Sighisoara "the Pearl of Transylvania" is without any doubt the best preserved strengthened city in Transylvania, with a beautiful and authentic medieval architecture. It is one of the last medieval towns still inhabited in Europe.
The Sighisoara (Schaessburg) citadel includes 164 houses.

This little town full of charm, having 36,362 inhabitants, was decalred a UNESCO site in 1999.

The medieval fortress was built on a hill surrounded by forests and known as "the Hill of the Fortress". Sighisoara always fascinate its visitors by its picturesque lanes, houses, the bastions, the towers, the churches; moreover, it is the birthplace of a history hero, the legendary Dracula or Vlad Impaler .
The narrow street with steps rolling up of towards the fortress, the towers of the cathedral, the covered staircase in a tunnel, the pediments arched with mediaeval houses keeps and make a rich and single external medieval museum.
Many shops and restaurants were opened last years at the tourists who visited Sighisoara were very enchanted.

Sighisoara HISTORY
Archaeological discoveries show that, the territory of the city was populated by Scytians as of the 6th century. The Dacian fortress which was built at the 3rd century was called Sandava. Roman Castri (of which the ruins were preserved at the day), built into 106 was supposed to defend the roads coming from Alba Iulia and going towards Odorhei and the Oituz. strait. The name of Sighisoara was initially mentioned in a document written by Vlad Dracula in 1431. In 14th and 15th centuries, the economic growth recorded by the hard-working craftsmen of Sighisoara and the merchants ensured of financial means for the construction of a strong system of defense of 14 towers and several bastions. Each bastion was built, maintained and defended by a guild of trade. Their antiquated and picturesque names i.e. Tinners, the Butchers, Bronzing Manufacturers, Tailors, Shoe-makers, Blacksmiths etc also carried by the towers.
Crucial moments of the history are to be brought closer last Sighisoara.
Vlad Dracula, prince de Wallachia between 1435-1446, lived in Sighisoara like a commander of the mountain guard before becoming a prince and accepting the throne. Its presence in Sighisoara is worth being mentioned by money struck with its éfigie circulating in Transylvania and Wallachia.
In 1514, the Mayor of Sighisoara, which was a dictator, was killed during the revolt of the peasants carried out by Gheorghe Doja.
In 1600, Sighisoara accomodates Michel the Brave, the one which achieved for the first time the union of the three provinces speaking Rumanian, i.e.. Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania. Devastated by the soldiers of George Basta in 1601, besieged by the troops of Gabriel Bathory in 1611, Sighisoara was always rebuilt because of the love, the devotion and the capacities of its hard-working and commercial craftsmen.

Historic buildings

The most famous tower of Sighisoara, which actually became a bench mark of the city, is the Tower of Clock, so known under the name of the Tower of the Council, because it functioned like such between the 14th-16th centuries.
The Tower of Clock is 64 m high. It has four turrets and a wood walk covered for the observation of the last stage. Built at the 14th century, with thick walls of 2 m, they were supposed to defend the principal door of the citadel, the ammunition dump, and the tresor of the city. The four turrets symbolized the legal autonomy of the Town council which could apply, if necessary, the death penalty. In 1648, a clock was put at the top of the tower. The movement of the wood figurines symbolize the days of the week. For example, the soldier Tuesday, the day of Mars and Venus are upright during Friday. A midnight a figurine leave his slit and are shown to announce the next day. Others figurines of the mechanism of clock, cut in the tree of lime and a bright way coloured, are brought closer a lapse of time; characterizes the mythology or of the various symbols, i.e. the Goddess of Peace with the olive branch, the Goddess of Justice with the balance, the gods of war with the sword, two angels symbolizing the Day and Night etc. The arrow of the tower ends in a small gold sphere. In top, there is a weather cock, that, turned over by airstreams, predicted time. During the Middle Ages, the Tower of Clock would be defended by 29 regular soldiers.
Since 1899 the Clock Tower shelters the Museum of History. It proposes also a Medieval Pharmacy of 1670, the interesting artifacts of ethnography, a section of beautiful arts and a collection of watches. In 1780, close to the Tower of Clock was built a covered walk the passage called Passage of the Old Ladies, which would protect from the falls of snow or rain.

The Citadel was built at the 12th century; it was reinforced and prolonged at the 15th century. Today it counts 164 public houses and 13 buildings. The solid and differently coloured houses are aligned along the narrow streets; around them a wall of defense of 1 km length with 14 turns, of which only nine were preserved to date.
Most impressive are the Tower of the Shoe-makers, the Tower of the Tailors and the Tower of the Tinners.

Close to the Tower of Clock, there is the Church of the Monastery built in the Gothic style. It incarne all the changes undergone by the city with the length of time. It formerly belonged to the Dominican monks who lived in a monastery placed at the north of the church. The monastery was demolished in 1888 and its place taken by the town hall.

Close to the church, there is the House of Vlad Dracula, where Vlad the Impaler lived between 1431 to 1435 before accepting the throne of Wallachia.

On the higher platform of the Church, one can find another characteristic of medieval architecture, namely the Wooden Covered Staircase. It was built at the 17th century to facilitate and protect the schoolboys and the Christians of the church. In the beginning the staircase had 300 steps, but after 1849, their numbers was tiny room to 175.

The Church is a building representative of the Gothique style in Transylvania, it is placed on the School Hill (429 m high) and dominates the city. Its construction started in 1330 and lasted almost 200 years finishing in 1525. After the Reform of 1547, it became the principal church of the Saxons inhabitants of Sighisoara, which had changed Roman Catholicism in Lutheranism. The church holds paintings of value made between 1483-1488 and of the pieces of furniture in the style of art of Renessance. Four statuettes cut in the stone placed below the altarpiece make the well-known composition Offers of Maggi. In the anterooms are three blazons cut in wood. The only known Roman crypt in Transylvania can be seen with the Church, below the chorus and dating from the 13th century.

On the same side as the House of Vlad Dracul, there is the House of Stag.

The life was not easy in the City Higher around the Fortress mainly because of the lack of sources of water and the provisions. By comparison, the living conditions in the Lower City in particular in times of peace, was better the inhabitants of the Citadel were accustomed to living in times of peace in the lower city or one can see today houses of the 17th century. Each house has its own history, as is the case of that which belonged to Johann Schuller von Rosenthal, a Mayor of the city, which was decapitated because of its dishonesty.

On the Lower City (which is less picturesque than the Citadel) on the footbridge on the river of Mare Tarnava, one can see the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral , built in the Byzantin style in 1937.

In the Eastern part of the city, in the medium of the cemetery, there is an obelisk.

Among other worthy architectonic monuments to be seen in Sighisoara must be mentioned the Venetian House on the Museum Square, which dates from the 16th century and was rebuilt in Venetian the Gothique style.

Around the principal place of the town of many frontages can hold your attention, the historical heart of the city being very rich it is hard to retain another place which can support the comparison.