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Few cities in central Europe wear their layers of history as visibly as Brașov. Ringed by the forested peaks of the Southern Carpathians and sitting at an elevation that gives the air a particular sharpness even in summer, this Transylvanian city spent centuries as a fortified Saxon merchant town, and the evidence of that past is still legible in its streets, its towers, and the Gothic silhouette of the Black Church rising above the main square. The Saxons who settled here in the twelfth century called the place Kronstadt, and the German-inflected architecture of the old centre, known locally as the Cetate, still carries that heritage in its proportions and its colours.

Council Square, or Piața Sfatului, is the natural starting point for any visit, not because it is the most dramatic space in the city but because it is the one around which Brașov's civic and commercial life has always organised itself. The old council house at its centre, with its corner tower, now holds the History Museum Brașov, whose collections trace the city's role as a trading crossroads between the Latin West and the Byzantine and Ottoman worlds to the east. The artefacts inside speak to a place that was simultaneously a printing centre, a fortified outpost, and a market town of considerable ambition. For visitors who want to understand why Brașov matters beyond its photogenic rooftops, an afternoon here is time well spent.