THE CITY OF BRASOV

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THE CITY OF BRASOV
Brasov is located in the very geographical heart of Romania and is one of the most
important industrial, cultural and scientific centres of Transylvania and of the entire country.
Situated at 176 km north from Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, Brasov is the capital of
the county bearing the same name. The road runs along the Prahova Valley through the Pass of
Predeal, Predeal being the town in Romania situated at the highest altitude. From Predeal to Brasov
the traveler enjoys a spectacular mountain landscape.
The city of Brasov and its surroundings, the vast Barsa Land, as this depression area is called,
played an important role during the Middle Ages; three strategic points conferred it an economic,
military and political role of the first rank. Brasov’s
development as an urban settlement began before
the great Tatar invasion of 1241 and the
colonization of the Barsa Land with a German
population.
The earliest documentary dates available
testify the existence of Brasov in 1234, under the
name of “Corona” (Crown), hence its German
name of “Kronstadt”.
During the feudal period, the nucleus of the town
the Citadel was the center of the trades and
cultural-administrative activities, looking quite
similar to other European medieval towns. In the
17th and 18th centuries the town began to resemble the buildings bearing the hallmark of Baroque
and Viennese Rococo styles.
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A visit to Brasov is an opportunity of direct contact to its cultural life. The statue of
Johannes Honterus near the Black Church, made by the Finnish sculptor Haaro Magnusen, shows
the humanist, a book in his enlighten people.
He was deeply involved into the European movement,
the Enlightenment, during the 16th century; he was the one who
brought Protestantism in the city of Brasov, and authored
notable pedagogical and geographical writings. Another statue,
standing in the yard of St. Nicholas Church, shows deacon
Coresi, the first publisher of books in Romanian. His works,
published after 1570, circulated throughout the lands inhabited
by Romanians.
The oldest part of the city, Scheii Brasovului, is
dominated by the slim silhouette of St. Nicholas Church, a true
cathedral of Orthodoxy, founded and then restored in time by
several princes in Wallachia and Moldavia. The still standing
wooden gates and the roadside triptychs on the surroundings
heights give the Schei a unique, special colour.
Brasov has one of the finest natural settings in Romania and Europe. In the southern part of
the town the 960 m high Mount Tampa rises above, and about 10 km away begins the wonderful
Poiana Brasov, established, as well, as a winter and a summer resort.
At only 30 km from Brasov, the Bran-Rucar corridor, the ancient commercial road that once
crossed the mountains from Wallachia to Transylvania, is teeming with tourists in all seasons,
attracted not only by the frame of the Bran castle, but also by the beauty of the heights, by the
healthy and fresh air. Agro-tourism, that has largely developed lately, offers the tourists the
opportunity of tasting in the wonderful cuisine of the region.
To the south-west, near the town of Zarnesti, Piatra Craiului, the most spectacular mount in
the country, is accessible to any tourist or hiker, while also offering challenging ascents to
experienced mountaineers.
To the west rises the massif of the Fagaras Mountains, named the Alps of Transylvania by
the reputed French geographer de Martonne. They are impressive through their spectacular
landscape; peaks that look like spires of Ghotic cathedrals, glacial lakes at over 2000 m altitude,
shady valleys where one can sometimes ski even in July.
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Contemporary Brasov, with a population of about 400,000, is a busy industrial, shopping, tourist and
cultural centre. It constitutes a permanent attraction for hundred of thousands of tourists from
Romania and abroad. The one who once lived in Brasov misses it and wants to return there.
The beginnings and development of academic teaching in Brasov have their roots in the old
cultural traditions and intense cultural climate of out town.
Here, the technical and scientific engineering creation – already
well known – the rich creative artistic activity in the fields of
literature and mass culture as well as the intensive study in
many schools of all grades blend in a harmonious unity.
From among the most important landmarks concerning
the beginnings and affirmation of this cultural center we
mention the first Romanian school from the Schei of Brasov,
which was founded about five centuries ago, Coresi’s first
printings in Romanian, the Johannes Honterus German
Gymnasium, the vast activity of the national Enlightenment led
by the famous man of letters George Baritiu and the “Gazeta
de Transilvania” founded by him, the Astra cultural association
which had a leading role in the formation of the national
consciousness, the personalities Andrei Muresanu, Gheorghe Dima, Ioacb Muresianu, Octavian
Goga, St. O. Iosif, Sextil Puscariu, Valeriu Braniste, Tiberiu Brediceanu, Ilie Cristea and others.
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