Great Square and Council Tower
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
Listen
Transcript
The Great Square became the ceremonial and commercial centre of medieval Hermannstadt. Merchant houses and civic buildings display the prosperity of a self-governing Saxon town.
German-speaking settlers had received collective privileges from Hungarian rulers, allowing distinctive institutions and legal autonomy. Sibiu became one of the major centres of the Saxon political community in Transylvania.
Markets, executions, festivals and administration all used this square. Public space was multifunctional before urban planners invented colour-coded zoning.
The Council Tower linked the Great and Small Squares and formed part of earlier defensive arrangements.
A prosperous merchant city liked to place government directly above circulation. Modern municipalities usually separate the two and still create queues.