The defense walls of Sibiu (Part III)

The Haller Bastion (Corneliu Coposu Boulevard and Pompei Onofreiu Street), 1552-1553
The spade shaped building was initiated by the general Castaldo, at the time when Petrus Haller was the mayor of Sibiu. The architect was Alessandro Clippa and the masters were Peter Nürnberger and Georg Waahll. The building was finalized in 1553. The bastion is built in brick and filled with earth, its walls having a total length of 223 meters and the maximum height of the wall is of 9 meters. For a better defense, the walls were equipped with stone spacers installed at approximately 1 meter from its superior limit, meant to impede the installation of the assault ladders. The openings of the pill boxes for the cannons are preserved both towards the Thick Tower (two openings) and towards Manejului Street (three openings).


In 1771 a riding school was built on the bastion, and during the first decade of the 20th century the building of the nowadays Neurology Hospital was erected.

The Soldisch Bastion (Bastionului Street at the corner with Alba Iulia Road)
Built between 1622 and 1627 as a defense fortification of the Upper Town, it is from a chronological point of view the last of the city’s bastions. On its superior part it has a pronounced belt which was meant to impede the rising of the assault ladders. From the point of view of the dimension, the bastion is small compared to the Haller Bastion. Its shape is that of a half of club with the straight lines oriented towards Filosofilor Alley.


A beautiful coat of arms of the city is placed on a white marble plaque on the exterior side of the bastion. The Bastion wall preserves nowadays four cannon balls embedded in it. The Ruin Garden styled according to the tastes of those times by Baron Michael Brukenthal (1785), the nephew of the Transylvanian governor, Samuel von Brukenthal, also had a brook which crossed one of the long ago deallocated pill boxes of the Bastion.

The defense walls of Sibiu (Part II)

The curtain wall at no 2-8 Bastionului Street (up to the Soldisch Bastion)
Between the Soldisch Bastion and Mitropoliei Street, on Ioan Lupaş Street, there exists a defense wall built between 1357 and 1366 belonging to the third fortification precinct.

The curtain wall on Centumvirilor Street
Spreading between Odobescu Street and Tribunei Street, was erected between 1357-1366 and transformed in the 18th century.


The section is over 200 meters long, and it is located on a wave area between the Lower Town and the Upper Town. Seen from the inside the precinct, Centumvirilor Street has a convex profile, and Konrad Haas and Odobescu Streets seen from the foot of the wall have a concave profile, the two ranges uniting at the ends, which makes the elevation of the wall receive a lens shape with a maximum height of 10 meters in the middle section where the "Poschen" stairs were created meant to connect the two districts of the old town.

The defense walls of Sibiu (Part I)

The exterior defense wall
between the Haller Bastion and the fragments of the Cisnădie Gate Bastion.
The third fortification belt may be admired in all its splendor along the Coposu Boulevard. A green area with trees separates the sidewalk from the wall. The green area was first arranged in 1791 between the Haller Bastion and the Thick Tower, later prolonged till Cisnădiei Bastion and is known as the promenade.


At the extremity towards Unirii Square as well as near the Thick Tower, the wall is pierced by a semicircular arch which allows the access of the pedestrians. At the crossroad of Filarmonicii Street with Coposu Boulevard, a break was made into the wall in order to allow the access of vehicles. This is where the former Corpse Gate used to be situated, opened in the wall in 1554 during the plague epidemics. Across the street from the gate, where the new wing of the hospital is located nowadays, there existed a cemetery which functioned until the end of the 19th century.

The wall on Manejului Street, near the eastern side of Ursulinelor Monastery (1357-1366)
At the extremity towards the Ursulinelor Church, the wall forms two arcades which sustain a passage gallery towards the courtyard once named the courtyard of the monks. Nowadays this gallery makes the connection with Constituţiei Street. The Babers' Tower existed here once, nearby the Salt Gate. The fragment of wall along Manejului Street is represented by a series of semicircular arches which were meant to sustain the guard gallery.

The wall on Cetăţii Street, between Unirii Square and Carpenters' Tower (1357- 1366)


The fragment of the fortification walls situated between the Carpenters' Tower and the Potters' Tower escaped the "systematization" in the 19th century. Nowadays the wall preserved its aspect from the 15th century, when it was rebuilt in bricks and equipped towards the interior with ample arcades which support the guard path. This includes a wooden parapet and a roof sustained by wooden poles.
Across the Carpenters' Tower, towards the inner part, a sort of balcony appears, the tower being placed on the exterior of the wall, flanking it. The initial firing holes of the wall are adapted to arquebuses, the bulwarks meant for bows having been modified.

