Chamber of Commerce Switzerland Romania Business Trip 2011

Chamber of Commerce Switzerland – Romania Business Trip 2011 October 21 st, 2011 08: 00 Departure from Bucharest (by bus provided by the Chamber; meeting point: parking place in front of the Athenaeum) 13: 00 Arrival at Viscri 13: 00 – 15: 00 Lunch and visit at Viscri (75 RON / person; water included) 16: 00 - 18: 30 Visit of Sefar SRL in Sighisoara (Mr. Marcel Wuest, General Manager will be our host. ) 18: 45 Check-in at the hotel in Sighisoara (Hotel Cavalerul**** - 38 EUR/ night SGL; 46 EUR/ night DBL) 19: 30 Dinner (Casa Wagner – 75 RON / person water included) October 22 nd, 2011 09: 00 – 11: 00 Visit of Sighisoara (tickets on Chamber’s charge) 12: 00 – 13: 00 Visit of Biertan (tickets on Chamber’s charge) 13: 00 – 14: 30 Lunch at Biertan (Unglerus Restaurant – 75 RON / person water included) 14: 30 Departure to Bucharest 20: 00 Arrival to Bucharest The participants will be invoiced for meals (3) and hotel (1 night) after return to Bucharest. Details on the sites we will visit are provided below.

SEFAR SRL This 100% Swiss industrial clothing weaving plant is the biggest investment and the biggest employer in Sighisoara after 1989. Sefar SRL is the Romanian branch of Sefar AG, the leading manufacturer of monofilament precision fabrics for customer-tailored solutions for separating, coating and dosing in industrial processes, filter components, screen printing and architectural applications. Sefar AG reports a global presence with subsidiaries in 21 countries and representations in another 75 countries, annual sales of 360 million CHF and 2100 employees worldwide.

Viscri Known as the village where Prince Charles of Great Britain owns a vacation home, Viscri is more than that. In this Saxon village, located at 30 km from Sighisoara, one can visit the oldest fortified church in Transylvania, dating from 1210. Also, there could be found an universe of peace, far away from the third millennium tumult. For those who feel brave enough, some activities practiced by local people may be organized such as mowing or blacksmiths works and those who are lazier may enjoy the delights of traveling by a cart filled up with hay.

Sighisoara is the last inhabited medieval citadel in Eastern Europe. It is a place straight out of the pages of a fairytale - one of the best preserved medieval citadels in Europe, a magical mix of winding cobbled alleys, steep stairways, secluded squares, towers and turrets. Sighisoara is one of the 7 fortified Saxon cities in Transylvania. The town was founded by German colonists. The chronicler Krauss lists a Saxon settlement in Sighisoara by 1191. This early settlement was most likely a village with a fortified refuge on the Castle Hill of today, and it was destroyed by a Tatar invasion in 1241, rebuilt, and in 1280 documented as Castrum Sex (citadel number six). The inhabitants of Sighisoara gave shelter (1431 -1435) and support to Vlad Dracul in his attempt to get to the Romanian throne. The Wallachian prince Vlad Tepes, Vlad Dracul's son, was born here in 1431. His father minted coins in the town and issued the first document listing the town's Romanian name Sighisoara.

Sighisoara Medieval Citadel The Sighisoara Citadel is the old historic center of the town of Sighişoara, Romania, built in the 12 th century by Saxon colonists under the Latin name Castrum Sex. It is an inhabited medieval citadel and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, for its 850 year old testimony to the history and culture of the Transylvanian Saxons. Birthplace of Vlad III the Impaler, also known as Dracula, Sighişoara hosts, every year, a medievel festival where arts and crafts blend with rock music and stage plays. The city marks the upper boundary of the Land of Saschen established in Central Romania in the 12 th century). Like its bigger brothers, Sibiu (Hermannstadt - The European Cultural Capital in 2007) and Braşov (Kronstadt), Sighişoara exhibits architecture typical of medieval Germany. During communist era, this German area was preserved and the original architecture is still in place.

The Clock Tower or the Gate Tower is a great example of mechanical brilliance and architectural mastership. The clock with small figures, present here, is the only one of this type in Romania and one of the few in the whole world. With a height of over 64 meters, the Clock Tower is by all means a sight to behold, yet most of the visitors have eyes for the huge clock, on the fourth floor (the fifth and final one is actually an open balcony). The roof, with a pyramid shape, has two small domes. Over this domes there is a small golden globe, and over this a rooster made out of metal, which turns on the wind.

Biertan is one of the first German settlements in Transylvania placed between the two "Seats" (Medias and Seica) in the Andreean Diploma from 1224. The first attestation of its name has been certified since 1283, in a document about the taxes demanded by the Catholic Capital from Alba Iulia to the Catholic priests from the Transylvanian Saxon communities. As any other Transylvanian Saxon Community, it had an urban organization, being noticed the franconic style of the rows of houses around the central square overlooked by a grandiose fortress-church. The architectonic ensemble from Biertan impresses by a harmonious matching in locality, by its esthetic and historic value and especially by the original substance preserved since the end of the 15 th century and the beginning of the 16 th century, characteristics which determined its inclusion on The UNESCO List of World Patrimony.

Hotel Cavalerul**** Adresa: Str. Consiliul Europei nr. 6 545400 Sighișoara, jud. Mureș, Romania Coordonate GPS: N 46. 220823, E 24. 795819 Telefon Recepție: 0743. 177. 302