on Mitropoliei Street, at no. 13 and it belongs to the late baroque of Sibiu. The new building, built by the widow of Count Gregorius Bethlen after the year 1786, was placed on the location of an older one, famous for the fact that it was inhabited by the renowned silversmith Sebastian Hann. Its representative item is a truly spectacular decorative element, from which it actually took its name: the framed gateway on two caryatides, each placed on a high die, that support an open balcony.

The Goldsmiths Gangway starts under the tower of the house in the Small Square, at no. 24, located in the Upper Town, descending in steps towards the Goldsmiths Square, located in the Lower Town. The name of the gangway is explained by the fact that the goldsmiths used to have their shops in this area. Having preserved its medieval aspect since 1567, the picturesque Goldsmiths Gangway can be considered one of the most romantic places in Sibiu. At the upper end of the gangway there is a defensive tower on the precincts of two fortifications of Sibiu – the Tower of the Goldsmiths Gate – preserved since the 13th century.

The Soldisch Bastion, also named the Mercenaries Bastion, is located in the North-West corner of the citadel, on Bastionului Street, built during 1622-1627. Although it has a small area, Soldisch Bastion is one of the most interesting fortifications of the compound that used to provide security to the Upper Town. It is the last of the series of five Italian style bastions, built in order to modernize the defensive system. The bastion was made of brick and filled with soil for the purpose of providing a good protection against gunfire. Its walls are 2 meters thick and have a height of maximum 10 meters. On the inside, the ground organization and two levels of defense are still preserved and on the Southern side there are embrasures for medium size weapons as well as a door that used to allow the passage of troupes to the outside. The blazon of Sibiu is inserted in the bastion wall on the South-Easter side. At the end of the 18th century, the Alderman of the Saxons, Michael von Brukenthal, set up a fashionable garden at the time, with a fountain and orangery, with an artificial ruin and a hill made of pieces of cliff. With the occasion of the military festivities, on the platform of the bastion, cannons were brought to pour in a broadside.

The Stairs Gangway is one of the places in Sibiu with the best preserved medieval air. Some historians assume that the Stairs Gangway was allegedly built around the 13th century, but most of the specialists are of the opinion that only at the beginning of the 14th century Mayor Markus Pempfflinger required the construction of the gangway. Also known as the “Wall with needles”, the Stairs Gangway was built of stone and brick, connecting the Upper Town with the Lower Town via two lines of stairs and arcades that surrounded the walls of the citadel around the Evangelical Church. The Gangway ends in the upper part, at the crossing with Odobescu Street, with the Gate Tower and with the Old City Hall, today the History Museum within the Brukenthal National Museum. The building situated on the Southern side of the Stars Gangway houses the oldest restaurant of Romania, where – it is told that – even Michael the Brave dined after the battle of Șelimbăr. In order to arrive at the Stairs Gangway one must pass beneath the arch of the Stairs Tower.

The best known monument of Sibiu, the Council Tower used to be an entry gate to the city through the second fortification belt. Its name comes from the fact that it was located nearby the City Hall of Sibiu. The Council Tower, built during 1224-1241, is located in the Small Square, at no. 1. The Council Tower is a building with seven stories successively phased out, having their facades marked by narrow openings shaped as ramparts. The edifice is supported by high buttresses which phase out step-by-step, on the sides towards the Large Square and the Small Square. The buttresses on the Southern side of the tower are inserted with two embossed lions, which were presumed to be part of the tower’s original structure, but which appear to be sculpted during the Renaissance (final third of the 16th century). At the ground floor there are two ample arched passages that connect the Small and the Large Squares. The access to the inside of the tower is done through a small sized door, located in the Small Square. From here the narrow spiral stairs lead to the upper floors. On the 4th floor there is the horologe mechanism with dials on all four sides of the tower. Over the years, the tower was given different uses: gate tower, grain storehouse, fire tower (fire observation point), jail, natural science museum (around the mid of the 19th century). At the moment, the tower is used for various exhibitions and as belvedere point, on the superior level of the tower the visitor being able to see the entire Sibiu city and the crests of Făgăraș Mountains.