The Town of Courtyards

As if we were still breathing in the air of the late Middle Ages, we peep into the world of courtyards that starts between the row of buildings of the main square of Târgu Secuiesc. One of the peculiarities of the city, once having a significant guild industry, is that the gates of the houses surrounding the main square, the former market square, are practically the ends of a street called a courtyard. Earlier sources mention 73 such courtyards; today, there are 72 of them in the town. 

The settlement was built around the trapezoid-shaped market square. The first settlers were allotted narrow plots of equal size on the four sides of the square, where they could display their goods directly in front of their houses or workshops, in the marketplace, during fairs. The narrow plots, the courtyards, which surround the main square like a ring, still define the style of the town today. The length of the narrow alleys, less than four metres wide, ranged from 25 to 180 metres. Their creation and survival can be explained by the way of life of the artisan population and the Szekler heritage law. As the paternal plot was divided equally between the children, families began to expand along the length of the narrow plot. The name of the courtyards of the Jancsó, the Csiszár, the Balogh, the Kovács, the Rácz, and the Szőcs families may refer to this. After the abolition of the Szekler heritage law in 1851, others were allowed to join the community of the courtyard, so the names were gradually replaced by numbers.

 Samu Csinta