A Trip To Sighisoara

When my teacher at school asked me to write about a representative festival in my country I immediately thought about Sighisoara and its Medieval Festival of Art. Sighisoara is the best preserved ancient city in Transylvania with a beautiful and authentic architecture. It is one of the last medieval towns inhabited in Europe. The fortress was built on a hill surrounded by forests. Sighisoara always fascinates its visitors by its picturesque lanes, houses, towers and churches. Moreover, it is the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler. My research has also revealed that it was funded by German craftsmen and merchants, known as the Saxons of Transylvania, Sighisoara is a fine example of a small fortified medieval town which played an important role on the commercial life of central Europe for several centuries.

Sighisoara invites people from all over Europe, to the biggest Medieval Festival of Romania. The archaic streets, the castle which rises above the other edifices gives a medieval fragrance to the town. 25 th – 27 th July 2009 This year's festival will have several sections: theatre, music, art exhibition, film, dance, book fairs, concerts and conferences on different subjects but beside these there will be street parades, night concerts, choir-music, middle-age dress exhibitions, middle-age dance competitions as well. MEDIEVAL ART FESTIVAL

I’ll present you a series of images from the Medieval Festival of Sighisioara. Every year a large number of foreign tourists come here especially during the festival along with thousands (around ) Romanian teenagers, to express freely their feelings, to play the guitar in open air and to breath history and its unwrapped mysteries. Concerts are always present during the festival, concerts with special music that deals with the same cultural heritage.

After the festival the tourists can also buy souvenirs from different stands. They can relax and have a bite to eat at the most famous restaurant in Sighisoara- “House of Vlad the Impaler” On the ground floor there is also a pub decorated in medieval style.

The most famous tower of Sighisoara, which actually became a bench mark of the city, is the Clock Tower, known as Tower of the Council, because it functioned as such between the 14th-16th centuries. SIGHTSEEING IN SIGHISOARA

Sighisoara Citadel - a 12th Century Saxon edifice, is the old historic centre of the town, built in the 12th century. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Covered Staircase - a very old stone staircase with a wooden roof along the whole span. It was built in the 17th century to make access to school easier. Vlad Dracul’s House, where Vlad the Impaler lived from 1431 to 1435 before accepting the throne of Wallachia.

Actually in the citadel there are towers for each branch of workers. At first the clock tower was the symbol of justice in the municipal hall of the town and once served as jail. (usually those with death sentences were carried there). It has also survived an arson but it was rebuilt in the same medieval spirit. The covered wooden stairs that lead to the gothic church and the German graveyard consists of around 121 steps (if I remember it well). So you see, it was rather difficult to carry the dead to be buried, but also that graveyard was for the rich people in the citadel. I have seen it and it's a real beauty. I also took a nap there, in an afternoon, beside a cold gravestone and I woke up quite fresh. It's a fairly strange cementery since it's on a hill and it's more like a park with graves...and you really have a feeling of warmth and you may also feel you belong there...Just like it happened to me when I woke up.

FAMOUS RESIDENTS OF SIGHISOARA Vlad THE IMPALER,,Dracula’’ Hermann Oberth, one of the funders of rocketry and astronautics. Johann Michael Ackner, famous Saxon archeologist. Adrian Ivanitchi folk guitarist.