Sebeș (Mühlbach) was one of the seven main cities of Transylvania (Siebenbürgen), being built by the Transylvanian Saxons. Today its glory has mostly vanished, but it is still remembered for being a crossroad city (two main European roads and a highway), an important gateway to mountain tourism (Transalpina) and for its German heritage. Now under the administration of Sebes, the village of Lancrăm (Langendorf) is known everywhere in Romania as the birthplace and the final resting place of Lucian Blaga, one of the most important Romanian poets (my favourite poet).
Personally, every time I visit this city I can’t avoid seeing the gigantic wood processing factory next to the highway, a factory which, although providing jobs for the communities around, is responsible for most of the deforestation taking place in this area; this uncontrollable activity, mixed with corruption and lack of law reinforcement, casts a shadow on this beautiful place. Sebes is also known for the fact that, after the completion of the highway nearby, it has held a gigantic party in the street, when people celebrated the extinction of the infinite rows of vehicles blocking the city (nowadays it still remains a crowded place due to the fact that, ironically, the highway itself gets blocked, so people still use the old roads).
The photos that follow are taken in a small area around the Lutheran church, Stadtpfarrkirche Mühlbach. The weather was cold and windy, and the people I encountered were overtly aggressive when I tried to take photos of their buildings, so I had to stop. However, I took some shots of the Lutheran church, the nearby Saint James’s Chapel and the Fortress Street. The last photos are random shots of the German city wall… still standing and defying time.