Tourist Guide Sibiu

1. Tourist Info Center

We start with the Tourist Info Center located in the Main Square, on the ground floor of the City Hall.

The address is 2 Samuel von Brukenthal Street. Open: May - September: Monday - Friday 9 - 20, Saturday - Sunday 10 - 18, October - April: Monday - Friday 9 - 17, Saturday - Sunday 9 - 13.

2. Citadel Wall

The address is on Corneliu Coposu Boulevard.

We followed Coposu Boulevard along the Citadel Wall, built in the 16th century and part of the 3rd fortification of the Citadel of Sibiu. The Haller Bastion and the Gros Tower are integrated in the Citadel Wall. The Gros Tower was erected in 1788, it hosted the first theater in Transylvania, and now it is the seat of the State Philharmonic. The Haller Bastion was built in 1551 as a fortification of the city against foreign invasions. The walls are 223 meters long and 9 meters thick. From point 1 you can skip to point 3 and read why.

I had the intention to point out a less known and a little eccentric situated objective. We crossed the Railway Station Viaduct, from where we have a superb view of the Fagaras Mountains Ridge.

We continued down some small streets to the right, towards the train tracks and the CFR depot to reach the

3. Museum of Steam Locomotives

The address is strada Dorobantilor 22. Access is free of charge.

I entered uninhibited. Although this museum had attracted me about 10 years ago when I visited it, it is now a ruin. Locomotives and other steam-powered CF locomotives lie simply forgotten and left to rust. Sad!

We go back over the Railway Station Viaduct on the same road until the roundabout where Corneliu Coposu Boulevard and Constitutiei Street converge, where the Youth Park is located.

We go up Pompeiu Onofreiu street near the Citadel Wall, but on the other side than at point 1 and we go straight ahead. We can say that we entered the fortress and we are now walking in the Historical Center.

4. Natural History Museum

The address is Strada Cetății 1. Visiting hours: Wednesday - Sunday 9 - 17. I found it closed, but I took a picture of the museum building and the dinosaur model in the courtyard.

You can read a detailed article at https://mytravel.express/obiective-mte/muzeul-de-istorie-naturala-sibiu/.

We are walking past the State Philharmonic located in the "back" of the Fat Tower.

and we reach in 100 meters

5. Tower of the Carpenters / Tower of the Olarilors / Citadel Street / Citadel Park

The address is Rue Cetății.

The Dulgherilors' Tower is part of the 3rd enclosure of fortifications and was built in the 14th - 15th centuries. It looks very well and is a historical monument. It belonged to the carpenters' guild which together with the other guilds of the Middle Ages defended the city. It is more publicized and sought after than the other towers of the citadel. It is linked by a fortification with the Potters' Tower, built in the 15th - 16th centuries, a tower maintained and defended in the Middle Ages by the potters' guild. It is also a historical monument.

Further ahead, there is the Archbusiers Tower. We're in a great place, on the Citadel Street - the most beautiful street in Sibiu.

You can read a dedicated article about the Citadel Towers on the link https://mytravel.express/obiective-mte/turnurile-cetatii-sibiu/.

On the left hand we have the Citadel Wall with the mentioned towers and which continues with the Citadel Park, where there are green spaces, bicycle paths and walkways. In the park there is also the Francisc I Monument, as well as an Alley of Celebrities. We are approaching the point where all tourists visiting Sibiu arrive. Along the narrow streets with old houses in the Upper Town, as this part of the fortress is called, passing through Friedrich Schiller Square, past the bronze bust of Friedrich Schiller, located in the niche of a house, through Friedrich Schiller Park, on the street Archives, in front of the Archives, we access through a gang.

6. Main Square / Roman-Catholic Church / City Hall / Brukenthal Museum

The address is in the Big Square.

Piata Mare is a very large pedestrian area where many festivals, cultural events, Christmas Fair and others are organized. Here pigeons are the friends of those who feed them. Several terraces offer dining options in a beautiful setting. In the Middle Ages, the Great Square was an open-air courthouse, at the center of which stood the Stapul of Infamy and the Crib of Fools. Also in the Great Square are the Falkenhayn Fountain, the Statue of Gheorghe Lazar and the Statue of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal. Several important sights are located here in the Great Square.

The Holy Trinity Roman-Catholic Parish Church was built by Jesuit monks in the Baroque architectural style, being imposing both inside and outside.

