Let's travel together #212 - Turnurile Cetății Sighișoara (Towers of Sighisoara) [Part 2]

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(Edited)

Adding another brick of history to the knowledge you already have about a place or a country is never enough because the more you find, the more you'll realize that you have to find answers to other questions that you get. But the best way you can do that is by visiting those historical monuments that lasted for so long and which I hope will stand still for a lot more from now on.

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It's been more than a month since my first post from the journey I, my sister and my boyfriend had, visiting one of the most medieval cities from Transylvania, called Sighisoara.
And even though it was just a 2 days long trip, we are far from running out of presenting the places we discovered back then because if you are a fan of history and learning a little bit more about the past of a country, Sighisoara it represents the right place for that, finding new locations to explore at, literally, every step.
So while a few weeks passed since that post and my activity on hive brought gaming, travelling and holiday related articles, it's time to share the next part of the Towers of Sighisoara which are standing still after so many years since everything began.
I know that most likely I got you used to see outdoors and nature discoveries I make with my family around Romania, but from time to time it feels nice to get back to our roots and learn a little bit more about our country because Transylvania played one of the major roles in the history of the world and no matter how many things you are reading, there will be a bunch more you can add to your knowledge, so let's wait no more and advance our information to the next level!

The first tower I'll write about might be pretty foreseeable though, especially if you've seen my post about following all the way up to Biserica din Deal and its cemetery because in some of the pictures a tower that I haven't talked about could be seen.

5. Turnul Frânghierilor (The Rope Tower)

Not only that it looks a little bit better than the other's presented in Part 1 but it dates since the 12th century and it actually represents the single tower out of the 9 that can still be explored which is inhabited by the guard of the church.
When I, my sister and my boyfriend visited this part of Sighisoara, we didn't see the guard so I'll assume he was sleeping since the tower do look like a tiny house with a nice view over the city but also having a strategic placement being between both the church and its cemetery.
Even though Turnul Frânghierilor has been built pretty close to the period when some of the other towers were, being placed so close to the church which gathered a lot of attention from the invaders, it made it also become a target and that's how it was almost destroyed entirely in 1241 as a result of the invasion of the Tartars, but after almost 100 years passed this was rebuilt.
For more than three centuries Turnul Frânghierilor was left without doing any renovations to it so it won't attract attention anymore, but in 1350 this got a new face and mission, namely to protect Sighisoara more than anything and also bring a guard that was being dedicated 100% to take care of the religions place located nearby.

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If you've read my first post of the Towers of Sighisoara most likely you'll remember that I was mentioning about each tower presented if it was part of the fire that left many ruins behind. Happily, The Rope Tower wasn't on the list of the historical monuments that were almost erased from the map, but it still came with important information about its past while people found in its basement traces of clogged battlements which turned out as the best evidence proving that the tower was raised on the wall of the ancient fortress that we'll explore in a future post.

6. Turnul Croitorilor (Tailors' Tower)

This one is located just 5 minutes away from the previous tower and even though it doesn't look like the others do, it represents the shelter that got under its roof one of the richest craft guild Sighisoara ever had.
Turnul Croitorilor was built a little bit later than the others, namely between the 14th - 15th centuries, and it also came with a 2nd name - "The Back Gate Tower"; because just as you might already presume, this was playing the role of defending the back side of the medieval fortress while there was another tower to take care of the front side of this.
Initially, both of the towers used to look the same and have every detail literally identical, but while the previous one managed to stay away from the 1676's fire, Turnul Croitorilor didn't have the same luck, especially since this one was keeping safe the city's gunpowder reserves.
Along with the gunpowder that became food for the fire to spread a lot more quickly, there were also destroyed wheat supplies and a large amount of weapons used by the soldiers in case of invasions.

Just 3 years later, the tower was rebuilt, this time in a rectangular shape and which was equipped with new weapons, having the last floor designed with firing windows and three holes for fuel oil that were used to pour hot oil over the enemies in case of a new invasion.