The defense towers of Sibiu (Part III)

The Tanners' Tower
The tower belonging to the fourth precinct and built in 1457, is one of the two towers preserved in the Lower City. It is four stories high, the last floor stands out in a console and includes three crude oil holes, above which there exists a square firing hole with the superior part in a circle arc, meant for light artillery items. The eight sided pyramid shaped roof has relatively soft gradients. The last floor is arched with eight sphere surfaces which form inside bound ridges.


The tower was damaged and rebuilt in several occasions. During the great fire on March 31st, 1566 it exploded because of the gunpowder deposited here and the same occurred on September 7th, 1570 when another catastrophic fire occurred. On August 28th, 1638 the tower exploded a third time, this time due to a lightning. Built on an octagonal base 3 meters in length, the tower was used by the tanners' guild.

The Gunpowder Tower
The tower was erected at the middle of the 16th century within the fourth defense belt, one of his roles being that of storage place for gunpowder and was part of the strongest fortified formation of the city which defended Ocnei Gate (or the Shoemakers Gate).


It is a massive tower, on a circular plan, built in this manner to resist the attacks of the siege artillery. As its name shows, it was used to deposit gunpowder.
From a chronological point of view, it belongs in fact to the new fortification system conceived at the end of the 15th century.

The Thick Tower
It is a massive construction built on a semicircular base, with brick walls (the base being made of stone) and a platform where the canons were once placed. The tower is u-shaped standing out by 25 meters from the exterior wall. It had several defensive levels representing a genuine war machine.


The tower was erected by Marcus Pempfflinger around 1540. The first theater in Sibiu functioned in this tower since 1778. It was recently rehabilitated entirely and it is now the headquarters of the State Philharmonics in Sibiu.

The defense towers of Sibiu (Part II)

The Arquebusiers Tower
It is the southernmost of the three towers on Citadel's Street. Build between 1357 - 1366, it later became the Weavers' Tower, named after the guild which administrated it.


The tower has the shape of an octagonal prism with the superior part standing out from the main body, supported by consoles with arches in which holes for launching are placed. The firing holes at the first level have the shape of a key hole. Up to the height of 1 meter the tower is built in stone and the superior part is made of bricks.

The Potters' Tower
It was built in stone in the 15th century and it was consolidated a century later. Its superior part, standing out from the main body, is supported by a row of consoles with holes used for launching. Five firing holes for arquebuses are placed all around it. Under the rain shadow: stair-like ramparts.


The Potters' Tower is connected to the next tower through a wall built in two stages.
The tower has a rectangular plan with the inferior part on rough stone and the over-raising on brick.

The Carpenters' Tower
Build between 1337 - 1366, it is a flank tower annexed to the second precinct. It has a circular plan at the base. From the level of the cornice, the tower has the shape of an octagonal prism concluded in its superior part by a body standing out towards the exterior and sustained by consoles with crude oil holes between arches.


It was restored in 1967. The connective wall between these towers is a recent reconstruction of the old wall that once connected them.

The defense towers of Sibiu (Part I)

The Stairs' Tower
Situated in the historical center of the city (3, Huet Place), it is the only one of the three access gates in the first precinct of fortifications which was preserved and dates from the 13th century, being the oldest construction preserved in Sibiu. Its actual shape dates from 1542.


The tower presents itself in the form of a one-story massive brick construction, hosting at the first floor an arched passage way through which one can arrive at the stairs connecting the "Upper Town" with the "Lower Town" in the direction of Tower's Street, and on the lateral it has an arched passage way leading to the Expiation Corner (Busswinkel) situated under the curbed wall separating the garden of the Parish House.

The Gate Tower
Situated also in the very center of the town (1, Al. Odobescu Street, near the Museum of History), the tower was erected in the 14th century and it is one of the best preserved towers from the third defense precinct. The Altemberger House (The Old Town Hall) was built nearby this tower.


It has the shape of a prism, on a rectangular plan, erected on two floors. The ground floor, barrel vaulted, was the way of access into the city's precincts.