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The City of Sighisoara - the historical centre

The traveler who goes to Sighisoara can visit two towns, not just one. One of them is the Lower Town, guarded from above by the other one that has existed high on the City Hill for more than nine centuries and is known as the Citadel of Sighisoara.

No matter what gate you choose to enter the city, you cannot help noticing that though it is a monument of medieval architecture, included in the world heritage, the Citadel of Sighisoara is as alive as it was centuries ago, when it was he home of the Transylvanian rulers. The Citadel is the most beautiful and best preserved pile of medieval architecture in the rural Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles in this part of Europe.

The great number of architectural monuments, the public buildings and the dwellings, as well as the fortifications that remained intact in a proportion of 90% give the area a well crystallized look making it unique in Europe for its historical value. Sighisoara has narrow streets, most of them sloping, and strong brick houses, everything being surrounded by a range of walls. It used to be fortified by 14 defense towers – only 9 of them can still be seen today, bearing the names of some of the handicraftsmen guilds: the Tower of the Tin Workers and of the Tanners or the Tower of Butchers, the Shoemakers and the Blacksmiths. The Clock Tower, also known as the Townhouse or the Council Tower is the most imposing, being 64 m high and dating since the 14th century. It is made of 4 secondary small towers and a clock with seven figurines that symbolize the days of the week. The Clock Tower is nowadays the symbol of the Citadel and it shelters the History Museum of the town.

There are several religious monuments in the Citadel: “the St. Nicholas” Protestant Church on the Hill, the church of the Dominican Monastery, the church of the “Holy Ghost”. All those who enter the Citadel will look for Vlad Dracu’s House. Vlad Dracu was a Wallachian voivode that ruled between 1431-1435, and his son Vlad the Impaler was supposedly born in his house in Sighisoara.

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