The whole fortress is a museum and each building is a monument. In the Middle Ages the fortress had almost the same number of houses like nowadays, about 150.

THE VENETIAN HOUSE, called after the stone frames of the windows that imitate the Venetian Gothic, dates from the 10th century, being the residence of the Major Stephanus Mann, whose tombstone can be seen in the Church on the Hill. Here, nowadays, there is the local residence of the German Forum.

THE VLAD DRACUL HOUSE, the former Paulini house, seems to be the most ancient civil stone construction of the city, considering the semi cylindrical arch made of river stone at the ground floor of the building. Today the "Vlad Dracul" House shelters a refined restaurant in medieval style, which satisfies the wishes of the tourists of everywhere.

THE HOUSE WITH STAG, called after the stag head fixed to the corner of the building, is a construction specific to the Transylvanian Renaissance, dating probably from the 17th century. Notable are its robust and balanced forms, the arching of the ground floor, the stone frames with tentacles and the little bellows with window facing the square. The current restoration of the house began in 1988, was unfinished, and he restoration was then taken over in 1997 by the Messerschmitt Restauro Association, which completed the works in 2001. The restoration works have painted out the ceilings with caskets, a painted room, and the external painting with inscription. Nowadays, the extremely functional building comprises a modern pension, a cafe-restaurant with traditional dishes, and a Romanian-German cultural centre, everything at European standards.

THE HOUSE ON THE ROCK (ROMAN) - built after the big fire in 1676, nowadays restored by the "Veritas" Foundation, is the residence of the educational centre and intercultural exchange. There also is an Internet-Cafe.

THE CENTRAL CITY SQUARE was in the Middle Ages a market and a trial place for actions at law. There also was the "pillar of infamy", a column with iron rings on which, those who had committed outrages were tied with a stone of 6 kg, and hung from the neck. Out of the City Square, there is starting the Bastion's street where there is the HOUSE WITH SHINGLE (EVERT), a specific handicraftsman's house. The house shelters the residence of the Interethnic Centre for the Youth, as part of the German Forum of Sighisoara, where they are carrying on a great number of leducational courses for the youth, and it also shelters an INTERNET-CAFE.

Out of the City Square also starts the School's Street, on which one can see the 4-6 number house, the old Town hall of the city, which became after the restoration (1999-2001), THE HOTEL COMPLEX "SIGHISOARA". In this place, the tourist can enjoy the best conditions at the highest standards. At number 10, there is the HOUSE N.D.COCEA, where the well-known writer and publicist lived between 1928-1945, and at number 9, Dr.Josef Bacon's House (1857-1941), the founder of the "Old Sighisoara" Museum in the Clock Tower. At the end of this street, there starts the road to the School Hill, which can be climbed either on a by street or by a corridor called the "Covered Stairs" or "Schoolboys'Stairs". Counting nowadays 175 steps, the stairs were built in the year 1642, by the Mayor Risenburger in the aim of making easier the pupils'way to the School on the Hill in winter time.

THE SCHOOL ON THE HILL (The Romanian-German Joseph Haltrich High school), was built in 1607-1608 and super elevated in 1901, when it got a new facade, recently restored. Nearby, an annex of the principal building carried the inscription "Schola Seminarium Reipublicae", and dates from 1619.

In the second half of the 19th century, there took place important architectonic modifications that gave the city and the downtown their present aspect. In 1886, the Dominicans'Monastery, as well as the Coopers'Tower, was demolished, and the Palace of the Comitat was built - at present THE TOWNHALL of Sighisoara, the work of the architect Alpan Ignac.

Ultima actualizare: July 3 2002