Things to see and do Sighişoara

The defensive system built by the craftsmen's guilds consisted of a wall almost 1 km long, fourteen defensive towers and five artillery bastions. Today, nine towers, two bastions and part of the surrounding wall remain.

Clock Tower(turnul cu Ceas). The town's landmark, it stands 64 meters high. Built in the ^14th century, many of its features have been altered or added to, such as its Baroque roof dating from 1677. The clock, the tower's most original feature, dates from 1648 and appears on both of its main facades. On the new town side, you'll recognize the executioner and the drummer, surmounted by seven wooden statuettes representing the days of the week. On the city side, you'll see the tambourine player on the right, in charge of the quarter hours; on the lower left, Peace, holding an olive branch and a trumpet; the female statues, holding a sword and scales, symbolize Reason and Justice; finally, two figurines represent day and night. Please note that the clock mechanisms are not in operation while the tower roof is being refurbished (reopening scheduled for 2025).

Tour des Bouchers(turnul Măcelarilor): from the Tour des Cordiers, the city wall descends northeast to the Tour des Bouchers. It dates from the ^16th century. The section of ramparts between the two towers remains intact.

Tour des Cordiers(turnul Franghierilor): probably dating from the ^13th century, this tower was also part of the original fortification of the hilltop. Note that it is still inhabited!

Shoemaker's Tower(turnul Cizmarilor): destroyed in 1676 and rebuilt in 1681, this hexagonal tower is the most impressive in the town.

Tower of the Tinners(turnul Cositorarilor): 25 meters high, square at the base, then octagonal. The roof is hexagonal.

Blacksmiths' Tower(turnul Fierarilor): built in 1631, this tower is set against the surrounding wall. Its role was to protect the church and monastery in the event of a siege.

Shoemakers' Tower(turnul Cojocarilor): a few meters from the Butchers' Tower, this small, simple structure dates from the ^15th century.

Tailors' Tower(turnul Croitorilor): this tower is impressive for its simplicity and solidity. It was probably built in the ^14th century. Like the Clock Tower, it protects an entrance formed by two vaulted corridors.

Tour des Tanneurs(turnul Tăbăcarilor): square in structure, with a simple roof, this is one of the town's oldest towers.

Archaeological studies seem to show that the first foundations of the German settlers were one-storey wooden houses supported by massive oak beams. The stone and brick houses were built in stages between the 15th and 18th centuries, especially after the great fire of 1676. The citadel (cetate) is not very big and you will not get lost in it. It is surrounded by old fortifications from the 14th century, of which mainly the towers added in the 15th century remain. The pretty Piaţa Cetăţii is the centre of the city.

Dominating the town, the Church of the Hill(biserica din Deal) was built in the ^15th century in Gothic style, on the site of a ^13th-century Romanesque church. Its ^15th-century interior paintings are of great value, and its Romanesque crypt is unique in the region. The old German cemetery opposite is a moving and pleasant place to visit. The top of the hill is reached by a surprising covered wooden staircase, built in the ^17th century for the pupils of the school next to the church. At the time, it had 300 steps, compared with 175 after restoration in 1849.

Colorful and surrounded by pleasant terraces, the Place de la Citadelle(piața Cetății) is the heart of the old town. It was here that markets were held, judgments handed down and executions carried out. Note the stag house(casa cu Cerb), with its animal fresco topped by a trophy. This ^17th-century residence, a perfect example of the Transylvanian Renaissance style, is one of the city's most beautiful. Recently renovated, it is now occupied by a pension-restaurant.

Other houses in the area are well worth a look. A little further down, on the way back down to the Clock Tower, you'll see the yellow casa Vlad Dracul on your right, named after the father of the man who inspired the character of Dracula, the voivode Vlad Țepeș. This is the house where the aforementioned Țepeș is said to have been born and raised, between 1431 and 1435. Today, it houses a medieval restaurant with, upstairs, a very kitschy attraction for tourists in search of the vampire (admission €2). If you eat there, you can also see a beautiful ^15th-century fresco depicting Vlad Dracul. A little further down, opposite the monastery church, the Venetian House, built in the ^17th century and renovated in a neo-Gothic Venetian style in the ^19th century, is easily identifiable, with its window frames imitating the Venetian style.

At the end of Strada Bastionului, you'll find the Catholic church. Dating from 1894, its style is eclectic, both neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque.

This large edifice, on the banks of the Târnava Mare river, was built in 1937 in neo-Byzantine style. Another religious building of note in the lower town, located a little further west, between the river and the railway line (strada Ștefan cel Mare, 34): the Church of the Lepers(biserica Leproșilor, called Kirche am Siechhof in German). This small Gothic Lutheran church dates back to the 15th century and was the asylum church for lepers from the 16th to the 19th century. Today, it is used by the Greek-Catholic community.

It was built between 1694 and 1703 for Johann Schuller von Rosenthal, mayor of the town at that time. Above the entrance, a coat of arms with a sword and a bouquet of three roses bears the motto of the house: Per spinas ad rosas. A romantic figure and inveterate adventurer who spent his youth in Turkey as a translator for the Sultan, Johann Schuller von Rosenthal was convicted in 1703 for embezzlement and beheaded in the courtyard of the Dominican monastery.

Built by the Dominicans in the 13th century, following Gothic plans, its present appearance dates from the alterations carried out at the beginning of the 16th century. When the Saxons converted to Lutheranism in 1556, they made it their cathedral. Damaged in the fire of 1676, it underwent further modifications, including the addition of two buttresses. The frame of the decorated stone main door is typical of the Transylvanian Renaissance style. The interior, with its 16th century oriental carpets and Baroque altar, is particularly dark and overcrowded.

Located in the Clock Tower, its seven rooms house coins and documents relating to the city's history, as well as coins, weapons and a model of Sighişoara. You can also climb to the top of the tower to admire the superb view of the city and surrounding area. Please note, however, that as the tower is currently being refurbished, the balcony is closed (scheduled to reopen in 2025). The museum also includes a torture chamber, whose entrance is on the lower town side, and a collection of weapons housed in another building on the square.

The center is located below the old town (note that some maps still show the old address). Here you'll find brochures, maps and information on tourist attractions. You'll also find information on accommodation, transport and the various events taking place in the town, such as the medieval festival, which takes place every year on the last weekend in July. On the menu: music, dance, theater, etc.

Your admission ticket includes two exhibitions. One dedicated to the History of Sighișoara, the other to the birth of the Dracula myth. The latter, created by four young brothers born in the town, allows visitors to learn more about the famous Vlad Țepeș. With bits of string and a lot of inventiveness, it plunges you into the life of Vlad the Impaler: the geopolitical context of the time, his childhood as an Ottoman hostage, his feats of arms, his acts of cruelty... An instructive experience that requires a good level of English.