Mediaș, Another Medieval City of Transylvania - Part 3

Today I'm continuing my series about this nice medieval city called Mediaș, situated in Sibiu county, Romania.

If you've missed my first and the second post, you can read them now by clicking the links.

Architecture

Architecture has always fascinated me and in this city you get to see some amazing buildings that you can't see anywhere else. There's a street called Johannes Honterus that connects the historical city center to the Steingasser Gate Tower. It's an old street, full of beautiful houses, protected by the city. Some are in a deplorable state, but there's hope one day these will be restored.

Johannes Honterus was a Transylvanian Saxon, renaissance humanist, Protestant reformer, and theologian, who lived between 1498 and 1549.

Honter is best known for his geographic and cartographic publishing activity, as well as for implementing the Lutheran reform in Transylvania and founding the Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession in Romania. source

This house, although it's pretty colorful, from architectural point of view it's fascinating. It must have belonged to a wealthy family when it was build, I guess somewhere in the 1900's.

This is guesthouse with 20 rooms and apartments and a conference room as well, called House of Honterus. Another architectural beauty.

Opposite to the guesthouse there's the memorial house of Stephan Ludwig Roth , who was a Transylvanian Saxon intellectual, teacher, pedagogue and Lutheran pastor. Stephan Ludwig Roth lived between 1796 and 1849, he was born and grew up here, so you can imagine how old is that house.

source

The house wasn't open at the time of my visit, but here's a photo from inside. The cupboard on the right it is a real artwork, made of lovely wood, hand carved.

There are three rooms in total and there's an exhibition in there, made of all the things that once belonged to Stephan Ludwig Roth.

There's a school named after him. This is the high school and gymnasium and there's the elementary school which is also named after him, that is inside the fortress wall.

This gate is typical to those times in this region. It's a gate with two big doors in which there's one small door for pedestrians. The other one was for carriages. Almost every house on this street and plenty others in the city have gates like this one.

The old gate has been replaced at some point and this new one is the same size and style as the old one. This is the beauty of protected properties, you need to restore the building to its original state.

This is an old one, can't really estimate how old it is, but looking at its condition, must be old.

What I love about this street is that it's full of old and beautiful houses but you can't find two of a kind. Each one has it's own beauty and personality. This one is another example. Too bad the restoration work was not finished at the time of my visit.

Business

It's interesting to see what kind of opportunities you have in a place like this, when there's no space for new constructions, modifying anything is out of the question ans houses are small even to live in. Sidewalks can be a property of the house owner but most of the times, like here most likely, it belong to the city, I mean it's public property, which means it's not yours. You need authorization to occupy it.

This investor has found a way to expand his business, which is extremely important these days as due to the pandemic, this small bistro can stay open only if it can serve customers outside. You can stay under these umbrellas and enjoy a coffee with a slice of cake, far from the noise as traffic is minimal to non existent here. What better place to enjoy your summer afternoon?

History

This is the Steingasser gate tower, or the the gateway that leads to the cobbled street. Obviously or unfortunately the cobble stones have been removed. It has two floors and it is 25.8 m high. It was used by the stonemasons.

The tower was built between 1494 and 1534 and was damaged badly in 1745 by the kuruc, a group of armed anti-Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary.

The repairs changed the stylistic characteristics of the tower and diminished its defensive role. The baroque character of the restoration is also manifested by making the roof with a change of slope. Classic firing holes have been replaced with turntable holes for firearms. The entrance to the tower is made through the pedestrian gangway to the east of the tower. source

The gate doors are made of wood with iron decorations.

There's a map at the entrance of the gate for tourists in four languages, on which you can see the old wall, surrounding the historical city.

This is the only Hungarian educational institution of the city, kindergarten, elementary school and gymnasium. After that kids need to choose between continuing their study in Romanian or leaving the city, choosing a nearby city which has high school education in Hungarian.

The municipal museum that I visited a few years back. It has a wonderful butterfly exhibition as well as art, culture and historical exhibitions. I remember they has photos of all the medieval fortresses from the region of Transylvania. Must go back and visit the museum next time I'm in the city.

This is the Catholic church of the city. I've been inside once, it's a wonderful construction.

Roaming around the city you can see many houses like this one.

This building is opposite the the St. Margaret Church, another architectural masterpiece in my eyes.

This is the youth center of the city, that gives home to different activities for school kids.

And this is why I wanted to write about it. In the courtyard there's a second WW airplane that you can't see everywhere. It's the favorite place of many kids. How come there's a plane here, you may ask.

There has been an aviation base for the army a good few years ago, when military service was still mandatory and most likely that's where this plane had been brought here.

Last, but not least, the synagogue. This historical building has become the shame of the city. After most of the Jews left, the building stood empty, then gypsies and homeless people took advantage of it.

After some time these people have been evacuated, but the building is still not restored and used for something smart, like cultural events.

Check out my latest travel posts:

• Mediaș, Another Medieval City of Transylvania - Part 2.
• Mediaș - The Historical City Center
• Lunch At Greweln Inn
• Albota - The Trout Farm With The Best Trout
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 7.
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 6. - The Aquarium
• Brukenthal Palace - The Exhibition Of Saxon Goods From Transylvania - Part 2.
• Brukenthal Palace - The Exhibition Of Saxon Goods From Transylvania - Part 1.
• Brukenthal Palace - The Medieval Exhibition
• Brukenthal Palace - Orangery And Garden
• The Clay Castle, Fairy Valley - Castelul de Lut, Valea Zânelor
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 5. - Food And The Surroundings
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 4. - Expectations vs Reality
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 3. - Education Matters
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 2.
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 1.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 6.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 5.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 4.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 3.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 2.
• Haveyoubeenhere, Pinmapple And The Huge Potential We Have Here
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 1.
• The Medieval City - Part 3.
• The Medieval City - Part 2.
• The Medieval City - Part 1.
• The Blacksmith Workshop At The Dracula Daneș Domain
• The Park At Dracula Daneș Domain
• Horses And The Stable At Dracula Daneș Domain
• Horse Riding At Dracula Daneș Domain
• Carriage Museum At Dracula Daneș Domain
• Lunch At The Dracula Daneș Domain