Ninety seconds on Sibiu Lutheran Cathedral
Two visits share this building. You climb the steeple to its top floor for a view over every side of Sibiu, then come down into a Gothic church whose walls carry medieval painting and centuries of tombstones.
Look up from the square first. The steeple rises 73.34 metres over the upper town, with four small turrets at the corners of its roof. The turrets are said to have been a sign that the town had the right to pass a death sentence.
Inside, the north wall of the choir carries Johannes von Rosenau's large wall painting of 1445, which the parish describes as a Crucifixion. The baptismal font is older still, made in 1438 by a master named Leonhardus.
Along the walls of the ferula, the church's enclosed hall, hang 67 tombstones moved there from the nave. From 1496, for about three centuries, the church buried Sibiu's mayors and leading citizens, and these are their stones. No other church in Romania has a gallery like it.
At the back of the nave stands the Sauer organ, built in the early 20th century, with 78 registers behind a richly decorated case.
Piața Huet, the small green square around the church, is where the visit starts. Church tickets are sold online through the parish website. The tower is a separate visit with its own fee, so ask at the entrance how to pay for it.
See the church first, working from the choir back to the organ at the rear of the nave. Look into the ferula for the tombstones on the way.
Then climb the tower to the top floor, passing some of the church bells as you go. The windows look out over the other spires and the squares below. Allow about an hour and a half for the church and the tower together.
From April to October the parish's own church guides meet visitors inside and tell the church's history, in Romanian, German or English. Ask at the entrance if you want one. The tower can also be climbed with a guide on request, so ask when you pay for it.
On the upper levels of the tower, the next staircase is not always in plain sight. Walk round each landing before you decide you have reached the top.
The tower windows can catch the sun, so for photographs use the ones facing away from it. If the tower is shut, the Council Tower on Piața Mare offers a similar view.
In summer, ask at the entrance whether a Wednesday evening organ concert is on.
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