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Citadel Walls

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Str. Cetăţii, Bulevardul C. Coposu, Str. Manejului, Piaţa Huet, Str. Ioan Lupaş, str. Centumvirilor, Sibiu, România

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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.

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