Romania's former dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, banned Bram Stoker's Dracula as a figment of the capitalist west's decadent imagination. Today, Transylvania's democratic leaders are hoping that in 2007 their region will emerge from the literary count's dark shadow.

Not only will Romania join the European Union next year, but Sibiu, one of Transylvania's seven cities, will become the European Capital of Culture - or "City of Cultures" as its mayor, Klaus Johannis, likes to refer to it.

"We are so much more than Dracula," says Johannis. Sibiu is, indeed, a Babylon in the heart of Europe, a melting pot of religions and ethnic groups on the threshold between the Occident and the Orient. Remarkably, its stunning medieval architecture survived both Ottoman attacks and Ceausescu's plans to turn Romania's towns and cities into monuments to his peculiarly brutal form of socialism.

As a "Saxon", Johannis belongs to Transylvania's German minority, which represents barely 1 per cent of the city's population. Yet he has been Sibiu's mayor since 2000, and two years ago was re-elected with 89 per cent of the popular vote.

The culture capital award is his personal triumph. He hopes it will help double the number of tourists finding their way to the southern Carpathians.

But Sibiu's success is not based only on its past. Over the past three years, major investors such as Siemens and Continental have set up base there.

Attracted by low taxes and a cheap supply of highly trained and motivated graduates from Transylvania's IT-focused universities, these new businesses have created more than 2,000 jobs. Today, unemployment stands at 3 per cent and Johannis has no more space to offer - all industrial land in the city has been sold.

As a teenager in the days of communist dictatorship, Johannis did somehow manage to obtain an illegal copy of Bram Stoker's novel. "But Dracula could never make me frightened," says the mayor. Thirty years later, he is confident that the new, modern face of Sibiu can begin to create an altogether different impression of Transylvania.

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website