Goldsmiths' Square (Piața Aurarilor)

Goldsmiths' Square is one of Sibiu's lesser-known squares, located in the lower part of the historic city, in the area known as the Lower Town. It is reached on foot from the Small Square, via a picturesque flight of steps — known as the Goldsmiths' Passage or the Stairs Passage — descending beneath the Goldsmiths' Gate Tower, a defensive tower dating from the 13th century, part of the city's second fortification belt. The square has carried several names over time. The first documented reference, from 1496, mentions a piped fountain in the area, under the name "beim Fingerligsbrunnen." The name "Fingerling" (or variants of it — Fingerlingsplatz) remained in use for centuries, until 1947, when the area was renamed "I.C. Frimu Square." Only in 1970 did it receive its current name, "Goldsmiths' Square," as a tribute to Sibiu's historic goldsmiths' guild — coordinator of the Union of Transylvanian Goldsmiths' Guilds — whose craftsmen had workshops in the area. The houses around the square preserve medieval Saxon architectural elements: the houses at numbers 1 and 2 date from 1567 (with 15th-century elements), house no. 3 from 1810 (with 15th-century elements), and house no. 5 from the 16th-18th centuries. In the courtyard of one of the houses, a fragment of the defensive wall survives, with six circular loopholes. Today, Goldsmiths' Square remains a quiet spot, less frequented by tourists than the Great Square or Small Square, but valued for its authentic, romantic atmosphere. Worth visiting for its well-preserved medieval urban context and for understanding how craft guilds shaped the spatial organization of a Transylvanian town in medieval times.