During the las part of 14th century, being in impending Turkish danger, the cities and village of the Southern Transylvania were surrounded by fortified precincts.
In 1395, King Sigismund of Luxembourg (1387-1437) oversaw the fortification works of the City of Brasov, an important defensive line against the Ottoman Empire, in this part of Europe. In 1421 the settlement was devastated but in 1432 the Turkish invasion couldn’t conquer it, which means that the protective walls around it were already overs. Later on, the Medieval Fortifications of Brasov were developed in several stages, being completed in 1641, with the new Goldsmith`s Bastion on the North-Eastern side of them.
Nowadays, from the rectangular fortress that surrounded the City there are better preserved: The Upper Walls (under the Tampa mountain) and The Lower Walls (along the Graft Canal). Excepting the Red Tanners` Bastion and some fragments of the inner rectangular walls, the fortifications of the North-Eastern side were demolished during the 19th century, beginning with 1857.
There were destroyed the monumental North-Eastern Gates of the city - Porta Portica and Porta Petri (fortified in 1521-1532); The Black Lane`s Gate (1464), the four rows of curtains walls and ditches (extended between 1639 and 1641), the Goldsmith` Bastion. The Red Tanners` Bastion was raised at the beginning of 16th century, next to the Cloth Weavers`s Bastion, at the same time as the outer precinct which fortified the whole Eastern side of the City. The Bastion was restored in 1961-1962 and, after that, an enclosure for young children playground was fitted up there. New restoration works were made in 2005.
More images of Brasov you can find in my collection about this touristic city of Romania.
