A city on two levels
Upper for merchants, lower for workshops — the division is in the terrain.
Cayambe — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cayambe — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cayambe — CC BY-SA 3.0 · JopkeB — CC BY-SA 4.0
A square in Sibiu's Upper Town surrounding the great Evangelical church, the oldest of the city's three squares and the quietest. Sibiu is built on two levels: the Upper Town, where the wealthy merchants and craftsmen lived, and the Lower Town, where the workshops, warehouses and workers' housing were. The two are joined by stairways, ramps and bridges, and that class division is stamped into the city's own terrain. Huet Square is on the upper level and forms Sibiu's original nucleus: the first church stood here and everything else grew around it. The present Evangelical church is Gothic, of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and its tower is the highest point in the city. Around the square stand the craftsmen's houses and the old Evangelical school, and it is far quieter than the two larger squares — Piața Mare and Piața Mică — which draw the cafés and the visitors. Practical points: the square is free and always open. The church itself is ticketed and climbing the tower usually carries a separate ticket.
Upper for merchants, lower for workshops — the division is in the terrain.
The Evangelical church tower is Sibiu's highest and can be climbed.
Visitors gather in the two larger squares and leave this nearly empty.
The Upper Town, Sibiu
The Georg Daniel Teutsch MonumentA statue in Huet Square before the Evangelical Cathedral in Sibiu, to the bishop1 min walk
The Evangelical CathedralSibiu's tallest spire: the Gothic Lutheran cathedral (fourteenth century) lifts 1 min walk
History Museum in Altemberger HouseThe largest Gothic civic complex in Transylvania: Altemberger House, Sibiu's old1 min walk
Brukenthal National MuseumRomania's first museum and among Europe's oldest: Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, g1 min walk
The Bridge of LiesRomania's first cast-iron bridge and its most famous urban legend: built in 18592 min walkPiața Mare, the largest, holding the Brukenthal museum and the council house; Piața Mică, the small square, with the Liars' Bridge and the cafés; and Piața Huet around the Evangelical church, the oldest and quietest. All three connect and are minutes apart on foot, and that sequence is the heart of Sibiu.
The ventilation windows in Sibiu's roofs are built as narrow slits with a raised lid, so from the street they look like half-closed eyes watching passers-by. The purpose is purely practical: ventilating the attic where grain was stored. But the visual effect was probably intended too, and it has become Sibiu's distinguishing mark, visible along every street in the Upper Town.
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