Brukenthal Palace

The Brukenthal Palace located at no. 4 in the Large Square is among the most representative buildings of Sibiu. This building is different from other palaces built in open spaces because it was limited by the initial parcels existing here. The palace was built on the location of two medieval houses. One of them belonged to the Kloknern family, inherited by the governor’s wife from her father. Subsequently, Brukenthal purchased the building on the northern side as well, a former property of senator Offner.

A closed plan with an inner courtyard was adopted for the construction of the palace, the organization of the space being made by highlighting the first floor, where, looking onto to the façade, are the most important five halls (the drawing room, the visit chambers, offices) decorated with wallpaper, items of artistic woodwork and furnished with tile stoves. The rooms located on the flanks are decorated with elements of oriental inspiration. Between 1786 and 1788 the second courtyard was finalized and is reserved for household spaces and for the stables (a floor was added and it was transformed into a library). A special attention is paid to the artistic elements, both outdoors and indoors, the stone elements, the sculptures and the portals (main and secondary, in the courtyard). Numerous renowned masters contributed to the building of this imposing edifice, among which we mention a sculptor with origins in Cluj and staying in Sibiu - Simon Hoffmeyer –, stone artisan Anton Hertzum and carpenter Franz Burger.

At the ground floor, the stone cadre of the portal is decorated with elements of plastics, among which we notice the golden coat of arms of Samuel von Brukenthal, along with elements from the baroque repertoire, such as urns, rosettes, festoons. The wings of the gate made in oak wood are decorated with the relief emblems of the arts, painting and music (the owl, Minerva’s shield with the face of Meduza Gorgona, the painter’s palette) and the sign of abundance (the horn of abundance filled with fruits and other agricultural products). The main portal ensures the access towards the inside of the palace and then towards the courtyard. There is a second portal here, which respects the organization of the main portal.

At the ground floor, on the left side of the doorway passage, there is a door cadre which came from the Teutsch House (no. Tipografilor Street), being the work of Thomas Lapicida in 1552.

The owner’s apartment is at the first floor where there are also the guest rooms, the second floor being reserved to the collections and also to the library, initially situated in the transversal wing. The music hall was initially adorned with oriental floral wallpaper made of a fine linen cloth, and the rooms situated on the sides were adorned with red silk wallpaper. The offices situated on the flanks have Chinese paper wallpapers with oriental motifs: exotic birds, trees and flower bushes. The cadres and the wings of the doors, as well as the casing and shutters of the windows were made with a special artistic taste, adorned with frames, medallions, pearl wands and rosettes. Among the most valuable elements we notice the twelve supraportas sculpted in relief in lime wood and covered in gold. The inspiration source for eight of these elements are the works of Ovidiu: in the bedroom on the left there are four scenes from "The History of Bacchus" (Metamorphosis), and on the righthand side "Clytia transformed in a sunflower" (Metamorphosis), "The Moon and Endymion" (De arte), "Narcis turned into a flower" (Metamorphosis) and "Poet Arion saved by the dolphin" (Faste).