The Ironsmiths' Tower (, ) is located behind the

Monastery Church A church, church building, church house, or chapel is a building used for Christian worship church service, services and Christian religion, Christian activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 A ...

of Sighişoara, in

Mureș County Mureș County (, , ) is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș. The county was established in 1968, after the administrative reor ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Its main role was to protect the church in case of a siege. It was built in 1631 on the foundations of the old Barber's Tower. From inside the citadel it appears relatively small, but is impressive when viewed from the exterior of the wall. The tower has a trapezoidal ground plan and dominates with its bulk the entire North-east side of the citadel fortification. It is a flanking tower stuck to the wall of the fortress. At the top there are two defence floors provided with arrow slits. As it has remarkably strong roof framework, it is supposed that it was also used for the storage of weaponry. At the time of construction there was apparently also an artillery bulwark connecting the Ironsmiths' Tower to the Barrelmakers' Tower, but this was pulled down later. In 1680 General Registry stated that in the tower were found six

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. The term ''arquebus'' was applied to many different forms of firearms ...

es: one of which double, three medium and two small; three

pistols A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a barrel with an integral chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the English language when early handguns ...

, one

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

, seven

lance The English term lance is derived, via Middle English '' launce'' and Old French '' lance'', from the Latin '' lancea'', a generic term meaning a wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generic term meaning a spear">wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generi ...

s, three hundred pounds of

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and another three hundred pounds of

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

. After the tower lost its strategic importance, it was rented out for storage and later on, in 1874, it became a fire station. During this period drastic alterations were made to its interior. Sighișoara

References

{{reflist Best of Romania
"Sighisoara Towers"
''SC World of Wonders SRL'', 2020. Retrieved 15.2.2020. Schäßburg - Informationen
"HOG-Informationen / Geschichte"
''Verband der Siebenbürger Sachsen in Deutschland e.V. / Geddert''. Retrieved 15.2.2020.