The National College “Samuel von Brukenthal” is one of the oldest schools in Romania. Its beginnings date back to the 13th-14th centuries, with the first documentary evidence dating back to 1380. It was a school of the local Saxon community and the Catholic Church but was also attended by Romanian children from the surrounding area. At the beginning of the 16th century, Nicolaus Olahus, a humanist and future regent of Hungary, learnt in this school. From the 18th century it became the most appreciated school of the Transylvanian Saxons, which can be explained by Sibiu's assumption of the role of political capital of the Saxons. In 1781, the new gymnasium building was inaugurated, bearing the stamp of Transylvanian Baroque.

The building was erected on the site of the old school building, which is still remembered today by the Gothic vaults of the basements. Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, governor of Transylvania from 1777-1787 and former student of the Sibiu school in the middle of the century, is a prominent figure from the period when the present building was erected. In his will of 1802, he bequeathed a large part of his estate to the school and the Evangelical Church of Sibiu.