Known as a model of social organisation, the neighbourhoods were attested, from the documentary point of view, in the sixteenth century Transylvania. The relative late beginning of this type of social organisation makes us presume that its “inspirational” source came from another two models found in the Transylvanian society starting with the twelfth - thirteenth centuries: religious organizations and guilds. Imitating them, the neighbourhoods created their own policies and adopted the same symbolic items (the sign, the trunk, the seal, the flag). As one can deduce reading the policies, neighbourhoods were extremely important in the community. One of the concerns of the members of the neighbourhoods was the mutual help offered during the important life moments of the community members – birth, marriage, and funeral. The neighbours’ safety was also very important. It was maintained by assuming the rules concerning fire extinction, night guards and cleaning the drinking fountains. Ethics and respect towards the church were also stipulated and followed by the neighbourhoods’ members. Those misbehaving were strictly punished. Therefore, the neighbourhoods played a special role both in the social life of each fellow and in the safety and order of the town. Although it was subordinated to higher forums – the magistrate and the villicus – the administrative and some of the juridical problems were solved inside the community by the neighbourhood’s fathers.

The activity and importance of this type of organisation in Sibiu are certificated both by the high number of documents preserved in the Public Archives and the specific neighbourhood objects – trunk, signs, flags, seals – preserved in the Brukenthal National Museum.

1. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Fund Vecinătăţile oraşului Sibiu, Register No. 44, f. 1-43, Serviciul Județean Sibiu al Arhivelor Naționale (SJSAN).

2. Franz Zimmermann, „Die Nachbarschaften in Hermannstadt”, Archiv des Vereins für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde, N. F. 20 (1885):

3. Ioan Albu, Inschriften der Stadt Hermannstadt aus Mittelalter und frühen Neuzeit (Sibiu: Hora, 2002), 19.

4. Gernot Nussbächer, „Vom alten Nachbarschaften”, Neuer-Weg, Schässburg, XXXI, No. 925, 25 March 1979, 25.

5. Ibid, 38.

6. Ferenc Poszony, „Vecinătățile din Transilvania” [The Neighbourhoods in Transylvania], in Vecini și vecinătăți în Transilvania [Neighbours and Neighbourhoods in Transylvania], ed. by Vintilă Mihăilescu (București: Paideia, 2003), 17.

7. Gustav Seivert, Die Stadt Hermannstadt, eine historische Skizze (Sibiu: Steinhaussen, 1859),

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Zimmermann, „Die Nachbarschaften”, 113.

11. Ibid., 112.

12. Ibid., 115.

13. Ibid., 121.

14. Ibid., 124.

15. Ibid.

16. Acte, Fund Vecinătăţile oraşului Sibiu, No. 15, Pack 6, f. 109, SJSAN.

17. Acte, Fund Colecția Brukenthal, f. 58-63, SJSAN.

18. Acte, Fund Vecinătăţile oraşului Sibiu, No. 15, Pack 6, f. 109.

19. Wilhelm Schunn, Die Nachbarschaften der Deutschen in Rumänien (Sibiu: Krafft & Drotleff, 1936), 11.

20. Ibid., 17.

21. Zimmermann, „Die Nachbarschaften”, 24.

22. Doina Nägler, „Colecţia de lăzi de breaslă a Muzeului Brukenthal” [The Collection of Guild Chests Brukenthal Museums], Studii și comunicări 13 (1967): 214.

23. Poszony, „Vecinătățile”, 23.

24. Raluca Maria Frîncu, Olga Beşliu, „Semne de înmormântare ale vecinătăţilor sibiene din colecţia Muzeului Naţional Brukenthal” [Funeral Signs of the Sibiu Neighbourhoods from the Collection of the Brukenthal National Museum], Brukenthal Acta Musei V.1 (2010): 179.

25. Doina Nägler, „Tablele de breaslă ale Muzeului Brukenthal” [The Brukenthal Museum Guild Tables], Acta Musei Napocensis IV (1967): 196.

26. Dănuț Nicușor Ivănuş, „Sigilii şi ştampile de vecinătăţi sibiene” [Seals and Stamps of the Sibiu Neighbourhoods], Sargetia XXXIV (2006): 63.

27. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 3, f. 1-87.

28. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 44, f. 1-43.

29. Ibid., f. 43.

30. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 35, f. 1.

31. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 37, f. 1-7.

32. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 39, f. 15.

33. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 54, f. 1-8.

34. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 116, f. 1-6.

35. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 115, f. 1-21.

36. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 129a, f. 1-15.

37. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 92, f. 1.

38. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 93, f. 1-26.

39. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 102, f. 1-25.

40. Acte şi registre 1577-1897, Register No. 106, f. 1-6.

41. Annemie Schenk, „Die Nachbarschaft bei den Siebenbürger Sachsen. Zum Inhalt von Nachbarschaftsladen”, in András Krupa, Ernő Eperjessy und Gábor Barna, ed., Kultúrák találkozása-kultúrák konfliktusai. Az V némzetközi néprajzi nemztiségkutató konferencia eloadásai Békéscsaba, 1993. október 7-9 [Encounters Between Cultures - Conflicts Between Cultures. Proceedings of the 5^th International Conference on Ethnographic Ethnicity Research Békéscsaba, 1993. October 7-9] (Budapest: Magyar Néprajzi Társaság, 1995), 182.

42. Raluca Maria Frîncu, Solidarități socio-economice, vecinătăți din sudul Transilvaniei [Socio-Economic Solidarities, Neighbourhoods in Southern Transylvania] (Sibiu: Editura Muzeului Național Brukenthal, 2018), 71.

43. Maria Pakucs-Willcocks, Sibiul veacului al XVI-lea. Rânduirea unui oraș transilvănean [Sibiu in the 16^th Century. The Establishment of a Transylvanian City] (București: Humanitas, 2018), 161.

44. Zimmermann, „Die Nachbarschaften”, 50.

45. Frîncu, Solidarități, 74.

46. Zimmermann, „Die Nachbarschaften”, 65.

47. Acte, Fund Vecinătăţile oraşului Sibiu, Pack 5, without signature.

48. Zimmermann, „Die Nachbarschaften”, 119.

49. Frîncu, Solidarități, 76.

50. Ibid., 77.

51. Poszony, „Vecinătățile”, 27.

52. Zimmermann, „Die Nachbarschaften”, 53.

1. Neighbourhood moneyboxes, 15^th-16^th centuries/ Pușculițe de vecinătate (fig. 1).
2. Neighbourhood moneybox, 1490/ Pușculiță de vecinătate (fig. 2).
3. Neighbourhood moneybox, 1581/ Pușculiță de vecinătate (fig. 3).
4. Neighbourhood moneybox, 1617/ Pușculiță de vecinătate (fig. 4).
5. Neighbourhood chest, 1673/ Ladă de vecinătate (fig. 5).
6. Funeral sign, 1694/ Semn de înmormântare (fig. 6, 7).
7. Neighbourhood sign, 1723/ Semn de vecinătate (fig. 8, 9).
8. Neighbourhood sign, 1750/ Semn de vecinătate (fig. 10).
9. Plate, 1790/ Farfurie (fig. 11).
10. Funeral sign, 1791/ Semn de înmormântare (fig. 12, 13).
11. Neighbourhood flag, 1790/ Steag de vecinătate (fig. 14, 15).
12. Plate, 1807/ Farfurie (fig. 16).
13. Plate, 1818/ Farfurie (fig. 17).
14. Convener, 19^th century/ Convocator (fig. 18).
15. Convener, 1857/ Convocator (fig. 19).
16. Neighbourhood sign, 1857/ Semn de vecinătate (fig. 20).
17. Neighbourhood sign, 19^th century/ Semn de vecinătate (fig. 21).
18. Neighbourhood flag, 1925/ Steag de vecinătate (fig. 22, 23).
19. Neighbourhood flag, 1929/ Steag de vecinătate (fig. 24, 25).
20. Neighbourhood chest, 1936/ Ladă de vecinătate (fig. 26).
21. Neighbourhood chest, 1937/ Ladă de vecinătate (fig. 27, 28).