SIBIU

Sibiu is a county residence; Daco-Roman settlement; documentary attestation from the 13th century.

Sibiu is located in central Romania in the Southern part of the Transylvanian plateau, 170 miles northwest from Bucharest. The city has about 200,000 inhabitants. It is located near the Cibin River and romantically preserves the character of its medieval past. It is a blend of old and new, with brick walls, towers, old narrow streets and a varied assortment of architecture. Sibiu is an important cultural, ethnographic, folk and tourist center.

Located upon a Neolithic settlement and on the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Cedonia, the site of the city is mentioned in documents as founded in 1191, when settlers from Saxony arrived on its location.

Medieval Sibiu was the site of a fortress built in the 13th century, which was destroyed by the Tartars in 1241, rebuilt a century later, and three times assaulted by the Turks during 1400's. Many Germans settled in the area and the town became known as Hermannstadt. Another large ethnic minority of the city was the Hungarians, so, during the period when Transylvania was a part of the Austrian Empire, Sibiu was known as Nagyszeben.

Main places of interest:

• the Brukenthal Museum with its 18th century Austrian Baroque architecture houses the largest art collection in Transylvania and large displays on ethnology, natural sciences and history;
• the Folk Civilization Museum is based in a natural park in the outskirts of Sibiu and accommodates a large collection of old Romanian houses, it represents the largest open-air museum in Europe;
• the Old Town Hall is an important ensemble of Gothic architecture constructed from 1470-91;
• the Large Square and the Small Square with Gothic architectural monuments, the Tower of the Town Hall (13th - 14th centuries), the old stairways and bridges linking the "upper town" to the narrow picturesque streets of the "lower town";
• the Orthodox Cathedral, built at the beginning of the 20th century in Byzantine style after the model of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul, it serves as the residence of the metropolitan of Transylvania;
• the Evangelical Cathedral, a monument of Gothic architecture constructed in 1370.

Near Sibiu there are a few resorts, of which Paltinis is the most important.

Sibiu is linked to Western Europe by direct plane from Munich.

Last update: 2002, October 8
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