The small tower-less late Gothic church in Daneş was built in 1506. The tower was much later erected in 1927, as well as its defence levels, probably as a sign of self-assertion towards the 1918 new Romanian state and as a symbol for the 800 years of Saxon history in Transylvania. From the original defence wall only a few remains on the south side and a gate tower with a small watchtower are still preserved. The inner furniture dates back to different time periods: the baptismal font and the pulpit are Baroque, the altar is from 1878 and the organ from 1920. The vault covering the church’s hall was built in 1868.
Place and surroundings
The village of Daneş, located few miles west from Sighişoara was documented for the first time mid-14th Century. The reports from the following years describe many difficulties and misery. Due to the great poverty of the place, between 1503 and 1507 a tax rebate was documented. Around 1507 the village burned down completely. Less than 50 years later, the unfortunate happening occurred again in 1555. At the beginning of the 17th Century the place got broke as result of civil wars and the number of the local farmers fell in just 15 years from 90 to 7. Because of the slow development of the village, tax exemption and other benefits were offered starting with 1656 to any colonist willing to settle here, but the success was only moderate. In 1658 the Ottoman troops attacked and destroyed the village once more. Only from 1665 colonists coming from Sighişoara were able to revive the place. Despite all the problems, the fortified church wrote its own history, as regular worship services are still regularly held today, as it has always been starting with the 16th Century.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Daneş fortified church

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Inside the small village a hall church was erected in the 15th century, its chancel being closed by a polygonal construction. A tower with defence level and spire was built on the western side of the today standing Gothic church. As suggested by the buttresses, the interior of the church was most probably covered with vaults, which were later on replaced by a flat ceiling. Only ruins are preserved from the defence wall. Inside the church the valuable works of two well known masters from Sighişoara can be admired: an altar built in 1789 by Johannes Folberth, and above it an organ with late Baroque prospectus that Samuel Binder built in 1850.
Place and surroundings
Located near “The Medieval Jewel of Romania”, Sighişoara, the village of Hetiur can be considered itself a historical precious stone. The walls of the fortified church hold, in a protective embrace, the valuable 1789 Baroque-style altar. The roots of the altar, as a place of worship, are much more deeply implanted in the past. Its name derives from the Latin term “alta ara”, which means elevation of the ground (initially, the altar was a pile of ground or stones). It symbolizes the meeting place between man and Divinity, in the majority of cultures being represented as the image of a table where man and his Creator sit together. In Christianity, the altar was a simple wooden table at first, later a stone table, finally being elevated over the martyrs’ graves in the shape of a sarcophagus. Over time, these simple constructions transformed themselves into real art works, the most important types being the following: the canopy altar (a Balanchine supported by columns), the winged altar (made of multiple paintings and panels) and the predella altar (the base of a painting representing scenes related to its main subject).
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Hetiur Fortified Church

10 km from Daneș, in Cris, in the middle of a beautiful dendrologycal park, we can find a castle. The history of the castle is just as boisterous as that of its owners.
Long ago the Bethlen dynasty built a fortification here in German style, which in 1400 during the restoration was redesigned for a castle. The heirs of the Bethlen dynasty, Anikó, Éva, and Ágnes are living in Târgu Mureș.
Countess Anikó, the founder of the Bethlen foundation, revendicated the 1949 nationalized castle. After finally regaining the castle, in September 2004, the cultural minister appealed against the act. The countess hopes that after regaining ownership of the castle.
In November 2007 the Bethlen family heirs founded Pro Castrum Bethlen Union, which deals with restoration of the castle, and the inclusion of the tourist circuit.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Betlen Castle (Criș)

Dumbbells from the middle of the 15th century are the Apafi family. Their estate grows in 1552, when Apafi Gergely buys Bethlen, and on this newly created area begins to build a castle. In the old days, the side of the entrance was protected by a wall with bastions and a ditch with water. The other three sides were surrounded by the lake. After the death of the Apafi family, the castle became royal property, and Maria Theresa gave it to Groth Bethlen Gábor. He sold the estate to Armenian traders.
They renovated the castle and moved here to the town hall, later arranged accommodation, but there was enough room for the army. Later that period was also imprisonment. The city's current leadership wants to capitalize on the huge building. In a few rooms, a museum was set up to show the role of the Armenians in the formation of the city, their community and their lives.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Apafi castle

After the collapse of the original Romanesque church in Şaeș in 1802 the ruins were entirely removed and replaced with a neo-classical hall church with narrowed chancel and western bell tower, completed in 1820. The facades of tower and church show a subtle composition of pilasters and cornices. A pyramid roof covered with color glazed tiles caps the tower. On top of the pyramid a lantern is placed covered with metal sheets and decorated with garlands made of metal.
The interior of the church appeals by its consistent original design and inventory. A remarkable detail is the entrance door, an empire jewel.
The remains of the fortifications consist of parts of the curtain wall, a defense tower and a defense building. The latter is supposed to have served as a chapel during the construction of the new church. Unfortunately the total loss of this building must be faced because of its very bad condition. The church itself shows severe structural problems as well, that should be tackled in the near future.
Place and surroundings
The Hungarian name of the village, Segesd, derives from the word “seg”, which can be translated as “the back side of the hillock”. Yet, the village never was on the backside of history. During the last 400 years it was considered one of the most prosperous Saxon colonies around Sighişoara, its proximity to the city conferring it numerous advantages along the centuries.
The School on the Hill in Sighişoara, one of the oldest schools in Transylvania, has the name of “Josef Haltrich Theoretical Highschool” nowadays. Haltrich, an educator, a philologist, a priest and a renowned Saxon ethnographer was the rector of the institution beginning with 1869. He quit this position three years later, becoming a priest in Şaeş, where he worked until the end of his life, also being buried there. The name of the ethnographer is often associated with a collection of stories, which he published in 1856 in Berlin with the help of the famous Jacob Grimm, under the title “Popular German Stories from Transylvania, the Country of the Saxons”.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Șaeș fortified church

