Mediaș Town Fortifications

The Mediaș town fortifications form the town's second line of defence, outside the enclosure of St Margaret's Church (the „Castelul”). They surrounded the old town, and the surviving sections are found today along Strada Mihai Eminescu, Constantin Brâncoveanu, Nicolae Titulescu, După Zid, Simion Bărnuțiu, Cloșca, Unirii and Pompierilor, many of them built into the walls of houses. The town wall was built between 1490 and 1534, following a document issued in 1477 by the chancery of King Matthias Corvinus. The villagers of the two seats, Mediaș and Șeica, also contributed to the work. The town was besieged and plundered several times, including in 1611 by the troops of Gabriel Báthory, and its last siege took place in 1705. On the west side, fragments of curtain wall and the Round Bastion with a tower survive, partly built into later houses. On the north side stands the Paved Street Gate Tower, at the junction of Strada Johannes Honterus and Strada Nicolae Titulescu. The east side includes the Cutlers' Bastion, the Wheelwrights' Tower, now a dwelling, and the Blacksmiths' Street Gate Tower. On the south side are the Furriers' Bastion and the Forkesch Gate Tower, on Piața Andrei Șaguna, one of the most visible parts of the wall. The ensemble of the medieval town fortifications is a historic monument (LMI code SB-II-a-B-12417), dated to the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, with four components on the west, north, east and south sides (SB-II-m-B-12417.01 to .04). It is a separate monument from the fortified enclosure around St Margaret's Church, listed within ensemble SB-II-a-A-12424. The wall sections can be seen from the street along the former line of the enclosure.