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Known in German as Hermannstadt, Sibiu has always been
the centre of Romania's German minority since medieval
times. Even today, it contains Romania's largest German
community, and, due to initiatives by the local government,
the Germanic feel of the area has been maintained. Sibiu
also has a significant Hungarian minority, remnants of
Transylvania's past as part of the Hungarian Empire and,
later, Austria-Hungary. Despite this, Sibiu is also distinctly
Romanian (95% of the population are ethnic Romanians)
and manages to fuse these three cultures, as well as smaller
minorities of Roma, Slovaks and Ukrainians into a city
that is as wonderful as it is vibrant.
According to legend the lost children of Hamelin emerged
from the ‘Almasch’ (Varghis) cave into Transylvania
– somewhere close to Sibiu. This is the 'romantic'
explanation for what was for many centuries a strange
phenomenon: the presence of blond-haired, blue-eyed, German-speakers
following ancient customs, yet isolated by hundreds of
miles from Germany. The reality is that the fortified
towns and villages of Transylvania were established in
the 12th Century by settlers from the Moselle region,
referred to locally as 'Saxons'. They were tempted to
Transylvania by favourable market rights by the Hungarian
rulers who wanted them there to guard the mountain passes
against Tatar and Ottoman raiders. They created the 'Siebenbürgen',
the seven fortified cities, while in villages they constructed
fortified churches in which they could shelter during
times of siege. Some of these churches are massive structures.
The villages are often remote and although vestiges of
the original populations may remain, clinging on to age-old
traditions, many of them are in serious danger of losing
their character as churches crumble. Various restoration
projects have been initiated to rebuild the communities
and to attract back some of the original inhabitants.
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