Baron Samuel Bruckental, an advisor to Queen Maria Theresa, and Governor of Transylvania between 1777 and 1787, was one of TransylvaniaÆs greatest cultural figures. He built several palaces that attest to his artistic refinement. A great collector of paintings, prints, objets dÆart and valuable books, Baron Bruckental founded the countryÆs oldest museum in his Sibiu Palace in 1817. Nowadays, the museum has a section of art, one of history and one of ethnography and is one of the richest museums in Europe. The richly decorated interior of the palace houses art galleries as well as decorative art and applied folk art collections. The art collection proper includes highly valuable paintings by classical Flemish, Austrian, French, and Italian masters. The library contains 350 incunabula and works printed between the 15th and 16th century. The museum also includes silverware collections (many objects coming out of the hands of Sebastian Hann), glass icons, and a unique collection of butterflies.
