Hotel Împăratul Romanilor is a historic hotel on Nicolae Bălcescu Street in the center of Sibiu. The present building opened in 1895, but the establishment traces its history back to an inn documented nearby in 1555, making Împăratul Romanilor one of Romania’s oldest surviving hotel businesses.
The original inn stood a short distance farther along the street, on the site now occupied by the Military Command Palace. Known by several names over the centuries, it was called La Steaua Albastră by the early 18th century before innkeeper Philipp Collignon renamed it Împăratul Romanilor in 1773. The establishment grew into one of Sibiu’s most important places for accommodation and public gatherings, with a ballroom added in 1775 and later expanded into the Redoute Hall with galleries, boxes and space for an orchestra. Concerts, balls, political meetings and other major events regularly took place there throughout the 19th century.
When the old hotel was demolished in 1891 to make way for the Military Command Palace, the business moved temporarily across Nicolae Bălcescu Street before construction began on its permanent replacement in 1894. Financed by the Hermannstädter Allgemeine Sparkasse and designed by architect Friedrich Maetz, the new hotel opened on September 7, 1895 with 44 rooms, a restaurant and a café.
Maetz gave the building an elaborate eclectic façade extending around the corner with Xenopol Street, where richly decorated window surrounds, masks, balconies and curved pediments distinguish the upper floors. An imperial figure above the restaurant entrance refers to the hotel’s name, while original ironwork still carries the initials HAS for the Hermannstädter Allgemeine Sparkasse. The hotel originally enclosed an open arcaded courtyard with a fountain, but this space was transformed in 1927 into a large salon covered by a manually operated sliding glass roof. The mechanism remained in use until 1974, and the salon continues to be one of the most distinctive interior spaces of the hotel.
Both the old inn and the present hotel received a long succession of prominent guests. Franz Liszt, Johann Strauss and Johannes Brahms stayed at the earlier establishment, while Crown Prince Ferdinand and Princess Marie of Romania visited the new hotel in 1907, followed by Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in 1912. Lucian Blaga and other Romanian intellectuals also frequented the restaurant during World War II.
The hotel was nationalized in 1948 but continued operating, with later alterations and extensions increasing its capacity. It remains a functioning hotel today, with a restaurant, indoor swimming pool, sauna, fitness facilities and rooms overlooking either Nicolae Bălcescu Street or the interior courtyards.
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