Brukenthal Palace in Avrig

Brukenthal Palace stands in the town of Avrig, at Strada Gheorghe Lazăr 39, about 27 km south-east of Sibiu on the road to Făgăraș, opposite the fortified Lutheran church. It was the summer residence of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803), governor of the Grand Principality of Transylvania from 1777 to 1787, also known for the palace and collections in Sibiu that formed the basis of the Brukenthal National Museum. Work on the residence began in the mid-eighteenth century, and the List of Historic Monuments dates the palace to 1750-1800. Exact dates vary between sources, and the completion of the house and gardens took several years. The late Baroque building has a main block and two single-storey wings. The gardens are laid out in terraces about 12 m below the palace, linked to it by a staircase, a fountain and geometric paths. To the east is a smaller English-style garden with winding paths, and a Dutch garden was laid out in front of the orangery, where exotic plants were grown. The park is considered the only Baroque garden preserved or restored on the territory of Romania. In 1908 the Lutheran Church bought the palace from the heirs and turned it into a sanatorium, a function it kept after nationalisation. In 1999 the complex was returned to the Lutheran Church and became the seat of the Samuel von Brukenthal Foundation, which manages it. The complex is a class A historic monument (LMI code SB-II-a-A-12319) and comprises the palace (1750-1800), the orangery and the park, the last two dated by the LMI to the nineteenth century.