The 1689 Brașov fire took place in the town of Brassó in the Principality of Transylvania (now '' Brașov'', in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

; German ''Kronstadt''). It broke out on the afternoon of 21 April in the lower (i.e. southwestern) parts of ''Burggasse'' and ''Schwarzgasse'' streets (today ''Str. Castelului'' and ''Str. Nicolae Bălcescu''). Spread by a powerful wind, it soon engulfed the entire part of the town facing the Tâmpa mountain. Local fires also appeared in ''Roßmarkt'' (today ''Str. George Barițiu'') and ''Purzengasse'' (today ''Str. Republicii''). Within a few hours, the entire town was in flames. The White Tower, the Black Tower, the Council House and the Black Church were all damaged. Church services were held outdoors for a long time. Johannes Honter's renowned library also perished. Some people claim that the blaze was set deliberately by

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

troops during the

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War (german: Großer Türkenkrieg), also called the Wars of the Holy League ( tr, Kutsal İttifak Savaşları), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Pola ...

as a revenge for the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...

parts of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. After the fire in 1689, the Ottoman Army garrison fled the town. Around 300 people died, the town was practically destroyed and its economic power was severed. For years, Kronstadt remained a ruin city blackened by smoke with a lingering penetrating smell. Most houses were of wood, which facilitated the spread of flames. Moreover, water was scarce in the mountain town. Subsequently, the authorities banned wooden houses, which is why the historic center of Brașov features only stone and brick houses. Reconstruction of the city took over many decades. A common misconception is that the Black Church got its name because it was sooted by the fire. However, 21st century studies have found no layers of fire destruction; the church has blackened simply because of environmental pollution after Brașov has turned into an industrial city. Furthermore, the name "Black Church" was not used until the end of the 19th century.Roth, Harald. Kronstadt in Siebenbürgen - Eine kleine Stadtgeschichte (2010), pp. 162–164,

References

1689 fires Brașov Fires in Romania

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

{{Romania-hist-stub