House of Arts

The Blue House is located in the Large Square, at no. 5, next to Brukenthal Palace. The building dates back to the 15th century but its current name was assigned in 1819. It is built in a late baroque style. The façade, on the height of two levels, is dominated by the triangular attic decorated with the blazon of Sibiu. Certain details inside the monument – the cross arched gangway, some late gothic framework that are fragmentary preserved and embedded into the walls, the arches of the ground-floor chambers – indicate a much ancient age of the house. Over the years, the building suffered a series of interventions; therefore, except for the few preserved elements, it isn’t particularly interesting. The inferior wing of the building used to house during 1768-1783, while owned by the Baron von Moringer, theatre shows and after that, a century later, it served as an Academy of Law, founded in 1844, and a few years later it became the registered office of the Natural Sciences Society (1858-1862). In the middle of the 19th century it also housed the garment shop called “La ducele de Reichstadt” (“At the Duke of Reichstadt”). At present, the inside of the building is home to some departments of the Brukenthal National Museum.

The building of the City Hall plays an important role in the life of the city, being located in an elegant edifice in the Large Square of Sibiu. At the beginning of the 20th century the houses on the North-Western side of the Large Square, next to the tower of the Roman-Catholic Church were demolished in order to build the eclectic style edifice of the Land Credit Bank in 1906, with elements of Art Nouveau. The building is U shaped, consisting of basement, high ground-floor, two stories and a garret basement. The façade full of decorative elements is impressive as well as the Art Nouveau interior design. The building was transferred to State ownership during the communism period, accommodating various administrative and financial institutions. After 1990 these institutions were removed in turn and the edifice became the patrimony of the municipality. Subsequently, extensive rehabilitation and repartition works were initiated, including the extension of the office spaces in the previously unused garret, the installation of an elevator that would enable the access to disabled persons, as well as the transformation of the patio in a covered chamber with waiting room purposes for the people coming to the City Hall to solve certain issues. The inside areas were reconfigured and after the new setup there are 75 office spaces, an exposition hall with other four annexes, three meeting rooms, ten public hallways for access to the offices, plus a multifunctional basement to be used for the archives of the institution as well.

Altemberger House, which currently houses the History Museum, is considered the most important ensemble of civil gothic architecture of Transylvania. The house was built at the end of the 15th century on the request of the mayor of Sibiu at the time, Thomas Altemberger, the construction team being led by the mason Andreas Lapicida. The ensemble includes 10 wings, plus a tower of defence and it served as an office for the town’s city hall for a period of 400 years (until 1948), being also known as the Old City Hall. The tower inside the building used to house the archives of the town and of the Saxon University during 1546 and 1923, which was subsequently moved to a new location on Arhivelor Street. In 1984, the History Museum, which was active since 1959 at the ground-floor of Brukenthal Palace, moved to this building. With a history and architecture profile, the museum presents the local history, mock-ups, photocopies, cutting weapons, firearms, insignias, tombstones, treasure house and numismatic collection. The Latin inscription above the door reminds us of the visit of the Emperor Joseph the 2nd. Due to the fact that the legendary founder of the city was named Hermann, the visitors are greeted in the patio of the museum by decorative figures, entitled Hermann’s, that illustrate the typologies of the townsfolk at the end of the 17th century: the healer, the knight, the banker, the butcher, the innkeeper, the infantry man, the student, the mayor and the minstrel. In the second patio, known as the Garden of the Martyrs, there are works of figurative sculpture, such as the four consoles of loggia representing the elegantly and meticulously executed portraits in stone of some men, decorating an area with elements of renaissance influence.

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.

The Munitions Tower is located in the yard of Independenţa Vocational School, in the North of the citadel, on Ocnei Street. It was built in 1552 on the place of an older blacksmiths tower, and it used to be part of the strongest fortified compound of the city, that used to defend the Pit Gate (or the Cobblers Gate). The name of the tower comes from its purpose at the time, being a tower for the storage of the powder required for the light and heavy firearms and a defensive tower. It is a massive circular layout tower, having a roof with thick walls, with small size fire holes, built in such a way as to withstand siege gunfire. Only a small portion is exposed towards the exterior side. The access to the inside used to be done through a ramp that led to the entry located towards the current Zidului Street and towards the guard road of the wall. The tower’s lightning rod is preserved until today. The tower was rehabilitated during 1974 and 1975, its last purpose being to accommodate the creation shops of the Artists Union.

The Leather Merchants Tower, also known as the Small Powder Tower, is located on Pulberăriei Strteet and is dating since the 15th century, being one of the two towers preserved in the Lower Town. The tower used to be part of the fourth fortification belt of Sibiu. The name of the tower comes from the leather merchants’ guild who had their shops in this part of town and were in charge of its security and maintenance. The Leather Merchants Tower has an octagonal shape and is built on four levels, the last one being protuberant with a pyramid shaped roof. Here we can see large cannon embrasures for the first time. Each side of the tower has black oil holes and firing embrasures for light artillery, more numerous on the exterior side. The roof has a rectangular shaped metal wind flag, which seems to have appeared recently, after the mid of the 19th century. The Leather Merchants Tower is considered a great survivor of Sibiu City, being destroyed and rebuilt several times over the years. During the great fire of March 31st 1566, the tower exploded due to the powder stored therein. The tower was afterwards affected by a catastrophic fire which occurred on September 7th 1570, followed by a third explosion on August 28th 1638 due to a lightning. It was rebuilt during the same year.

The Potters Tower is located on Cetăţii Street, between the Gunsmiths Tower and the Woodworkers Tower, being connected to the latter through a wall from the precincts of the third fortification of Sibiu. The tower was built in the 14th century, being subject to several alternations and modification over the years. The current shape is dating since the 16th century. The Potters Tower is made of stone and brick, having a rectangular shape at the base, after which the tower shrinks at the intermediate floor, only to end at the top through the classical protuberant portion supported by consoles with fire holes between the arches. At the first and second level there are ramparts shaped as keyholes especially made to enable harquebuses fire. The superior side of the tower is protuberant and it leans on consoles, like the majority of the towers of Sibiu.

The Gunsmiths Tower, later called the Drapers (Wavers) Tower, is the Southernmost of the three defensive towers built on Cetăţii Street. It is dating since the 14th century and is part of the third fortification belt of Sibiu. Its name comes from the ramparts shaped like keyholes on the first level of the tower, which allowed the passage of harquebuses. The Gunsmiths Tower is made of stone (up to approximately 1 m high) and of brick (from approximately 1 m to the top). It is shaped like an orthogonal prism. Five of its sides are located on the outside of the fortified precincts. The superior side of the tower is protuberant and it leans, as well as the majority of Sibiu’s towers, on consoles with connection arches provided with dropping holes. On the inside, the tower had two patrol paths used as manoeuvre area and deployment location of the soldiers during defence battles. It is considered that the current tower resulted from the transformation and super-elevation of an older one.

The Woodworkers Tower is the Northernmost of the towers on Cetăţii Street, built in the 14th century and being part of the third fortification belt of Sibiu City. Its name comes from the Woodworkers guild which was appointed to maintain and defend it. The Woodworkers Tower is made of stone and brick, having a circular shape at the base, delimited from the next portion by a clean-cut cornice, after which the tower turns into the shape of an octagonal prism, finalized at the upper side by a protuberant piece, supported by consoles with mouths between the arches. At the first level of the tower there are ramparts shaped like keyholes, made especially to enable harquebuses fire. The superior side of the tower is protuberant and it leans on consoles that have connections arches provided with dropping holes.