"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." RLS
A truly modern building in a town where the majority of buildings date from the 15th century and earlier, St Joseph’s was built in 1894, after the demolition of the Franciscan convent (pre-1723 its was Dominican). The Church was designed by a Sighisoara architect Letz and has an organ made by Kerl Einschenk in 1908. Continue reading “St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church”
The Church of the Dominican Monastery, dedicated to St Mary, was constructed in 1298 and formed part of a Dominican monastic settlement until 1556 when the church became the Saxons’ main Lutheran church. The remaining monastery buildings were demolished in 1888 and the current town hall built in their place. Continue reading “Church of the Dominican Monastery”
Located on the main plaza in the Citadel is a house with a stag head protruding from it– look up to see this agreeable curiosity. Continue reading “The House With The Stag”
It is generally accepted that Bram Stoker’s famous character, Dracula, was based on the historical figure Vlad Tepes (also called Vlad Dracula and Vlad the Impaler).
Vlad was born in this well to do house in Sighisoara (pictures 1 and 2) in November or December 1431. Continue reading “Birthplace of Dracula”
How old this school is is a matter of conjecture. Transcripts found by the University of Vienna suggest that around 100 students from the School on the Hill, Sighisoara followed University courses between 1402 and 1520. Official records date from 1522. Continue reading “School On The Hill”
Reached by means of the Scholars’s Stairs the Gothic-style Biserica din Deal – Church on the Hill, dedicated to St Nicholas, took nearly two hundred years to build on the site of a former Roman basilica. It is arguably the most architecturally significant building in Sighisoara. Its construction started in 1345 and continued, on and off, until 1525. Continue reading “Church on the Hill”
Dating from the 13th century and standing above the pre-Saxon Citadel walls, the square-based Ropemakers’ Tower is one of the oldest buildings in Sighisoara. Its role was to defend – together with the Goldsmiths’ Tower – the northwest corner of the hill. Continue reading “The Ropemakers’ Tower – Out Of A Fairy-tale”
The cemetery, while tidy, is overgrown with a rambling and evocative collection of headstones which appear to be randomly scattered with many broken and falling over. Indeed the positioning of some of the tombstones clearly suggests that some of the dead have made attempts to escape. The whole place eludes an atmosphere befitting of vampires and other creatures of the night and could easily have been created as a set for a Dracula (or Rocky Horror – whoops – I wasn’t supposed to mention that again) movie. Dare, if you will, to go in after dark! It is open till 8pm (from 8am). Continue reading “Saxon Cemetery – Dare You To Go After Dark”
Something I have not seen elsewhere – certainly nothing as old as this. A medieval version of the mid-levels escalator in Hong Kong perhaps! Continue reading “Scholars’ Stairs – Let’s go to School”
The Clock Tower, or Council Tower, is the most imposing and impressive of Sighisoara’s towers and the one though which the majority of visitors enter and leave the Citadel area. Continue reading “The Clock Tower And Its Museums”
The Rambling Wombat 