The accurate date of construction of this church is not appropriately known, thus it is only said to be done around 1390. The large walls which were built in the 16th century, being 4-5 m high are protecting an old church. The entrance of the fortress church is at its eastern side.
The protecting towers are situated in the middle part of the fortress' walls, and the labyrinth is situated in front of the towers. The walls of the small church are fortified with ten pillars. This church has a beautiful ceiling with some woodcraft.
The altar is simple, above which we can find the organ, unfortunately which is not functioning anymore. At the southern part of the chore there is a date 1507, which signifies the date when it was finished along with the ceiling. In the earthquake of 1916 the church was a little bit destroyed and the ceiling also destroyed and there was constructed a wooden ceiling instead. The big chair is in a good shape just like the paintings on the walls.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Valchid Evangelical fortified church

Şaroş could probably pride itself during the 14th century with a large community who was able to build such an imposing three-aisles Gothic basilica. Similar to all fortified churches, this one too was subject to a great number of changes over the course of time. Out of spatial and security reasons, the main nave and chancel were fortified, the side aisles were demolished and the bell tower was built on the western side during the 16th century and was also provided with a battlement walk on wooden consoles.
Considering the constructive measures as well as the details, the fortified church shows many similarities to the Evangelic Cathedral in Sibiu. Equally remarkable is the so-called “round bastion”, actually the remains of a Romanesque chapel.
Place and surroundings
In the monograph of the village named Şaroş pe Târnave a legend full of wisdom can be read: by approaching the village, the first place that presents its view to the traveler is the graveyard, a symbol of grief and human transience. And yet, after entering the village as such, the graveyard disappears, being replaced by a new symbol: the fortified church, a bastion of faith. While the image of the graveyard reminds of the awful spirit of death, the sacred church offers hope and faith in eternal life. The imposing building impresses from its very entrance: the pilasters, which withstand the weight of ages with dignity, flank the main portal.
In the middle of the altar, which dates back in 1774, the wood carved sculpture of the crucified Savior dominates. On each of its sides there is a real size statue showing Moses and Aaron. Both these art works and the spiritual values of the village stand as proof of a rich cultural past, which still faces the centuries to the benefit of generations to come.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Şaroş pe Târnave Fortified Church

The fortified church of Malancrav is closely connected to the Hungarian family Apafi, as this family was given the whole village by the king of Hungary.
According to certain hypotheses, the originally large church with three parts within was built by Gregor, in the early 14th century, the son of Nicolaus. From the middle, or main part, there are four arcades which connects it to the side parts. On a stone it is still visible the emblem of the Apafi family and the following lines: Gentile scuttum appae appae (the shield of the Apafi family). In the 17th century below the sacristy was made a place for the sarcophagi of Apafi Mihaly II, and this is the hand-work of Illes Nicolai, being taken to Budapest in 1900, to the National Gallery.
In the church it can still be visible the most well-structured and visible gothic painting from the 14th century and on all of these pictures, all the 53 the New and Old Testament is being painted. The picture of the main altar which includes Saint Mihai angel along with Saint Clara looking upwards on the Virgin and her son, was given as a gift to the church by Clara, the wife of Mihai Apafi. The church was fortified in the 16th century.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Malâncrav Evangelical fortified church

Have you ever seen yourselves in a centuries old mansion with rooms breathing history, old furniture and a fruit orchard?
The Apafi Mansion is one of the remarkable buildings of the Hârtibaci Valley. The history of the mansion from Mălâncrav goes back well over 600 years, to the 15th century when it was built by the Apafi royal Hungarian family.
In time the building has suffered numerous modifications, however they were all written down in documents. This happened because the mansion was the residence of Michael Apafi, lord of Transylvania and then that of his successors and of the Bethlen family of aristocrats.
In 2007, after several years of renovations, the mansion was opened to the public. It was renovated according to an initial blueprint from the 13th century with five bedrooms, one living room and one library with old, priceless books.
If you visit the mansion in summer you will also enjoy the flavour of the fruits from its garden, which was also restored based on models from old cards and drawings.
http://www.sibiu-turism.ro/

The Apafi Mansion in Mălâncrav

Like many other Fortified Churches to be found in Transylvania, due to the numerous changes in building structure during time, the start of the construction is not really known for Apold Fortified Church. But still, we have an estimation of the period when the building was completed, somewhere around the 15th-16th century. Apold village, in Mureș county, was during those times one of the most populated villages around Sighișoara city, with 89 families. After 1990, when the local community left, very few Saxon origin people remained. Still, we are able now to visit this beautiful church, with the outside wall and the connecting tower.
https://romanian-romance.com/

Apold Fortified Church

The church on the Big Copsa hill was built in the 16th century, and according to the date on the walls it was finished around 1519. the praying folks started to build here a bigger church but than the Turkish invasion, later the earthquake in 1802 postponed the constructions.
The church bell was cast in 1550. Documents proving the existence of a Gothic basilica with three naves in the early fourteenth century. Believers here have started building a larger church, but Ottoman rule, then the earthquake of 1802 delayed the work.
After the earthquake in the 16th century the constructions went on, and they built a square shaped wall around it, this way protecting the church. Two towers were raised, but merely the one in north-eastern part survived the time. Next to the walls there have been being built certain chambers that were destroyed in the course of time. As the chore part was upper than the rest of the church it had to be fortified. It was lifted upwards as well as it got an additional function, too, it was to protect the building.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/