Samuel von Brukenthal

Samuel von Brukenthal was born on 26 July 1721 in Leschkirch (Nocrich), between Hermannstadt (Sibiu) and Agnetheln (Agnita).

Brukenthal started the construction of his town palace in Hermannstadt (Sibiu) a year after being elected Governor of Transylvania (1777).

The major difficulty in the construction of the "new house" consisted in the obligation to keep to the two demolished lots, adjacent to the Jesuit church and seminary.

Unlike palaces surrounded by parks, the edifices built in the interior of the medieval towns are strictly limited to the existence of the initial lots.

The construction of this imposing edifice had no other purpose, from the very beginning, than the creation of a propitious background for the conservation of an art collection and of antiquities having an inestimable value.