Sat 22nd Nov 2008
- Brasov Travel Guide & City Information
Brasov is a charming town located in the geographical centre or Romania. Before the great Tartar invasion of 1241 Brasoc had already developed into a city. The earliest documentary data testify to the existence of Brasov in 1234, under the name of "Corona". During the feudal period, the nucleus of the town - the Citadel - was the centre of the handicraft and cultural administrative activities.
In the 15th and 16th centuries the aspect of Brasov must have been very much like that of any medieval town in the centre of Europe. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the aspect of the town began to resemble the one it has today, the buildings bearing the stamp of the Baroque or of the Viennese Rococo.
Brasov has always been an important cultural centre. It is in Scheii Brasov that the first school with tuition in Romanian was founded in 1495, and it was here too that Deacon Coresi printed the first book written in Romanian (the 16th century). Contemporary Brasov, with a population of about 400,000 is a busy industrial, shopping, tourist and cultural centre. The geographic position and natural beauty, the great variety of the scenery and its contrasting aspects, the numberless historic and architectonic monuments make Brasov one of Romania's main urban centres.