The Town Hall, which has several entrances, also hosts the National Center for Tourist Information and Promotion. The Town Hall was built in 1906 in Jugendstil style.

The Brukenthal National Museum was founded in 1790 by the former Governor of Transylvania, Samuel von Brukenthal, and opened to the public in 1817 by his will. It is the oldest museum in our country and among the oldest on the continent. The Brukenthal Museum can be visited from Wednesday through Sunday between 9 - 17. At the center of the exhibits are the collections of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, Governor of Transylvania. The Brukenthal National Museum comprises several museums and exhibitions in the city. In the main and most famous building, located in the Great Square, there are many art collections.

All around the Great Square are old buildings, all historical monuments. They look like something out of a medieval story, but they are real. Among them are the Weidner-Reussner-Czekelius House, the Hecht House, the Blue House, the Haller House, which belonged to the Haller family and was built in the 15th century in Gothic style, and the General's House, built in the 16th century, which had several owners, including the royal judge Albert Huet and the General Command of the Austrian troops in Transylvania.

... we are heading towards the exit of Piata Mare at

7. Council Tower

The address is in Piata Mica 1. It can be visited daily between 10 - 20.

Another symbol of Sibiu is the Council Tower. The passage under it provides the connection between Piata Mare and Piata Mica. The Council Tower was the entrance gate of the second fortification belt of the city. It was built in 1224 and mentioned in documents in the 14th century. It was demolished, rebuilt and raised. It has kept its present appearance since 1824. It was used as a defense tower, a fire tower, a grain store, a prison and even a natural science museum. I visited it and enjoyed climbing the stairs. It offers a wonderful view from the center of the historic center to the many months snowy crests of the Fagaras Mountains. It is a historical monument.

8. Small Square / Pharmacy Museum / Museum of Saxon Ethnography

The address is in Mica Square.

Whoever arrives in the Great Square also visits the Small Square. Piata Mica was the commercial center of the citadel. Representatives of the medieval craft guilds used to exhibit and sell their products in Piata Mica. Other beautiful old buildings can be found here, some of which house interesting sights.

The Museum of the History of Pharmacy presents, among other things, pieces and pharmaceutical preparations from the 17th - 19th centuries. Sibiu has a tradition in this regard, as attested by Freemason Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy.

The House of Arts is attested since 1370 and hosts the Saxon Ethnographic Museum and folk art galleries. Its first destination was as the Butchers' Hall. It can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday between 9 - 17.

In the Hermes House you can visit the Franz Binder Museum of Universal Ethnography, the star exhibit being a mummy brought by the explorer Binder from the Upper Nile Valley. The museum can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm or 10 am to 6 pm depending on the season.

Luxembourg House, restored in 2004 by a Luxembourg organization, received its current name on the occasion of the visit of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Theresa of Luxembourg.

9. Bridge of Lies

The address is in Piata Mica.

Spectacular to watch from a distance, to climb on it or to walk under it. The Bridge of Lies was built in 1859 and is the first cast-iron bridge in Romania. One of the legends about the Bridge of Lies is that it was a place for lovers whose declarations turned out not to come true. The passage that goes down under the Bridge of Lies is called the Goldsmiths' Passage and leads to Goldsmiths' Square, but we'll go left. Under the Bridge of Lies is the passage to the Lower Town.

10. Stairs Passage

The address is the Stairs Passage.

We go a little further into the Lower Town. Past Huet Square and the Tower of the Stairs you can go down a spectacular street called the Stairs Passage. The Staircase Passage was built in the 13th century and is also known as the 'arched wall'. It links the Lower Town with the Upper Town. That's what we're doing, we're going back to the Upper Town, through the Gate Tower. We go around the Brukenthal College and turn the "wheel" in Huet Square.

11. St. Mary's Cathedral

The address is Albert Huet Square. The cathedral tower can be visited as follows: April - September from 9 - 20, October - March from 9 - 17.

We can admire the great cathedral from all around, but I like the view from the courtyard of the college, where the statue of Cardinal Teutsch is located. The Evangelical Cathedral was built in the Gothic architectural style between 1370 and 1520. On the north wall of the choir is the fresco "The Crucifixion" (15th century). In this cathedral we can also see a famous bronze font in the shape of a chalice with a foot, a node and a basin. Among the 67 gravestones here is that of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal.

