Mediaș, Another Medieval City of Transylvania

A few days ago I posted about this city called Mediaș that is the second biggest in Sibiu county, Romania. In the first part of my post I tried to show you the city center and the medieval church fortress called St. Margaret church.

by erikah.jpg

This year the city celebrates its 753 year existence, which is just a figure of speech as all the events were cancelled at the beginning of the year due to covid.

The Pedestrian Bridge

The city is not a big one, if you want to visit you can go by foot without any problems. The city is divided by the Târnava Mare river, therefore there are a few bridges to help crossing the river, one of which is the above on the photo. This is a pedestrian bridge, that was built after the big flood in 1975, that took away the old bridge.

This one is special to me, it always fascinates me because of this point of view. I can never cross it without taking a few photos.

This is the end of the bridge, as you can see you have to take a 360° turn when you come off it.

Industrial Era

During the communism Mediaș was made an industrial city, as part of the communist party's plan to mix people with a well defined purpose. Factories were built, workers were brought in from other regions, action that has changed the city's ethnic composition.

This is a construction site you see now if you visit the city and want to cross the Târnava Mare river using the nice bridge that connects one part of the city with the other.

What you see here is the remain of an old factory that had been giving work to thousands of people. In the back, the enamel cookware factory, that is sill standing and functioning, or maybe struggling would be a better expression.

The factory was founded in 1921, which means next year it's going to celebrate its 100 year old existence.

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These enamel cookware was famous all over the country and abroad. The policy was honor the contracts by sending the good pieces abroad, while the faulty pieces were sold in the country. After the communism regime fall, things have changed and this factory, just like the others has been struggling to survive.

On this empty lot once there was a factory. It was abandoned for a good few years till now, when someone decided to do something about it.

Here's another one that has been empty for a few years and now it seems like they are working on it.

The problem with these building in general is that once the business went bankrupt, it could probably not be sold because of bankruptcy proceedings. As usually this could take years, time in which buildings like these become prey to thieves.

I don't know what the plans are, what they are going to build on these empty lots but I hope it's going to be something useful that will make people's life better. It's time for this city to take a step towards good life.

The Disadvantage Of Protected Buildings

The building on the image above is n the historical city center and dates back to the 20th century I believe but it may be older. Therefore it's protected, which means it can't be demolished or modified in any way without an authorization. The owner has the responsibility to maintain it, but if they don't have what financially is necessary, this is what happens. It wouldn't be a problem if this would be the only one, but it isn't. There are streets where almost all the buildings look like this.

I was thinking in other cities houses close to the city center sell at the highest price. Here a lot of them are uninhabitable, in a very bad condition and probably cheap too if someone would be interested to invest and restore them.

The houses right in the historical city center are restored as most of them are owned or rented by businesses.

Each To Their Own

I'm usually showing what's beautiful in my travel posts but this time is different. This is the most shocking thing I've ever seen in a city.

You may think this apartment building is unfinished, still under construction but in fact it's not. It was finished during the communism. Then why does it look like that you may ask. I'll tell you why.

Because these apartment buildings are quite old and when these were built, comfort and luxury was the last thing the state wanted for its people, the heating system was centralized, meaning there was a heating center in each neighborhood. You were not in charge of your own heating, the administration was and you got as much heating as they gave you, when they gave you, if they gave you. Billing was made based on the apartment surface and you could never know what was your consumption.

Anyway, after the communist era ended, people set up their own heating system and started thermal insulation to make heating more efficient. Inner thermal insulation was out of the question as these apartments are small already, so the only option was external insulation. Obviously the costs are supported by the apartment owners and who has the money can order the work. This means some are able to do it, others don't, and this is why most of these buildings look like this.

And even so this is the better case as the newly insulated apartments are painted in the same color, others are not.

This apartment building looks like a joke. Each to their own, right? This is the result.

Same story.

There's no low about this, the city doesn't care about how these buildings look like as everyone knows many can't afford these works. The damage they to the image of the city is huge. I hope one day these buildings will be repainted to look like normal buildings and not like a joke but that's not going to happen very soon though.

Living standards are declining, investments are close to none, so people do what they can to survive. Good thing you don't see this in every city.

This episode was not a fun one but stay tuned as the next one will be more interesting.

Check out my latest travel posts:

Mediaș, Another Medieval City of Transylvania - Part 2.

The Pedestrian Bridge

Industrial Era

The Disadvantage Of Protected Buildings

Each To Their Own