The town
Sibiu Hermannstadt
The town
The town is situated in the center of Ro-mania and is rightly considered as a real high point of Romanian tourism. The main highways crossing Romania (DN 1, DN 7 and DN 14) converge in Sibiu, a town with rich material resources, valuable monuments and surroundings which make of it one of Romania's most popular tourist areas. Located upon a Neolithic settlement and on the ruins of the ancient Roman City of Cedonia, the town was mentioned in documents as far as the 12 th century under the name of Cibinium. After the first destruction by the Tatars in 1241, the town was surrounded with fortified walls and 40 towers during the 15 th century. Some of them still exist, although parts of the walls were demolished. New gateways opened up in the 19th century. The old town is centered on three squares - the Piata Mare, the Piata Mica and the Piata Huet. Near them are the old synagogue (which is still used in the summer by Sibiu's remaining two dozen Jews), the St. Ursula Church dating from 1474-1478 and the Franciscan Church, also built in the 15 th century and rebuilt in the Baroque style after the roof collapsed in 1776. The renovated premises of 16 th and 17 th century merchants, whose acumen and thrift were proverbial, surround Piata Mare. The 18 th century Brukenthal Palace was the home of Samuel von Brukenthal, the imperial governor of Transsylvania. The palace was designed by a Viennese architect in a refined late Baroque style and now houses Transsylvania's finest museum, the Brukenthal Museum, partially assembled by Brukenthal himself. As well as an extensive collection of Romanian art, the museum includes the best of Central European silverware, 15 th and 16 th century Transsylvanian wooden religious sculptures and 18 th century Romanian icons. The town's History Museum is housed in the old City Hall, which was built in 1475 and remodelled in 1545. In the Piata Huet, the Evangelical Cathedral, a massive hall-church completed in 1520 dominates its neighbours, the Brukenthal School and Gymnasium and the Theological Institute - confirming the town's pre-eminence as a centre of Lutheran belief. The cathedral houses Ro-mania's largest church organ and in summer there are recitals on Wednesday evenings. There is a superb altarpiece in the north transept (1512), a fresco of the Crucifixion on the north wall of the choir (1445), showing Italian and Flemish influences, and the tomb of Mihnea the Bad, Dracula's son, is held in the crypt. There is also a fine collection of funerary plaques, including a well-tended memorial to the Hungarian dead of the First World War. Near the cathedral, an alley leads to the 13 th century Stairs' Passage, which descends in-to the lower town, shadowed by arches and the medieval citadel wall. 1 2 23 A kind of miniature urban canyon runs down from the northwest corner of the Piata Mica under the elegant Iron Bridge. The bridge (1859) is nicknamed "The Liars' Bridge". The story goes that if someone tells a lie on it, the bridge will collapse. On the far side of the bridge stands the arcaded old market hall (1789), now hosting temporary art exhibitions. On the north side of the square are the Pharmaceutical Museum and the "Franz Binder" Ethnology Museum. Cut-ting through the gate below the Counselors' Tower (1588), one can return to Piata Mare square. With the encouragement of governor Samuel von Brukenthal, Sibiu developed as a centre of intellectual life, providing a haven for the Romanians bent on raising their own people's cultural horizons du-ring the 19 th century. Gheorghe Lazar and others opened a Romanian high school, still functioning today - the "Gheorghe Lazar" High School. The model of the Orthodox Cathedral was based on the Ayah Sofia in Istanbul and is established with all manner of Neo-Byzantine flourishes and frescoes. 400 m away is the ASTRA park (ASTRA = the Association for the Spreading of Romanian Culture in Transsylvania), lined with statues of Romanian cultural personalities. In 1905, ASTRA opened a library and a museum overlooking the park. The Museum of Hunting Weapons and Trophies, the former house of a Habsburg, shelters a unique collection of weapons and stuffed animals, the only one of its kind in Romania.
| Southwest of the centre along the Calea Dumbravii, near the Zoological Garden in the Dumbrava forest, is the excellent Museum of Folk Technology, a rival to the Village Museum in Bucharest as perhaps the best of Romania's open-air museums. The emphasis is on folk technology, with wind and watermills from all over the country. The villages south of Sibiu lie at the foothills of the Cindrel (or Cibin) mountains, where enjoyable day walks and longer hikes can be taken. 12 km from Sibiu, on the road to the resort of Paltinis lies the village Rasinari with a painted Orthodox church built in 1752 and an ethnological museum, showing local costumes and pottery. Founded in 1894 by the "Siebenbürgischer Karpatenverein", the Paltinis resort attracts tourists not only in winter, but also during the summer. Cisnadie and Cisnadioara are well-known for their beautiful Romanesque churches. In Cisnadie one can also visit the Textile Museum, which has a good coverage of the local household industry. Cisnadioara offers the chance to take a walk through its Ethnogra-phic Museum, a chance that shouldn't be missed especially during the summertime. Come to Sibiu and visit all these marvellous places! You won't regret it! | 
|
Thougts
and impressions