Today, 19 June, my last day in Brașov, is beautiful and sunny for once, and I refuse to waste too much of it sitting in a coffee shop blogging. So I’m going to rely on my photos to tell the story of Brașov’s striking medieval city layout. Of course, all of the cities I’ve visited in Europe so far still retain some vestige of the Middle Ages, notably the Roman palace-turned-medieval-rabbit-warren of Diocletian’s Palace in Split. But most of the buildings and streets in those other cities date to the Baroque or later periods, and that’s the flavor they impart to visitors. Brașov feels older.
Let’s start with some of the many surviving buildings in town that date from the late Middle Ages.
A good place to begin: The main square, Piața Sfatului. The central building is the 1420 Council House (14 June 2018).
I was here (14 June 2018).
The Black Church, built by the German settlers of Brașov (they called their town Kronstadt) between 1385 and 1477, is the largest Gothic church in Romania. It’s not really black, but it was charred in Brașov’s great fire of 1689, hence the name (14 June 2018).
I was here. There’s the “BRAȘOV” sign on Mt. Tâmpa behind me, again. It’s a very convenient landmark (14 June 2018).
Another side of the Black Church (14 June 2018).
One fun little sculptural detail on the Black Church (14 June 2018).
The German Saxons didn’t allow the local Romanian population into their walled town. The Romanians lived just outside in a quarter called Schei District. St. Nicholas Cathedral — an Orthodox church, unlike the Black Church which was originally Catholic, later (and still) Lutheran — was built in its current form in 1495 (15 June 2018).
I get the sense that these murals on the outside of St. Nicholas’ Cathedral have been up there a while (15 June 2018).
The tombstones in the cemetery surrounding St. Nicholas’ Cathedral do not date from the Middle Ages. But it wouldn’t surprise me at all if these graves were situated on top of a much older burial site (15 June 2018).
Brașov also boasts more than its fair share of narrow, winding medieval streets.
Brașov’s narrowest street, Strada Sforii, is also among the narrowest in all of Europe (14 June 2018).
I’m glad I that in Zagreb I burned off most of those extra pounds I put on in Ljubljana. This is a tight squeeze. Note that most of the graffiti consists of “so-and-so-heart-so-and-so” (14 June 2018).
One of Strada Sforii’s neighboring streets. This is way wider! I bet I can extend both elbows out at once in here! (15 June 2018)
But what impresses me as the most medieval aspect of Brașov is its nearly complete set of medieval fortifications. A wall, gates, and defensive towers on surrounding hills really give me a sense of what a lawless and insecure time the Middle Ages were in Europe. You never knew when Hungarians, Turks, bears, vampires, or whatever would come marauding toward your little town.
The defensive-minded layout of Brașov is most obvious from above. The city sits within its walls and gates in a narrow valley, with towers (at the front of the hill on the top left) and the citadel (atop the hill at top right) keeping watch on the surrounding territory (15 June 2018).
The side of the city walls facing Mt. Tâmpa. It no longer serves a defensive purpose today, but it does present a formidable obstacle to getting back in town quickly after one’s hike (14 June 2018).
A close-up of the same section of city wall (15 June 2018).
A (sadly café-free) pedestrian street called Strada După Ziduri runs along the city walls on the other side of Brașov, facing hillside defensive towers (16 June 2018).
Automobile traffic now flows into Brașov through the Schei Gate in the city wall. I’m sure the city’s Saxon founders never saw that coming (18 June 2018).
An older gate, St. Catherine’s Gate, also connects Brașov with Schei. Here it is from the Schei side. Romanians keep out! (14 June 2018)
A detail of Brașov’s city seal on St. Catherine’s Gate. It depicts a crown (the “Kron” in Saxon Kronstadt) (14 June 2018).
A selfie from the safety of the Saxon side of St. Catherine’s Gate. Note my Anglo-Saxon expression of superiority (14 June 2018).
Brașov’s city wall is reinforced with a dozen or so towers, each entrusted to a different guild to defend and maintain. This one here is the Weavers’ Tower (15 June 2018).
Beyond the city wall, freestanding towers on a hill bolster Brașov’s defenses and provide advance warning of invasion. This one is aptly named the White Tower (16 June 2018).
Unfortunately neither the towers nor the citadel were open the day I visited. But even from only halfway up the White Tower, the views are impressive (16 June 2018).
The Black Tower (“black” for the same reason the Black Church is) is set on the same hill as the White Tower, just a little further southwest. The glass roof, I have to assume, is a modern addition. It just doesn’t scream “Gothic” to me (16 June 2018).
And the views are just as good from up here (16 June 2018).
The last noteworthy example of medieval fortifications here in Brașov is the citadel, perched on a different hill overlooking both the city and the surrounding countryside.
That’s it at the very top of that hill (15 June 2018).
A network of pleasant footpaths leads up to the citadel (16 June 2018).
16 June 2018
The hill the citadel sits on affords lovely views. Here’s a panorama looking back at the modern part of Brașov, north of the historic center (16 June 2018).
I discovered this “panorama” option on my smartphone camera and decided to test it out from atop the citadel hill. Here’s a panorama looking back toward Brașov and Mt. Tâmpa (16 June 2018).
Well, it appears I broke my promise to be brief with this blog entry. As Mark Twain said, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.”