LOCATION

Sibiu is the most important city in the county of Sibiu. It is situated in the longitude of 24° 29' East (in line with Lyon) and in the latitude of 45° 48’ North (in line with Athena), near the geographical center of Romania
POPULATION
The city community is made up of various ethnic groups.
The large majority of the population is Romanians (94%) speaking Romanian, the only Latin language in this part of the continent.
There are many small communities in Sibiu, the Germans represents around 2%, they are descendents of the German settlers who emigrated from area of today Luxembourg and Rhine Valley (Germany) in 12-th century.
The German dialect spoken in Sibiu is very similar to Frankish/Luxemburgish language.
Christian Orthodox dominates the religion, but there are also Catholics and Reformed.

ECONOMY
Sibiu was for centuries an important industrial center of Romania.
The prosperity and harmony of Sibiu has its roots in a capitalistic tradition influenced by a long standing German work ethic. New entrepreneurs have developed new businesses after the collapse of communism and the foreign investments have started to flow in.
There are mechanical engineering works and industries producing textile machinery, foodstuffs and lather. The city is also a market for farm products and cattle

CULTURE

Sibiu/Hermannstadt is perceived as a city of art and culture. A great number of cultural monuments, a diversity of museums, and various artistic and cultural events, make up the pillars of a complex cultural profile. Using this simple premise, an attractive and stimulating atmosphere has been created for residents and visitors who take the opportunity to experience cultural life in this Transylvanian city.
Sibiu/Hermannstadt has a Philarmonic Orchestra which performs weekly concerts of classical and modern symphonic music, also organises an international piano festival.

A great number of festivals are organised yearly in Sibiu, the most prestigious being the International Theatre Festival organised each spring at the end of May.
Also, the oldest Jazz Festival in Romania is organised here, as well as a festival for young classical music artists, a documentary film festival, a medieval arts festival and many more smaller cultural events.In 2007, Sibiu was the European Capital of Culture.

HISTORY

The Sibiu area shelters archelogical findings from Late Stone Age, Early Bronze and Iron Age to pre-Roman settlements inhabited by Dacian tribes. Traces of a Roman settlement named Cedonia puts Sibiu on the map of the Dacian Province of the Roman Empire.

The colonists, named in the documents “teutonici”, “flandres” or “saxones” established around 1150 a settlement called “Villa Hermanni” – Hermannsdorf, later Hermannstadt, mentioned first in a document in 1191 by Pope Celestin III. Hermannsdorf evolved towards urban life and got the rank of city – civitas in 1366.
The German colonists’ settlements united in seven Chairs, which towards the end of the 15th century formed a coherent administrative system called The University of Saxon Nation whilst Sibiu/Hermannstadt became the capital city of the Saxons.
The city grew in importance as it developed a prosperous trade with Hungary, Poland and the southern province of Wallachia.

The craftsmen in Hermannstadt also bartered goods - mainly clothes and tools - with the Romanian population. Production and trade developed and flourished, due to the activity of the guilds.

Their first written regulations (1367) mentioned 19 guilds, with 25 trades. Their number constantly grew. The flourishing period was shadowed by the Turkish danger as invasions followed one after the other beginning with 1394, 1432, 1437 and 1438, when the town successfully resisted against a siege led by the sultan Murad th 2nd.
At the end of the 18th century the governor of Transylvania Samuel von Brukenthal had gathered an impressive library and rich art collections, mentioned since 1773 in the Almanach von Wien.

The collections were opened to the public in 1817 and became later the core of Brukenthal Museum. In the 18th century the town extended over the precinct walls, forming the district Josephin, Terezian and Lazaret. Since beginning with the 1541 only Saxons could have properties inside the walls of the town, the Romanian population settled in these districts.

Transylvania was annexed to Hungary since 1867. The city witnessed once again an economical flourishing. Between 1840 and 1918, a number of 33 industrial enterprises were active in Sibiu/Hermannstadt. The electric plant was founded in 1896 and the electric tramway appeared in town in 1905.

At the end of World War I, in 1918 the Romanian population decides to unite Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania, followed in 1919 by the Saxons’ Assembly voted for joining in.

Sibiu became the seat of the provisional government until the unification was completed.
Although the number of Romanians in town substantially raised, Sibiu/Hermannstadt remained the main centre of the German culture and education in Romania and witnessed a vivid cultural life of all the ethnic groups.

Sibiu did not suffer distructions during WW II but, after the war, the new communist authorities backed by Moskau began to nationalise the factories and the land while launching waves of pollitical trials and arrests against all oponents. For the population of Sibiu a long suffering began. The communist authorities considered Saxons guilty in corpore for collaborating with the German Reich and many of them were deported in the Soviet Union for forced labour.

As economic hardships and oppression grew during the 80’s, the population of Sibiu was fast to rebel against the communist regime in December 1989, when 91 persons lost their life in the armed clashes.

During the 90’s the city restored its democratical institutions and faces now the task of renewing the infrastructure and raising the living standard of its inhabitants.

Milestones in Sibiu history

1292 - The first hospital in Romania.

1380 - The first documented school in Romania

1494 - The first pharmacy in Romania

1534 - The first papermill in Romania

1544 - The first book in Romanian is printed here.

1551 - The first experiment with rockets in the world by Conrad Hass

1671 - The methane gas is discovered near Sibiu

1782 - Franz Joseph Müller discovers the chemical element Telur

1795 - At Cisnadie is installed the first lightning rod in SE Europe.

1817 - Brukenthal Museum, the first museum in Romania

1852 - First issue of Telegraful Roman the oldest newspaper in SE Europe

1859 - The Liars Bridge, the first cast-iron bridge in Romania

1875 - The first engineering manufacturing in Transylvania

1896 - The first electric power in Romania and the first power line in this part of Europe.

1904 - The second city in Europe where an electric tramway is used

1928 - The first Zoological Garden in Romania

1989 - The second city in Romania rising against the Communists.