Sebeș Medieval Fortifications

The medieval fortress of Sebeș, Alba County, is an urban defensive system built at the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th. In 1387, at the request of its inhabitants, King Sigismund of Luxembourg granted the town the right to surround itself with walls. The enclosure had a perimeter of about 1,700 m, with flanking towers, gate towers and a water-filled moat, and a good part of the wall has survived. The fortress had two main gates, to the east and west, a north gate and a secondary gate to the south. Surviving today, among others, are the Tailors' Tower (also called the Student's Tower), the Cobblers' Tower and the Semicircular Tower. As was usual in Saxon towns, each tower was maintained by a guild and bore the name of its craftsmen. In 1438 the town was taken and plundered by the army of Sultan Murad II. In the second half of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th, the two main gates were strengthened with barbicans, and in 1634 a round tower, the Blacksmiths' Tower, was built on the east side. The remaining sections of wall and the preserved towers can be seen at various points in the historic centre of Sebeș, close to the Evangelical Church. Components visible today: The Tailors' Tower, also called the Student's Tower: on the south-east corner of the enclosure, one of the best-preserved towers The Semicircular Tower: on Strada Cetății, west of the Evangelical Church The Cobblers' Tower: on the north-east side The enclosure wall: surviving sections, mainly on the south and east sides All components lie in the historic centre of Sebeș, within a few hundred metres of the Evangelical Church, and can be visited on foot in a single walk through the old town. Did you know that the Student's Tower is named after a real person? According to tradition, a young student from Romos defended the tower alone in 1438. He is identified with Georgius de Septemcastris, taken captive by the Turks at Sebeș, who after 20 years of slavery wrote in Rome a treatise on the customs of the Turks, published in 1481 and reissued by Martin Luther in 1530.