Sat 11th Oct 2008
- Sibiu Travel Guide & City Information
Sibiu is a pleasant town in Transsylvania with many monuments dating from different periods of its long history.
Sibiu was an important town in the early Middle Ages. Plundered by the Taters in 1241, it was rebuilt with great vigour. Walls, watchtowers and big gates were built so that in the future the city would be capable of defending itself from such attacks. Historians from the 15-th century attest Sibiu as the most important and powerful citadel of Transylvania, surrounded by strong walls and abutments including 5 bastions and 39 towers. It worked: in 1432, 1437, 1438 and 1442 the citadel was unsuccessfully attacked by the Turks under the leadership of Murad II.
During the 18-th century Viennese baroque left a big stamp on the city. Most of todays sights date either from the late middle ages when many bastions and towers were built for the defense or from the baroque period when palaces and merchant houses sprang up in the old centre.
The main medieval sights of Sibiu include the 13-th century Stairway Tower, the 14-th century Tower of the Townhall and the Townhall itself, the 16-th century Haller Bastion and the 15-th century Evangelic Church.
The Brukenthal Palace is a good example of the Viennese baroque style. The Orthodox Cathedral, in Byzantine style, the bridge of Lies and the Astra Palace are newer constructions and good examples of 20-th century Romanian architecture.