The Great Square
The main square, and the one the rest of the old town hangs off. The Brukenthal palace is on it and the Council Tower leads out of it.
- How long to allow
- As long as you sit there
The background
Sibiu’s old town is three linked squares on descending levels, and the Great Square is the top one. It is large, it is pedestrian, and almost everything else in the upper town is a short walk from it.
The Brukenthal palace stands on it. The Council Tower leads out of it, down into the Little Square, and from there the Bridge of Lies crosses to the lower town. The Lutheran cathedral is a minute away on Huet Square. That geography is the whole reason Sibiu is such a comfortable place to see on foot: you can cover the three squares in an afternoon without a map and without repeating yourself.
The eye-shaped dormer windows in the roofs around the square are the detail everyone photographs. They are ventilation openings for the attics, and they are the reason people say the town watches you.
Prefer to have the route organised for you?
Guided private trips and custom itineraries are arranged externally, with a local driver-guide.
View private toursOther places near Sibiu
Brukenthal National Museum
A genuine European picture gallery on the main square, opened to the public in 1817 — the oldest museum in Romania, and one of the first…
Lutheran Cathedral of Saint Mary
The Gothic church on Huet Square, whose steeple is the tallest in Transylvania and the thing you navigate the old town by.
ASTRA Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation
Ninety-six hectares of forest with several hundred real buildings moved into it — houses, watermills, workshops, whole farmsteads. Allow half a day and wear proper shoes.
Biertan Fortified Church
Three rings of wall around a church on a hill, a sacristy door with a nineteen-bolt lock, and a room where couples were sent instead of…
The Transfăgărășan
The road over the Făgăraș mountains. Open only in the warm months, closed by snow for the rest of the year — check the current season…
The Council Tower
The tower in the gap between the Great Square and the Little Square. It has been a granary, a fire lookout and a prison, and it…