Antiques

a shop

What to buy: antiques and fine hand-made products

Address: citadel

Directions: on the way to the covered stairway

Medieval Festival

the clock tower and Deer house

Every summer, usually in July, a Medieval Festival takes place in the old citadel. It involves music, dance, exhibitions, crafts, concerts, etc.

The festival started in 1992.

Website: http://www.cetatea-sighisoara.com

The Clock Tower

The landmark of the town, and 1 of the most famous attractions, is certainly the Clock Tower (Turnul cu Ceas). It's 1 of the remaining 9 towers of the medieval fortress.

It was used to store ammunition, food reserves, archives and the town's treasures. Today it houses the Museum of History.

The tower's 64m high (the spire roof alone is 39.5m high!) and guards the main entrance into the fortress.

The most beautiful part of the tower's probably a set of wood-made figurines, symbolizing the days of the week (a soldier-Tuesday, the day of Mars in Romanian, Venus- Friday...), 2 angels symbolize the Day and the Night...

At the top of the spire, you can see a cock that forecasts the weather.

The 4 small towers on the roof are the sign that the Tower used to be a Council as well and had the right to sentence to death.


Address: the fortress

Wooden Covered Staircase

If you want to get from the lower plateau of the fortress to the upper one, you have to climb the stairs.

The covered stairway was built in the 17th century and used to have 300 steps. After 1849, only 175 have remained.

Vlad Dracula's House

Close to the Clock Tower's the house believed to be the one where Vlad Dracula (Tepes), Wallachian prince, was born in 1431 and where he spent a few years of his childhood.

Casa Dracula

Casa Dracula

The ground floor's been turned into a restaurant, but the 1st floor's a museum.

Address: fortress

The Museum of History

Since 1899, the Clock Tower has housed the Museum of History (Muzeul de Istorie).

Some of its exhibits are clocks, hammers, statues, solar calendar and skates made of bones.

The Up Hill Church

Right on top of 429m high School Hill is this church, the oldest in Sighisoara. It was 1st mentioned in a document in the 14th century, but took almost 2 centuries to complete (1525).

Biserica din Deal

Biserica din Deal

The church holds valuable 15th century paintings, the Gothic altarpiece dedicated to St Martin dating from 1520. The only Roman crypt known in Transylvania, dating from the 13th century, is beneath the chancel of this church.

Address: School Hill

Directions: go through the covered stairway, turn left, then straight again past the College building and you won't miss it

The Gothic Monastery Church

Gothic church

Near the Clock Tower, you'll find the Gothic Monastery Church.

The church has the bronze front from 1440, a baroque pulpit from 1680, a baroque organ and oriental carpets from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Citadel

Sighisoara's probably most famous for its well-preserved walled town. It's in fact the only Romanian fortified medieval town still inhabited.You can feel the atmosphere of the days gone by just walking up and down its cobbled streets.

the only access into the fortress for vehicles

The Sighisoara fortress was 1st mentioned in 1280 as Castrum Sex (Fort Six), thus named because the Saxons had built it on the ruins of an older fortress shaped as an irregular hexagon. That fortress developed on the higher plateau. The present fortress, extended on the lower plateau as well, was built in the 14th-15th centuries. It used to have a 930m long and almost 14m high wall, with 14 towers and several bastions.

a view from the clock tower

Each bastion was built, maintained and defended by a craft guild (Tinners, Tanners, Butchers, Rope Makers, Tailors, Shoemakers, Blacksmiths...).


The most impressive towers, other than the Clock Tower, are the Shoemakers', the Tailors' and the Tinsmiths' Towers.

Website: http://www.sighisoara.org.ro/

Town Hall

town hall

Where once was the Dominican monastery, near the Clock Tower, now stands the Town Hall and the Town Council.

Address: fortress

Walled Town

17th century Deer house

Walk the narrow cobbled streets of the citadel, past tiny colourful houses, all of them at least 300 years old, feel the medieval atmosphere...

Address: citadel

Capitoline Wolf Statue

Rea with Romulus and Remus

This is 1 of several copies of the wolf statue with Romulus and Remus beneath, a gift of the Italian state to Romania. It symbolizes the unity of Romanians from all parts of the country and their Latinity.

Medieval Charm

town seen from the clock tower

Sighisoara's the best-preserved medieval town in Romania. It lies on the Tarnava River in Mures County, in the historic region Transylvania.

The town was founded by German craftsmen and merchants, known as the Saxons of Transylvania, in 1191.

Sighisoara got its present name in 1435. But it's also known as Segesvar (Hungarian) and Schaessburg (German).

Sighisoara is also believed to be the birthplace of Vlad Dracula, controversial Wallachian Prince. 

clock tower

The walled town on the hill is thought to be a true pearl of Saxon architecture and is on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. 

citadel