Ghidul orașului Sighișoara din anul 1895
Sighișoara Guidebook from 1895

Summary/Abstract: The author of this article presents Sighisoara and its surroundings guidebook from 1895. At that time the town was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was fully connected to the political, socio-economic and cultural realities of the Empire. The guide was edited by the Association for the Beautification of the Town, an association that was organized in 1880 by the Saxons, the German population that founded the town more than 800 years ago. The 1895 Sighisoara Guide contained in its pages essential information about geographical coordinates, human capital and town’s history, institutions (among which schools and churches held a significant position), about the most valuable public and private buildings, history collections, local economy and not least the recreation and leisure areas.The main purpose of the Association was to arrange and take care for the green spaces inside the town and the viewpoints on the hills around the town. With the support of the local council and the Forestry Office, the Association for the Beautification of the Town managed to create the Town Park, the Promenade of the Fortress, the Adler’s Promenade, the last one in the area of the water mill of the town. The hills from the 4 cardinal points, were also places of leisure time for the population of the town and special paths were arranged to reach on their peaks. For example, from Siechhofberg/Dealul Gării, nature lovers could admire in the clear days the panorama of the snowy Fagaras Mountains, located almost 150 km away. The Association did not survive the First World War and left to the city all its achievements and especially the cultivation of aesthetic sense among the inhabitants of Sighisoara. This Guide can allow us to access to a deeper level the history of Sighisoara at the end of the 19th Century, also giving us the opportunity to understand the specifics of the social and cultural organization of the Saxons from Sighisoara. Although some socio-cultural realities of the Saxon cities in Transylvania were generally similar, there were still obvious local peculiarities, which managed to individualize each city. It was also the case of Sighisoara.Similar to Sibiu, in Sighisoara the urban transformations of the last quarter of the 19th century and from the beginning of the 20th century had a decisive influence over the preservation of the architectural ensemble of the town and on the creation of public green spaces. The evolution and prospects of expansion of the town during this period have increased the possibilities for leisure time, starting from walking on the promenade and in the town park, continuing with visiting the Fortress and its monuments and frequenting public places - cafes, restaurants, hotels in town and reaching to spend leisure time outdoors, in the green surroundings of Sighisoara or even in the Saxon villages near the city.

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