Historic Centre of Sighișoara

Sighișoara Citadel
Native name Cetatea Sighișoara
Historic Centre of Sighișoara
Location Sighișoara, Romania
Coordinates 46°13′4″N 24°47′32″E / 46.21778°N 24.79222°E / 46.21778; 24.79222Coordinates: 46°13′4″N 24°47′32″E / 46.21778°N 24.79222°E / 46.21778; 24.79222
Built 12th Century
Architectural style(s) Gothic
Official name: Historic Centre of Sighișoara
Type Cultural
Criteria iii, v
Designated 1999 (23rd session)
Reference no. 902
Country Romania
Region Europe and North America
Link http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/902
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name: Sighisoara Citadel
Location of the Sighișoara Citadel in central Romania

The Historic Centre of Sighișoara (Sighișoara Citadel) is the old historic center of the town of Sighișoara (German: Schäßburg, Hungarian: Segesvár), Romania, built in the 12th century by Saxon colonists under the Latin name Castrum Sex. It is an inhabited medieval citadel that, in 1999, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its 850-year-old testament to the history and culture of the Transylvanian Saxons.

Birthplace of Vlad III the Impaler (in Romanian Vlad Țepeș), Sighișoara hosts, every year, a medieval festival where arts and crafts blend with rock music and stage plays. The city marks the upper boundary of the Land of Sachsen. Like its bigger brothers, Sibiu (Hermannstadt - The European Cultural Capital in 2007) and Braşov (Kronstadt), Sighișoara exhibits architecture typical of medieval Germany. During the Communist era, this German area was preserved, and the original architecture is still in place.

See also

Media related to Sighişoara at Wikimedia Commons

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