Brukenthal Palace
Sibiu, Sibiu County · Transylvania
About Brukenthal Palace
Samuel von Brukenthal, Governor of Transylvania from 1777 to 1787, built his palace on the Great Square between 1778 and 1788 to the plans of the Viennese architect Joseph Franz Martinelli. He wanted an official residence fit for his rank, but also a home for the paintings, prints, books and coins he had collected during his years in Vienna. The second floor was designed from the outset as a gallery: from 1790 it displayed around 800 paintings in 13 rooms, which the baron showed to guests three years before the Louvre opened to the public.
In his will, Brukenthal left the palace and the collections to the Evangelical community of Sibiu, on condition that they stay open to the public. The museum was officially inaugurated in 1817 and is considered the oldest in Romania. The building, in a Viennese-inspired Late Baroque style, has four wings around a rectangular courtyard and a second courtyard at the back, where the stables once stood. The façade facing the square projects slightly beyond the neighbouring houses; its richest element is the stone portal, with columns and the baron's gilded coat of arms.
Today the palace houses the European Art Gallery of the Brukenthal National Museum, with around 1,200 works from the Flemish and Dutch, German and Austrian, Italian, Spanish and French schools of the 15th to 18th centuries. The collection went through two hard moments: in 1948 a group of masterpieces was transferred to Bucharest and only returned to Sibiu in 2006, and in May 1968 eight paintings were stolen from the gallery; four of them, including Titian's "Ecce Homo", were recovered from the United States in 1998.
What you can see
The visit climbs through every level of the palace. The ground floor holds the cartography cabinet, the print cabinet and the lapidarium of Transylvanian stone sculpture from the 13th to 19th centuries; the basement has the plaster-cast collection and an exhibition on Neo-Gothic taste. The first floor, with its rooms opening one into the next in 18th-century fashion, keeps the baron's reception rooms, with painted wallpaper, Viennese tiled stoves and period furniture, plus themed rooms of biblical and battle scenes.
On the second floor, where Brukenthal kept his gallery, is the exhibition "Masterpieces of the Brukenthal Collection": Jan van Eyck's "Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon", Titian's "Ecce Homo", "The Massacre of the Innocents" by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and works by Antonello da Messina, Hans Memling, Lorenzo Lotto, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Rubens. Around them are themed selections (still life, landscape, portrait, mythological scenes) and rooms that recreate the baron's library and cabinet of curiosities.
Good to know
The palace closes every year, usually in January, for a few weeks of cleaning and conservation work (in 2026, from 12 January to 3 February); the museum's other branches stay open. The palace ticket also covers the National Art Gallery of Romanian painting, in the same building.
- Jan van Eyck's "Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon", one of the few works by the Flemish master in Eastern Europe.
- Titian's "Ecce Homo", stolen in 1968 and recovered from the United States thirty years later.
- "The Massacre of the Innocents" by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, with the biblical slaughter set in a snowy Flemish village.
- The first-floor salons, with painted wallpaper and Viennese tiled stoves from the baron's time.
- The Baroque stone portal on the Great Square, with Samuel von Brukenthal's gilded coat of arms.
Good to know before you go
- Getting there
By car: Sibiu is on the A1 motorway; Cluj-Napoca is ~175 km away (~2 hours on the A10 and A1), Brașov ~145 km on the DN1 (~2 hours 30 minutes) and Bucharest ~275 km on the DN7 through the Olt valley or on the A1 (~4 hours). The palace stands on the Great Square, in the old town, where car access is restricted; leave the car in one of the car parks around the centre and walk.
Public transport: from Sibiu railway station it is ~1.5 km, about a 20-minute walk through the centre, or a few stops on the Tursib buses. From Sibiu airport (~5 km) there is a bus and taxis.
- Where to park
The Great Square is pedestrianised. The nearest barrier car parks are Cazarma 90 (~205 spaces, next to the pedestrian Nicolae Bălcescu street) and Piața Teatrului (~160 spaces), both a 5–10 minute walk away; on-street parking in the old town is zone A, paid daily from 08:00 to 22:00. Rate ~3 lei/hour or 15 lei/day, paid at the machines, by SMS to 7420 or in the Parcare Sibiu app. In summer and at weekends the central spaces fill up quickly.
- Fees & discounts
Adults 50 lei, seniors 25 lei, pupils, students and Euro 26 card holders 12.50 lei; the ticket covers the European Art Gallery and the National Art Gallery in the palace. A single ticket for all branches of the Brukenthal National Museum, valid for 48 hours, costs 120 lei (reduced 60 lei and 30 lei). Temporary exhibitions are charged separately (10–50 lei). Free entry for pre-school children, people with severe disabilities and their companions, ICOM card holders and, on the first Thursday of every month, for all seniors and Sibiu residents. Guided tour in Romanian or English: 200 lei per hour, booked at least 48 hours in advance. Audio guide for the "Masterpieces" exhibition (40 works, Romanian and English): 20 lei. Tickets can also be bought online.
- Rules
You visit on your own; guides are available on request only, booked 48 hours ahead. Professional photo shoots and filming are charged separately (from 100 lei per hour in the courtyard). The works are displayed without glass cases, behind rope barriers: do not touch the paintings, furniture or stoves. The route climbs by stairs through four levels, from the basement to the second floor.
- Facilities
main museum shop, with publications and souvenirs · online tickets · audio guide in Romanian and English · guide on request, by reservation · virtual tour on the website · garden in the second courtyard
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