Career
He was a baron of the Holy Roman Empire, and personal advisor of Empress Maria Theresa. His home, a large palace in Sibiu, is currently home to the Brukenthal National Museum (formed around the collections he gathered, and expanded from a public exhibit first opened in 1817). The Brukenthal Palace in Sibiu represents one of the Baroque treasures in Central Europe.
The construction of this imposing edifice had as no other purpose, from the very beginning, than the creation of a propitious background for the conservation of an art collection and of antiquities having an inestimable value.
The Samuel von Brukenthal Gymnasium is the oldest German school in Romania. The school was mentioned the first time in 1380.
The present building was erected in the 18th century. The Samuel von Brukenthal Gymnasium is a school with instruction in the language of the German minority.
The school is still one of the best schools in the country.
The language of instruction is still German. Romanian is taught as the country"s official language. After the turn of the twentieth century and the exodus of the Transylvanian Saxons, the majority of students are Romanians.
