The Goldsmiths’ Stairs Tower (Turnul Scării Aurarilor) is a medieval gate tower incorporated into a historic house in the northeastern corner of the Small Square in Sibiu. A staircase passes beneath the tower, connecting the Small Square with Goldsmiths’ Square in the Lower Town.
The tower originally formed part of Sibiu’s second fortified enclosure, where it controlled a pedestrian route through the city walls. Unlike the larger gates used by carts and heavier traffic, this passage was intended for people moving on foot between the two levels of the city. An inscription dated 1567 survives inside the passage, showing that the route was already well established by the 16th century.
By then, the surrounding house had also taken shape. Dating mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries, it preserves a three-arched Gothic loggia facing the Small Square together with Renaissance stone details. As the fortifications gradually lost their defensive role, the tower was absorbed into the house rather than remaining a separate structure.
During the 18th century, its upper part was adapted for residential use and given the same mansard roof and exterior treatment as the adjoining building. This remodeling largely concealed the former tower, which today appears as part of the house rather than as a recognizable defensive structure.
The old passage beneath it still opens directly onto the Goldsmiths’ Stairs. From the Small Square, the route descends steeply between historic houses before reaching Goldsmiths’ Square below, preserving one of the old pedestrian connections between Sibiu’s Upper and Lower Town.
