FORTIFICATIONS

Subjected to numerous enemy attacks and incursions, the town's inhabitants decided to build truly effective fortifications. From the ^14th to the ^17th century, stone walls were gradually erected all around Brașov (3 km long, 12 m high), along with watchtowers and gates, making it one of the most fortified cities in Transylvania. The best way to appreciate this defensive system is to visit the best-preserved of these bastions, the Weavers' Bastion(Țesătorilor), built in 1436. In its wood-panelled galleries, you can visit a museum, where a huge 1896 model depicts the Brașov of the 1600s. Among the other visible remains, Poarta Ecaterinei, from 1559, once the town's main entrance, is the only gate that has survived the tests of time. Poarta Schei, at the end of the street of the same name, was built much later, in 1827. To the west of the old town, along Strada După Ziduri (the "Street Outside the Walls"), at the foot of Warthe Hill, the Black Tower(Turnul negru) and the White Tower(Turnul alb) served as observation posts. Not far away is the Graft bastion, which served as a bridge over the stream and can also be visited. The construction of the fortifications was financed by the Saxon trade guilds, and the bastions were named after one of them:Postăvarilor,Fierarilor orFunarilor, from which the cable car to Tâmpa departs.