Location Sighișoara, Romania | Area 74 ha | |
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Breite Nature Reserve is a 74-hectare (180-acre) nature reserve in Sighișoara, Romania, a place with a special emotional and cultural background. The largest grassland plateau in Europe, the Breite Reserve has attracted visitors for hundreds of years.
The Breite Plateau near Sighisoara is the largest, most representative and well-preserved wooded habitat with hornbeam and oak trees in central and eastern Europe. Breite is a culturally modified forest that carries the local Transylvanian Saxons culture over eight centuries and a rich and varied nature. Both in terms of natural heritage and as a lineage of Sighisoara, Breite is a unique value in Europe. The oaks from Breite are the oldest living things in Sighisoara: some of them were present at the foundation stone of the fortress settlement and survived the tumultuous events in the history of Transylvania, from wars and changes of sovereignty, to fires and earthquake.
On Breite live over 500 trees aged between 200 and 800 years. Each is a microcosm which provides food and shelter for dozens of other species of animals and plants and their special landscape attracts tourists from all over the world. Here one can find 639 trees. But oaks are not only treasure on the natural plateau. In total 115 species of vertebrates, most protected by law, and dozens of other species have been identified here. The forest on the Breite Park plateau is the highest in the Saxon region and in most of Central and Eastern Europe.
The altitude is between 504 and 530 m (1,654 and 1,739 ft) above sea level, rising gradually from north to south. The plateau has an elongated shape, the distance between the two ends being 4 km (2.5 mi) the northern end of the plateau is close to the city of Sighisoara. Access is possible down the hill district Corneşti Visia (Himmelswiese), or "Pit" Ipătescu Ana neighborhood. Access by car is on Route 14, which connects the town of Sighisoara to Mediaș from point "Hula Danes". On the left, the Sighisoara 4 km (2.5 mi), 2 km (1.2 mi) starts a forest road that climbs the plateau.