From here we follow Mitropoliei Street, we pass the House with Caryatids, an 18th century Baroque building with a portal with two caryatids supporting an open balcony.

A detailed article can be found at https://mytravel.express/obiective-mte/catedrala-evanghelica-sibiu/.

and remain in awe at

12. Holy Trinity Orthodox Metropolitan Orthodox Cathedral

The address is 33 Mitropoliei Street.

The Holy Trinity Orthodox Metropolitan Orthodox Cathedral was built between 1902 - 1906 after the model of St. Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul, with Byzantine influences in the architectural style.

We turn left on Tribunei Street, pass by the Contemporary Art Gallery and reach the Unirii Square, where the Coposu Boulevard and the Cetatii Wall, Nicolae Balcescu Pedestrian Street, Astra Park, Bulevard Park and the European Road that crosses the city converge. We have enclosed a loop of the objectives of the Old Center, numerous and concentrated on a very small space, easy to visit.

We cross Piata Unirii from the Old Center diagonally through underpasses and pedestrian crossings to move to the space where the Casa de Cultura Park is, in front of the Cultural Center "Ion Besoiu" and the House of Culture of the Trade Unions, near the Heroes' Monument.

I present you now a route that I discovered and loved because it goes through green areas far away from the noxious emissions of cars. At the beginning we go through the "city", via Somesului str. towards

13. August von Spiess" Hunting Museum

The address is at 4 Swim School Street. It can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday between 9 - 17. This hunting museum belongs to the Brukenthal National Museum.

You can read a detailed article at https://mytravel.express/obiective-mte/muzeul-de-vanatoare-august-von-spiess-sibiu-2/.

Leave the new stadium and the Transylvania Multipurpose Hall on the left hand

and we enter

14. Sub Arini Park

Google's address is on Victoriei Boulevard.

We approach it right next to the stadium. In Sub Arini Park we find panels about fauna, flora and maps. The park has a very elongated shape and stretches on either side of the Trinkbach dam. The park has a rugby pitch, a football pitch, playgrounds, bicycle paths, cycle tracks, landscaped paths, footpaths and plenty of places to spread a blanket on the grass and listen to the birds chirping. The green area continues after the park itself is over and we cross Ludos and Valea Aurie Streets to reach the Zoo. Up to the gate of the garden we identified several cycle trails, some of them reaching Rasinari, another jewel of a locality located 10 km away from Sibiu.

15. Zoo

The address is Calea Dumbrăvii 142. Open daily from 9:30 - 19:30.

Although the official address is the one mentioned above, we enter through Gate 2. We first encounter the pelican lake, called Zoo Garden Lake. Signposts guide you through the different alleys. Don't miss the reptile pavilion or the bear and lion cages. The monkeys are funny and playful, the ostriches are always with their heads bowed, and that's how you reach the second lake in the zoo, called Dumbrava Lake II, where you can practice recreational activities and in the middle of which an artesian fountain is splashing. Lake Dumbrava II stretches all the way to the next objective, but you can't go to it on the lake or from the Zoo directly. The Zoo is a popular destination for families with children.

16. Dumbrava Forest

We leave the Zoo through Gate 1 and go around the garden fence along the paths in Dumbrava Forest. In the forest there are signs marking the cycle paths. Soon we reach the fence of the neighboring property, which we continue past until the entrance to

17. Astra National Museum

The address is 16-20 Dumbrava Forest Street. Visiting program: May - September daily between 10 am - 8 pm, with some restrictions to the interiors, October - April daily 9 am - 5 pm only the open-air museum.

Astra Museum is well integrated in the tourist circuit and visited by many Romanian and foreign tourists. Access can be done by car on DJ106A or by bus. There is a capacious parking lot. It is a famous ethnographic museum, which presents in the open air households from different parts of the country. The museum organizes many cultural events throughout the year. The Astra Museum is a mega-faith in itself with more than 400 monuments of architecture and folk techniques, spread over an area of about 1 square kilometer. It is the largest open-air ethno exhibition on the continent and includes the largest collection of windmills in the world.

I ended the walk by returning through the forest to Gate 1 of the Zoo, near which, on the road, in Calea Dumbravii, an old tram from the former pre-Rorasenaasca line Sibiu - Rasinari is exposed, the last town could be your next tourist destination ... on the way to Paltinis.