The geographical and historical conditions have had a considerable impact upon the development
of the central region of Romania. The county situated "in the heart" of the country is called
Sibiu, named after its capital, the town of Sibiu. This town, inhabited by about 200.000 people,
is one of the greatest in Romanian and the cradle of very important industrial, cultural and
touristic values.
Located upon a neolithic settlement and on the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Cedonia, whose
traces have still been preserved, the town was mentioned in documents as far back as the 12th
century, under the name of Cibinium. When the German colonists ("Sachsens") came to Transylvania,
in the 12th century, they found the Romanian population organized in specific political forms. The
"Sachsens" called the settlement Hermannsdorf, then Hermannstadt, and the Romanians called it Sibiu
- a name reminding of the original "Cibinium". In the 14th century Sibiu was a flourishing trade
centre. Documents of the year 1 376 mention the existence of 19 guilds, whose members practised
25 crafts. These guilds carried on active commercial relationships with the Romanian States to
the east and south of the Carpathian Mountains, although the Turkish invasions hindered them at
times.
Towards the end of the 14th century, as the Turkish threat was getting ever more serious, the
inhabitants of Sibiu decided to build up a strong fortification. These fortifications proved their
resistance during the Turks' attacks in 1432, 1438 and 1442. The defensive earthworks were
continually extended, so that the number of de fence towers was finally increased to 40.
Enjoying the economic power of its guilds, Sibiu played an important part in Transylvania's culture.
Documents attest the existence of a "library" - actually, a collection of manuscript books - as
early as the 14th century. The books were used by the scholars in town and in the surrounding
areas. The library was gradually enriched with several printings, especially after a printing house
was set up in the former half of the 14th century. Many religious works were printed here, a
well-known one being a Lutheran catechism in the Romanian language, published in 1544, as well as
a lot of books ordered by scholars from the south of the Carpathians. In the field of education it
should be mentioned that i n the 14th century the first school was opened in Sibiu. Later on, a
Jesuite gymnasium - a school of the highest grade, preparatory to the university, after the
system in Germany - was founded (before 1692). In the 19th century a law academy was set up in
Sibiu.
In the late 18th century, the Governor of Transylvania, Samuel Brukenthal, started gathering
collections of printings, antiquities and rare books that he exhibited in the museum that has been
named after him. The museum was opened in 1817.
The building sheltering the museum is an architectural monument in the Austrian-baroque style. It
is situated on the western side of "the Large Square", in the centre of the medieval Sibiu. The
buildings on the southern side of the square have also been declared "architectural monuments", as
they have preserved their medieval characteristics.
The tower of the town hall-"Turnul Sfatului" -was built during the 1 3th and 14th centuries. It
owes its name to the building next to it, which was the first town hall of Sibiu. On the left of
the tower is the Parochial Catholic Church, built between 1726 and 1738 in a baroque style, with
classical features.
"The Small Square" is surrounded by buildings belonging, to a great extent, to the Gothic epoch and
protected at present as medieval architectural monuments.
An interesting sight is also the Fingerling Stairway -"Pasajul Scarilor" -, linking the "upper
town" to the "lower town", between the "Small Square" and the "Goldsmiths' Square". The old
district with its narrow pictures que streets, bearing the seal of by-gone times, deeply impress
the visitor.
Not far from the Large Square one can see the Parochial Evangelical Church, built during the 14th
and 15th centuries, on the place of a Roman basilica dating from the 12th century. This monument
combines, for the first time on Romanian territory, the archaic basilica with a mature Gothic
work.
The old town hall is also nearby. It was built in the 1 5th century, in the Gothic style. In its
courtyard there is a gallery leading to a small tower with a chapel and a weapon room. In the tower
there is a little bell, called "the bell of the poor sinners", as it used to be tolled only when a
person sentenced to death was taken to the execution place. On the Metropolitan Street
("Strada Mitropoliei") is the Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1906, after the model of the St. Sofia
Cathedral in Constantinople.
What else shou Id our guest know about the town and the county of Sibiu?
The surface of the county is 5,422 km2, that is 2.3 percent of Romania's territory. It has a
population of over 500,000 inhabitants.