7. Turnul Cizmarilor (Shoemaker's Tower)

Even though it was initially built in the 16th century, it also became a victim in the fire from 1676 which had no mercy and destroyed it entirely, so 60 years later people worked on bringing it again to life by creating everything in a hexagonal shape that reminds of the baroque style that is so prominent in Sighisoara.
While its name makes you think about shoes and other similar aspects, there is no information about this thing or what it used to be in the past, but only the position that is occupying in the 21st century, namely of sheltering the local radio station.
Just like in the previous situations, we weren't able to enter it or see with our own eyes the pieces of history left in this place, but the wooden ladder that is embracing half of the tower will take you a few meters higher and offer you a great view over the city and the streets where each of them is taking you to another important place of history.
I factually used this to see a little bit further and notice some of the following places we wanted to visit and had on my paper thinking that it would be better to just wonder the city until we reach these instead of using the GPS.

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The best part is that Sighisoara is a really tiny city but which is filled with history and you are not needed to walk more than 5 minutes until you reach your next target, so from here, we followed all the way to the center of the city where we found the 8th tower.

8. Turnul Fierarilor (Blacksmith's Tower)

This one is placed in a more important location than the others, namely in the center of the city and where the citadel is, so we kind of felt that from the first moment seeing the improvements made in terms of materials used for the renovations, as well as the informative panels that were presenting the name of this and what it served for, a thing that was completely missing in the rest of the cases.
Nevertheless, Turnul Fierarilor is one of the towers that dominate the most Sighisoara and its tourists, the 2nd one being the 9th tower we'll discover in a future post.
The tower had a flanking role and it used to take care of the northeastern side of the citadel being part of the old wall of the fortress which was built in the 17th century.
While the rest of the towers are dating since the 12-14th centuries, Turnul Fierarilor proved that it's never too late to rise another one just to bring another level of safety for the locals and your hometown, which also came with firing windows and holes for fuel oil just like Turnul Croitorilor (Tailors' Tower).
Unfortunately, with the passage of years, this one kind of lost its importance and it was rented as a deposit that in 1874 became a fire station, and like the others, nothing of this can be visited or seen because the door is not being opened for the tourists. 🙁

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Each of the eight towers presented so far (four in this post and four in the part 1 written a month ago), represents the eight craft guilds Sighisoara had, hence why their names and curiosities were hidden and kept secret for so long, especially for some of them about whom you can't find too many details on the internet.

More than that, there are also a few more towers you can notice here and there, that are not sharing a specific name or story but which are adding a little bit more medical feeling to your journey. We found two of these but I'm sure there are a lot more.

To reach them you have to surround the fortress which is placed in the center of the city and which comes with various defensive towers on each of its sides.

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SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

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Wow. The city looks very ancient. And it's all expressed a lot through your pictures. It's are amazing. I like the top-down photo best. The city view is great. Thanks for sharing😊

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Thanks for stopping by! It's a great medieval city to visit if you get in Romania sometime.

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Nice photos. I have a friend from Transylvania and I have always promised to visit her but never got around to it. I must try to go some time when this all clears up.

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It would be nice to! I'm sure you won't get bored visiting places in this part of the world.

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Thanks for all the details in regards to the significance and history of the tower. It really ads something to the great pictures 😀

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I´ve been in Rumania some years ago. Thanks for remember me this cool places!!! Nice pics :)

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What have you visited? Did you like it? 😁

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Yes! I enjoyed Rumanía a lot. I went 5 years ago with 4 friends. We flight to Bucharest and rented a car there. We drove and visit as much as we could in a week: Transylvania, Brasov, Sibiu, Cluj Napoca, Timisoara, Sigishoara, Sinaia, Turda salt... It was so cool and people was awesome. If you are still there, enjoy!!
Have a nice day :)

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(Edited)

That's awesome to hear! And I'm happy to know that you enjoyed visited my home country :)

Hope you have a nice day as well!

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The Turnul Fierarilor location was appealing to me. It would be incredible to see what lies beneath the city. My ambition is to visit this location.

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I love Transylvania, I have never had the opportunity to go, but all its history, legends and tales that surround it make it fascinating ... I hope to have the opportunity to visit it soon

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Indeed, there are so many things to see over here that not even an entire life wouldn't be enough for it!

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I'll let you know when I'll be there 😁

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