Sighisoara
Sighisoara is a Romanian town with a very well preserved medieval citadel which contains in its main square the house where Vlad Tepes is believed to have been born. On the outside of the house is a plaque which reads (in translation): “In this house lived between the years 1431 -1435 the ruler of Wallachia Vlad Dracul son of Mircea the Old”. The upstairs portion of the house where there was once the Receiving Room has been converted into a restaurant.
It was also in 1431 that Vlad (the father) was awarded the Order of the Dragon and became known by the sobriquet “Dracul”. At that time he was military governor of Transylvania but was later to become prince (voivode) of Wallachia, the position that had formerly been held by his father Mircea.
No portraits of Vlad Dracul exist, but when work was taking place on restoring the interior walls of his house (“Casa Vlad Dracul”), a piece of a mural was discovered containing what 15th century scholars believe is a likeness of Vlad Dracul. This can be seen today by anyone visiting the house.
