Evangelical Cathedral of Saint Mary

The Gothic Evangelical Cathedral on Huet Square is the dominant building in Sibiu's skyline, its squat stone tower rising above the red tile rooftops. Built in the 15th and 16th centuries on the site of an earlier Romanesque church, it is the largest Lutheran church in Romania and the spiritual centre of the Transylvanian Saxon community for centuries.

The interior is impressive in the unadorned way of Lutheran churches — whitewashed walls, stone floors, and a vast 16th-century organ that is still in use for concerts. The tomb of Mihnea the Bad, a Wallachian prince assassinated at the cathedral door in 1510, is on display. Climb the tower for the best views in the city, looking down over the "eyes" of the rooftop dormers and across the surrounding hills.

things to do sight
A story
The cathedral's tower was used as a watchtower over the city, and a guard was posted there until the 19th century. Local legend holds that whenever a fire broke out, the guard would hang a red flag from the tower — and if the fire threatened a Saxon house, he would wave it; if it was a Romanian house, he would let it burn. True or not, the story captures something of the city's complicated ethnic history.

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