Sighisoara Things to Do

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The Turnul Cositorarilor is one of the most outstanding of the citadel's original medieval towers. It guards the south east corner with a formidable array of murder holes. Its asymettric design is reputedly unique: a square base, with a pentagonal tower, topped by an octagonal garret and a hexagonal roof.

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At 64 meters tall, standing on an already outstanding hill crest, the Sighisoara clock tower is the most dominating building in the citadel. Not only that but its vast dimensions, no slender tower this, are more reminiscent of a castle bastion or corner guard tower. Its walls are thick enough to withstand Napoleonic cannon fire.

But this clock tower was built long before then, in 1556. Nobody is sure when the clock was added, but probably not long after. The first mention of the clock was in 1648, when the clock was repaired, and these repairs were officially documented. About twenty years later it was damaged by fire, and this was documented too.

And the key feature of the clock tower is the gigantic clock itself, split between two 2.4 meter clock faces on either side of the tower. The clock has figurines, almost a meter high each, representing every day of the week.

You can climb up to this church by roadway or by climbing the covered Scholars' Stairs - a steep stairway of around 175 steps dating from 1642 and so called because it leads to the old Sighisoara school.

The church on the hill is open daily from 10am to 5pm. It costs 2RON to go in. The church is a beautiful cool and peaceful place with patches of wall paintings and stairs leading down to a dingy crypt.It was built between 1345 and 1525. Opposite the church is the green and peaceful Saxon cemetery open daily from 9am to 4pm; free entry. The custodian of the cemetery lives in an odd little house located in the Butchers'Tower near the church.

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Sighisoara was originally a Saxon town known as Castrum Sex - Fort Six. In the fourteenth century the town was controlled by craft guilds. Each guild was required to build a defensive tower for the town and help defend the town during war time. Remaining towers include : Shoemakers'Tower, Tailors' Tower, Furriers' Tower, Butchers'Tower (now home to the custodian of the Saxon cemetery) and Tinsmiths' Tower. It is quite pleasant to stroll from one tower to the next.

The house with the stag is on a corner overlooking Citadel Square. It dates from the sixteenth century and is now used as a pension and restaurant. The houses name comes from the picture of a stag on its corner.

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In Romania Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler is a national hero who helped stem the invasion of the Turks as they expanded the Ottoman Empire. Bram Stoker is believed to have based his character Dracula on Vlad Tepes mixing vampire legend and Vlad Tepes reutation for brutality. Vlad's father was given the title Dracul meaning dragon or devil. Dracula means son of the dragon or devil. Vlad Tepes was born in sighisoara around 1431. The building is now arestaurant.

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The most famous building in Sighisoara is its beautiful old clocktower which dominates the town. You can climb up inside it for the view (though we did not do this). The tower itself dates from the 14th century; the clock was added in 1604. Figures emerge from the clock at midnight each night apparently.

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In addition to TELLING time, Sighisoara's Clock Tower also lets you GO BACK IN TIME! Yup, it is home to the quaint little History Museum, which spirals up the various floors of the tower towards the top, where visitors can go to the open-air balcony and look down on the city below. The photo tax in the museum was silly, but I can tell you that the exhibits were simple and on subjects such as handicrafts, clocks and furniture. The fourth floor lets you look at the inner workings of the giant clock and its marionettes (it's worth the price of admission for this alone), while the fifth floor really does offer some spectacular panoramic views. Closed on Mondays.