A PLACE THAT INSPIRES YOU

Data on the historical and architectural development of the ensemble

The group of buildings in the Johannes Honterus courtyard, nos. 6-7-8 and 9, is located on the western side of the Black Church, in the oldest built-up area of the Brasov citadel, with the highest density of objectives registered in the list of historical monuments. The buildings are the result of a series of interventions carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries, on the site of the first school in the city – Schola Coronensis (1388) and the school library – Librairiea, built on the initiative of the humanist and reformer Johannes Honterus (1547).

On the west side of the church stands

CH8 – a history undergoing research

which currently hosts INSPIRATIO Gift Studio; it was built in the years immediately following 1524, according to a dendrochronological study of the ceiling wood. It replaced the building of the so-called Old School, documented in 1388.

The ground floor held the school rector’s apartment and the so-called Great Auditorium, a hall used for events with a large number of participants. The rooms on the upper floor housed the well-known library of the Evangelical School from 1547 onward. The great fire of April 21, 1689, rendered the Black Church inoperable and destroyed the roof and upper floor of the CH8 building. The remains of the library were transferred to other buildings and have been preserved to this day. With the Black Church remaining unusable for about a year, the large auditorium served as a place of worship during this time.

It was not until 1772 that the upper floor and roof were fully restored. Its current condition is due to this renovation. Also in the 18th century, the house was partitioned to serve as housing for the school’s teachers.

The inscription on the façade, HIC FUIT BIBLIOTHECA SCHOLAE CORONENSIS JOHANNES HONTERUS 1547–1689, dates from the 2000s.

The house also holds memorial value, as it was home to the beloved musician and composer Paul Richter (1875–1950) from 1916 to 1927, the renowned lecturer and historian Dr. Oskar Netoliczka, and, until recently, the beloved Brașov historian Gernot Nussbächer.

The Black Church

The name “Black Church” comes from the church’s blackened exterior walls. In April 1689, the building was engulfed by the flames of a major fire that spread throughout the city; the fire blackened its walls, destroyed the roof, and devastated the interior as well. In the 1980s, extensive restoration work was carried out, during which numerous damaged rectangular blocks on the exterior façade were replaced with lighter-colored stone, so that today the color of the walls is no longer as dark.

Before the Black Church was built on this site, there was a predecessor church about which almost nothing is known.

Construction of the new church began around 1380. First, the choir was built between 1380 and 1410, modeled after the choir of St. Sebaldus Church in Nuremberg. After a brief hiatus, the nave was constructed between 1440 and 1470. Until the Protestant Reformation, it was, of course, Catholic and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

For more information about the history of the Black Church, we invite you to visit its website, here.

The CH9 House

currently houses our café, CH9 Specialty Coffee, and dates back to the 18th century; it features an extension from 1801 and renovations from around 1900. Building CH9 served as church housing, first housing the school caretakers and, at the end of the 20th century, the sexton of the Black Church.

The property consists of two distinct buildings, constructed in a row, extending from the east wing of the Rector’s House toward George Barițiu Street.