Historic Centre of Mediaș

The historic centre of Mediaș covers the old medieval town, bounded by the line of the former town walls, in the municipality of Mediaș on the middle course of the Târnava Mare river, 55 km from Sibiu and 39 km from Sighișoara. Its heart is Piața Regele Ferdinand I, the town's main square, at one corner of which stands the fortified complex of St Margaret's Church, known as the „Castelul”, with the Trumpeters' Tower. Car access to the central area is restricted. The settlement was founded by Saxon colonists and first appears in a document of 3 June 1267, as Mediesy. In 1315 King Charles Robert of Anjou granted the inhabitants of Mediaș, Șeica and Biertan the rights of the Sibiu province, and in 1359 Mediaș is called a town (civitas) for the first time. From 1402 the seats of Mediaș and Șeica became autonomous, and from 1552 the town was the seat of the royal judge of the two seats. In 1576 Stephen Báthory was elected King of Poland at Mediaș. The guilds of tailors and cloth merchants are recorded from 1457, and by 1562 there were 34 guilds. Around the square and in the nearby streets stand old merchant houses and institutions: the Schuller House (Piața Regele Ferdinand 25, sixteenth century), now home to the Democratic Forum of Germans, the former Franciscan friary on Strada Mihai Viteazul, founded before 1444, whose cloister houses the Municipal Museum, the synagogue of 1896 and the Bob Church, the first Romanian church in the town, built in 1826 through Bishop Ioan Bob. Along the edges of the centre, sections of the town walls survive, including the Forkesch Gate Tower and the Paved Street Gate Tower. The urban ensemble „Historic centre of the municipality” is a class A historic monument (LMI code SB-II-a-A-12418), as is the urban ensemble „Piața Regele Ferdinand I” (SB-II-a-A-12420); Strada Johannes Honterus and Piața George Enescu are listed separately. The Via Transilvanica long-distance trail passes through Mediaș.