"Sibiu - one of the most enchanting... " a Sibiu Travel Page by Fam_Stoica

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A brief history (from www.primsb.ro) :
"One of the most important fortified castles in Transylvania and the residency of the Metropolitan Church of Ardeal/Transylvania and of the Evangelic Bishop, developed on the ruins of the antique “Cedonia”, draws its name from the Cibin river on whose borders it was built.The first colonists, Germans, Flemishmen and Moselans invited by the King of Hungary founded here a new settlement, Villa Hermani, at the half of the 12th century. Other settlements were founded too, besides the other already existing Romanian ones. The colonists brought with them or invented here a new town-planning system. After the 1241 invasion the necessity of building fortifications appeared. Therefore Sibiu was transformed in a citadel, which resisted to all sieges, the town being never conquered. In villages, fortifications were built around churches and schools, which were considered vital institutions, and within the walls of which the whole community used to retire in case of danger.

Enjoying the economic power of its guilds, Sibiu played an important part in Transylvanian culture. Documents attest the existence of a “library” - actually a collection of manuscript books - as early as the 14th century. The scholars in town and in the surrounding areas used the books. The library was gradually enriched with several printings, especially after a printing house was set up in the former half of the 14th century. Many religious works were printed here, a well known one being a Lutheran catechism in the Romanian language, published in 1544, as well as a lot of books ordered by the scholars from the south of the Carpathians.

In the field of education it should be mentioned that the first school was opened in Sibiu in the 14th century. Later on, a Jesuit gymnasium - a school of the highest grade, preparatory to the university, after the system in Germany - was founded (before 1692). In the 19th century a law academy was set in Sibiu.

In 1778 the Governor of Transylvania, Samuel Brukenthal, started gathering collections of printings, antiquities and rare books that he exhibited in the museum that has been named after him. The museum was opened in 1817. The building sheltering the museum is an architectural monument in the Austrian-baroque style. It is situated on the western side of “The Large Square”, in the centre of the medieval Sibiu. The buildings on the southern side of the square have also been declared “architectural monuments“ as they have preserved their medieval characteristics.

“The Transylvanian Association for the Culture and Literature of the Romanian People” (ASTRA) was founded in 1861 and it contributed to the spreading of culture among the population preparing the Union of the Romanian territories.

Between the two World Wars the city of Sibiu and the surrounding area enjoyed a period of economic and cultural prosperity and companies like Hess or Rieger became famous in the whole Europe. After the Second World War, the communist regime accorded no importance to cultural and patrimonial values of the town and the county endangering thus the integrity of the buildings in the patrimony. There were in 1989 projects of demolition for almost half of the buildings dating from the medieval period.

In order to preserve the medieval specific of the town, the central area was declared after 1989 historical reservation and therefore protected. The reservation of medieval architecture encompasses - between the four rows of fortifications - a territory of almost 80 hectares with valuable constructions, most of them being architectural monuments."