Sighisoara About one and a half hour north-west of Brasov (120 km), is Sighisoara (Hungarian: Segesvár, German: Schäßburg), the last inhabited medieval citadel in Eastern Europe. It is a place straight out of the pages of a fairytale - one of the best preserved mediaeval citadels in Europe, a magical mix of winding cobbled alleys, steep stairways, secluded squares, towers and turrets. Sighisoara is one of the 7 fortified Saxon cities in Transylvania, known as Siebenburgen, together with Brasov (Kronstadt), Cluj (Klausenburg), Sibiu (Hermannstadt), Bistrita (Bistritz) Medias (Mediasch), Sebes (Mühlbach). According to the legend the lost children of Hamelin emerged from the ‘Almasch’ (Varghis) cave into Transylvania - just to the north of Baraolt in 1284, lured there by the magical tune of the Pied Piper, a Romany who had been cheated by the burghers after ridding them of their plague of rats. This is the romantic explanation for the presence in Transylvania of Germans following ancient customs, yet isolated by hundreds of kilometers from Germany. The reality is that the fortified towns and villages of Transylvania were established in the 12th Century by settlers from the Moselle region, referred to locally as Saxons( Romanian-sashi). They were attracted to Transylvania by favorable market rights by the Hungarian rulers who wanted them there to guard the mountain passes against Tatar and Ottoman raiders. They created the Siebenbürgen, the seven fortified cities, while in villages they constructed fortified churches in which they could shelter during times of siege. UNESCO has designated several of these villages and the mediaeval citadel of Sighisoara as Heritage Sites. On the site of todays Sighisoara, there used to be a Dacian settlement known as Sandova dating as far back as the 3rd century BC.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 07:08:38 +0000