Qibla direction in Sibiu

How to face the Qibla in Sibiu

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 33.0° towards east: the result is the bearing of 147.0°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Sibiu.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Sibiu, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Sibiu to Mecca points to 152.2° (south-east), 5.1° away from the correct 147.0°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 3 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 147.0° obtained? From the coordinates of Sibiu (45.8000° N, 24.1500° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Sibiu to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,062 km from Sibiu as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,746 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 06 min, although most pilgrims from Sibiu connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Sibiu run 1 hour behind Mecca in winter and the same time as Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Sibiu rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Sibiu

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Sibiu while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 10:07 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Sibiu during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Sibiu: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Sibiu compared with other cities

Compared with Bucharest, 216 km away, the Qibla in Sibiu is turned 2.3° further anticlockwise (147.0° against 149.3°), and Mecca is 210 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Târgu Mureş (88 km), prays towards 148.5°, a difference of 1.5°.

Across the 20 cities in Romania on this site, the Qibla ranges from 141.8° in Timișoara to 154.8° in Iași, a spread of 13.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Romania.

Qibla in cities near Sibiu

• Târgu Mureş148.5° · 88 km
• Brasov149.6° · 114 km
• Cluj-Napoca147.0° · 115 km
• Piteşti147.4° · 120 km
• Craiova144.8° · 167 km
• Ploieşti149.7° · 174 km