First Romanian School

The cradle of Romanian-language education, the First Romanian School is a museum housed in the historic school buildings beside St Nicholas Church in the Șchei quarter of Brașov, the district where the city's Romanian population lived outside the Saxon-walled centre. It preserves the place where teaching and printing in Romanian first took organised form.

The site traces its roots to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when schooling in the Romanian language and Cyrillic script developed here under the shadow of the church. In the mid-sixteenth century the scholar and printer Deacon Coresi produced some of the earliest books in Romanian in Brașov, a milestone in the standardisation of the written language. The complex thus stands at the origin of Romanian literacy and cultural identity in Transylvania.

The museum's collection is a treasure of old books and objects. It displays early manuscripts and printed volumes, a reconstructed classroom, printing equipment and thousands of rare documents gathered over the centuries, telling the story of education, religion and national awakening among Transylvanian Romanians. Rooms are arranged to evoke the schoolmasters and pupils who worked here, and knowledgeable guides bring the history to life.

For visitors it is a rewarding stop away from the main crowds. The Șchei district lies just beyond the Schei Gate at the southern edge of the old town, an easy walk uphill from the centre past the Black Church. The colourful St Nicholas Church beside the museum is worth entering, and the surrounding streets preserve the character of the historic Romanian quarter. Admission is modest, and a guided visit greatly enriches the experience, since much of the material is in Romanian. Together with the church it makes a quiet, atmospheric counterpoint to Brașov's Saxon core.