In the county there are two main towns, Sibiu and Medias,, seven smaller towns: Cisnadie, Agnita,
Ocna Sibiului,Copsa Mica, Dumbraveni, Avrig, and Talmaciu, and over 200 villages.
From the geographic point of view, the county of Sibiu lies between the altitudes of 2,535 m - the
height of the Negoiu Peak, in the Fagaras, Mountains-and 28 m by the "Trnava Mare" river, near
Copsa Mica.
The easternmost locality of the county, on the road coming from Brasov, is "Arpasu de Jos". From
here one can take either of the ways leading to the Fagaras, Mountains: one of them passes through
Arpasu de Sus", where, in 1954, the vestiges of a Dacian city were discovered; the other one leads
through the commune of Streza-Timisoara, a famous centre of glass painting in the 19th century,
and winds up the Bilea valley, to the chalets near the waterfall and the glacier lake, where there
are ski-tracks usable until the months of May and June.
Near Arpasu de Jos is the commune of Cirta, where the guests can visit the ruins of a Cistercian
monastery, built in the 13th century, considered by specialists to be the oldest Gothic building
in Romania.
In the town of Avrig there can be admired two architectural monuments: a 13th century evangelical
church and the summer residence of Baron Brukenthal - a beautiful palace surrounded by an old park.
Between Avrig and Sibiu, closer to the mountains, is the town of Cisnadie, known in many parts of
the world as the town of wonderful carpets. Here there are large factories of fabrics and
carpets, but also a city-church, dating from the 13th century, restored and fortified in the
1 5th century.
In the west the county of Sibiu is crossed by an international road. Along it lies "Cristian", a
village where there is a peasant fortification, built in the year 1500 around a 1 3th century
church, reminding of the style of late Roman basilicas. In the meantime, it has acquired features
characteristic of the Gothic style which dominated the periods when the church was restored. From
Cristian, leaving the main road, one gets to the neigh bour hood of Sibiu ("Marginimea Sibiului"),
with breath-taking landscapes in all seasons. Here the villages of Saliste, Tilisca, Rod, Poiana
Sibiului, and Jina have preserved unaltered the treasure of century-old pastoral traditions, of
folk customs, songs, ballads and costumes inherited from older generations and handed down to
the younger ones.
If you enter the county of Sibiu from the north, you can see Dumbraveni, a small town where the
catholic Armenians living in town have built a nice cathedral. Nearby is the village of Biertan,
whose name is linked to an ancient earth fortress, built by the Romans. The monuments are
protected by UNESCO.
Here we get to Medias, a big town over seven centuries old. It was built upon the place of the
Roman castrum "Media", whose vestiges were found on top of the city hill ("Dealul Cetaiii"). Medias
is a powerful industrial centre. While the outlying districts of the town have been undergoing a
modernizing process, its central part has preserved medieval characteristics: thick-walled houses
with ti le roofs, the old tower and entrance gate of the city, as well as fragments of its defence
wall; besides, an evangelical church with a tall tower. On the way to Sibiu, one can admire some
more fortified churches in Axente Sever, Rusj and Slimnic. There are, of course, many other
interesting things to be seen in the county of Sibiu, but even more important than the places
and things are the people who give them life and enhance their value: Romanians, Germans and
Hungarians - people who have been toiling together for centuries on this land. They have always
tried to keep their most valuable traditions, to increase their dearest heritage, and, at the
same time, to promote what is new and worthy in the present-day civilization. Our region, like
the whole country, is no wunder going an intense economic development along with deep-going
changes required by the market economy. Undoubtedly, Sibiu is and will be a very good partner
of foreign companies willing to cooperate with us. Many trade companies in Sibiu are eager to
get into business in the following fields: machine building, chemical industry, fabrics,
knitwear, furniture, enamelware, crystal and glassware, window panes, a. s. o. On business
or on holiday, you will always be received with pleasure in Sibiu!
Dear friends, we are looking forward to welcoming you with bread and salt, according to the
ancient custom of this land, a symbol of our friendship and famous Romanian hospitality!
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