Potters' Tower

The Potters' Tower (German: Töpferturm) stands on Cetății Street, between the Arquebusiers' Tower to the south and the Carpenters' Tower to the north. It was built by the Saxon potters' guild and belongs to Sibiu's third fortified enclosure, dated by the List of Historic Monuments to 1357-1366. Based on its rectangular plan and its position relative to the wall, the tower is dated to the fifteenth century. Its present form probably dates from the early sixteenth century. The tower is built of stone and brick. It has a rectangular base, steps back at the intermediate floor and ends with a projecting top storey resting on corbels with machicolations. The first and second levels have keyhole-shaped loopholes through which arquebuses were fired at attackers who reached the foot of the wall. It is 19 metres tall. The curtain wall linking the Potters' Tower to the Carpenters' Tower was built in at least two phases: the lower half is of rough stone, while the upper half, in brick, almost doubled the height of the wall. On the inner side the wall has battlements at the top, reached by a covered wall walk resting on arcades. The tower was restored in 1967-1972, and in 2019-2020 Sibiu City Hall rehabilitated it together with the other two towers on Cetății Street and the walls on Corneliu Coposu Boulevard. Since 1 August 2020 it can be visited inside: the route starts at the Carpenters' Tower and ends at the Potters' Tower. It is part of the ensemble of the medieval city fortifications, a historic monument with the code SB-II-m-A-12010.03.