Located in the middle of the country, at the intersection of the roads that connect the historical Romanian territories, Sibiu has been and still remains a bridge for the circulation of material and spiritual values.
Product of the Romanians, Saxons (“Sachsen”) and Hungarians living together, the civilisation created here, in the southern Transylvania, was a basic component of the European civilisation
One of the most important fortified castles in Transylvania and the residency of the Metropolitan Church of Ardeal/Transylvania and of the Evangelic Bishop, developed on the ruins of the antique “Cedonia”, draws its name from the Cibin river on whose borders it was built.The first colonists, Germans, Flemishmen and Moselans invited by the King of Hungary founded here a new settlement, Villa Hermani, at the half of the 12^th century. Other settlements were founded too, besides the other already existing Romanian ones. The colonists brought with them or invented here a new town-planning system. After the 1241 invasion the necessity of building fortifications appeared. Therefore Sibiu was transformed in a citadel, which resisted to all sieges, the town being never conquered. In villages, fortifications were built around churches and schools, which were considered vital institutions, and within the walls of which the whole community used to retire in case of danger.

From the very beginning of their settlement here, fiscal privileges and autonomy for the area colonised by them were accorded to the Saxons. The Romanian population also enjoyed these advantages. The living together of Romanians and Saxons is an outstanding example in the matter - each community preserved its specificity and its personal characteristics and the competition between the two people stimulated the development of the whole area. The result of this competition was the founding and the enlargement of human settlements built of stone (in the Saxon manner) perfectly adapted to the environment and treasuring traditions that we can study and evaluate.

Enjoying the economic power of its guilds, Sibiu played an important part in Transylvanian culture. Documents attest the existence of a “library” - actually a collection of manuscript books - as early as the 14^th century. The scholars in town and in the surrounding areas used the books. The library was gradually enriched with several printings, especially after a printing house was set up in the former half of the 14^th century. Many religious works were printed here, a well known one being a Lutheran catechism in the Romanian language, published in 1544, as well as a lot of books ordered by the scholars from the south of the Carpathians.

In the field of education it should be mentioned that the first school was opened in Sibiu in the 14^th century. Later on, a Jesuit gymnasium - a school of the highest grade, preparatory to the university, after the system in Germany - was founded (before 1692). In the 19^th century a law academy was set in Sibiu.

In 1778 the Governor of Transylvania, Samuel Brukenthal, started gathering collections of printings, antiquities and rare books that he exhibited in the museum that has been named after him. The museum was opened in 1817. The building sheltering the museum is an architectural monument in the Austrian-baroque style. It is situated on the western side of “The Large Square”, in the centre of the medieval Sibiu. The buildings on the southern side of the square have also been declared “architectural monuments“ as they have preserved their medieval characteristics.

“The Transylvanian Association for the Culture and Literature of the Romanian People” (ASTRA) was founded in 1861 and it contributed to the spreading of culture among the population preparing the Union of the Romanian territories.

The national Union on the 1^st of December 1918 imposed Sibiu as the political centre of Transylvania, and as a constitutive part of the Romanian national and unitary state by installing here the Guiding Council (“Consiliul Dirigent”) a factual provisory Government. This institution functioned in Sibiu between 1918 and 1920 in the building which became “The Romans’ Emperor” Hotel.
The activity of the Guiding Council and the important changes that followed the Union facilitated the closeness of the parts composing the Romanian kingdom. After the Union of the Romanian territories Sibiu played the part of a genuine Romanian capital in Transylvania.

Between the two World Wars the city of Sibiu and the surrounding area enjoyed a period of economic and cultural prosperity and companies like Hess or Rieger became famous in the whole Europe. After the Second World War, the communist regime accorded no importance to cultural and patrimonial values of the town and the county endangering thus the integrity of the buildings in the patrimony. There were in 1989 projects of demolition for almost half of the buildings dating from the medieval period.