The fortified church from Biertan

The Brukenthal Museum is a special institution because it is the first museum established in Romania and Central Europe, in 1817. It owes its existence to one of the most important personalities in Transylvania: Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, the governor of the province in the second half of the eighteenth century.  The Brukenthal Palace and the Baron's collections are the core of today's Brukenthal National Museum, its gates opened to the public since its founding by the testament of its founder.  A visit to the museum is not limited to a single building and to a unique specialization: it becomes a journey presenting multiple aspects of the past and the present, in their metamorphosis. A metamorphosis mirrored into a wide array of objects displayed on 10,000 m2 of exhibitions, of which 5,500 represent new and recently refurbished spaces.  Initially displaying the European painting collection of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal in a single building, today the museum hosts a great diversity of valuable collections in nine buildings. Five of them are palaces built at different times: the earliest building (with foundation elements from the 13th century) is part of the architectural complex hosting the History Museum, while the latest is from 1901, hosting the Contemporary Art Gallery.

Over the years, Sibiu was the witness and beneficiary of the extraordinary contribution brought by numerous cultural and artistic personalities who helped develop the city as we know it today. Each of these personalities has a distinctive and astonishing story that connects him/her to Sibiu’s destiny and remains woven into the intimate fibre of the community. Sibiu was a medieval citadel which couldn’t be conquered. There is a pedestrian alley between the first and the second guard walls that connects the first theatre ever built on the Romanian territory in 1788 with the „Barracks 90”, where the future theatre will be built. This Walk of Fame was born between the past and the future, adding each year new significant names of the world of theatre, dance and art shows. The Walk of Fame, opened in the summer of 2013 by the Municipality with the occasion of the 20th anniversary edition of the International Theatre Festival of Sibiu, is thought as a permanent location of celebration and recognition of these contributions, as well as a tribute to the accomplishments in the cultural and artistic field of Sibiu or related to it. Although inspired by the famous Walk of Fame from Hollywood, the Walk of Fame from Sibiu is thought as a cultural event, which gives it its own personality, as well as a tourist attraction conferring uniqueness to the site. The first seven stars were awarded to the following personalities: Ariane Mnouchkine Director Eugenio Barba Director Sasha Waltz Choreographer Silviu Purcărete Director Declan Donnellan Director George Banu Theatre Personality Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII (post mortem) Kabuki Actor

Este Casa Parohială Evanghelică, care încorporează substanţă murală din vechea casa parohială din secolul XIII. Elevaţia casei este databilă în secolul XV, remarcabil fiind portalul atribuit pietrarului Andreas Lapicida, ilustrativ pentru goticul târziu cu influenţe de renaştere timpurie. Blazonul este al preotului Johannes din Alţîna datat 1502.

The building on no. 3 related to the Stairs Tower is part of the first fortification belt in the 13th century. The current exterior configuration is a „modernization” of the 19th century. The building annexed to the tower was a merchants’ house, the small wing leading to the tower dating since the end of the 19th century. The Northern wall preserved a window framework since the Renaissance. The walls are fresco painted dating since the first half of the 16th century.

The building at no. 5 from Huet Square is a public building erected in 1786 without being altered until the present day. The construction was performed after the demolition of a building of the 14th century, which served as an elementary school for the town in 1380. The new location complied with the needs of the secondary and high school education legislated by the imperial government. The building has a baroque style, including a „cathedra” in the theatre of the high school, a monumental wooden structure with lecterns and baldachin designated for the presence of the high school’s rector with the occasion of the school ceremonies, authentic furniture, possibly unique in Romania. Nicolaus Olahus, Alderman Harteneck of the Saxons, Governor Brukenthal, Romulus Cîndea, Emil Sigerus, Julius Bieltz and many others have studied at the Brukenthal High School.

Corneliu Coposu Avenue is entirely located in the ditch of the South-Eastern side of the 3rd precincts. On the right side of the avenue, coming from Andrei Şaguna Street (DN1), there is a part of the guard wall, on the left side there is a relatively intact Vauban fortification, with the Cisnădiei Gate Bastion, the Thick Tower and the Haller Bastion. The wall is crossed by several modern passages for the facilitation of pedestrian traffic. It is worth mentioning the so called „Plaque Hole” at the end of Ghe. Lazăr Street, flanked by two massive pilasters from the end of the 19th century, used in the precincts wall to facilitate the evacuation of bodies during the plague epidemic of the 16th century, to enable access to the city cemetery. Behind the Vauban fortification you can see the upper side of the three towers on Cetăţii Street, preserved intact from the walls of the 3rd original precincts’ fortification.

The gangway that connects the Small Square and the Goldsmiths Square, namely the second precincts with the fourth precincts of the city, is what subsisted to a strong gate bastion, the Goldsmiths Tower, wherefrom a part of the embattled wall is still preserved embedded in the wing of a civil construction subsequent to 1551.

The tower is overlapped with the gate tunnel with round arched dome, the opening towards the exterior of precincts III is flanked by two buttresses. The first floor integrated to Altemberger establishment (the old city hall), is round arched. On the side towards Brukenthal High School the communication with the building ensemble is preserved, creating the South-Western side of Huet Square currently replaced by Brukenthal High School. The tower’s roof has a short pyramidal shape.

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.