The Saxon settlement, certified since 1283, builds in 1480-1486 one of the most beautiful evangelical-Lutheran churches in Transylvania. The size of the church mirrors the well-being of Moșna, which until 1533 was in competition with Medias and Biertan to become a seat of residence, a title obtained by Mediaș.
The current Gothic church built under the guidance of the Siberian stonecutter Andreas Lapicida was erected on the structure of the outer walls of a previous church of the 15th century. It's a three-aisle-lined hall. In 1520 it was built on its fortification, consisting of five towers, walls of 9 meters high, doubled on the southern side and with a guard road. The actual tower of the church houses three bells, the oldest of which dates back to 1515. The gate tower is south-east. On the southern side is the Slany Tower, which was used to store the bacon.
The bell tower was built in the 14th century, its height reached 7 levels and a guard road. To the south, there is another shorter tower, with three levels, which protects the pedestrian entrance. In the north-west and south-west corners were built bastions. On the northern side there is a four-level tower that protects pedestrian traffic. The church has three ships separated by four pairs of columns.
To the north and south are two chapels, which can be reached by spiral staircase turret attached to the church. The original altar made by Vincentius in 1521 is in the church of Cincu.The pulpit is the work stonecutter Andreas.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Moșna Evangelical fortified church

Account

by category

Login

Name

by region

Title

Name in English

Ighișu New town belonging to Mediaș has a fortified church built between the 14th and 15th centuries. It is a church hall with massive tower, the width of which is identical to that of the hall.
At a closer look we can see the sculptures of stone, present almost everywhere. The stucco ceiling of the ship was made after 1970. The organ was built in 1775 and the bell was poured in 1496. The fortification of the church was begun in the 15th century. On the south-eastern side of the wall there is a round bastion built at the beginning of the 16th-17th centuries. It has ramparts covered by some oblique bricks.
The Evangelical Church C.A. in cooperation with the Fortified Churches Coordination Office, submitted an application for funding from the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) funds - EU Structural Funds for a number of 18 fortified churches. The Ighișu Nou Church is one of them.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Ighișu Nou Evangelical fortified church

Alma Săsească is a settlement dating from 1289. In 1502 on the hill near Alma Săsească a gothic church with a fortified outskirt was built. You can still see the original wall-paintings and the signs of the 1718 renovation.
The XIXth century brings many changes to the church, this is the time when the baroque ceiling, altar, ambo and font are added. According to the inscription on the great bell it was made in the XVth century. The pipe-organ was made in 1791.
The church is strengthened by lacing-bars and it's surrounded by a blindage inside of which 4 towers, looking at the four cardinal points, are raising. The eastern is the entrance-gate, inside western tower, until 1914, a water reservoir had been the water-supply of the fortification. The walls have crack-shots that were also used spilling tar on the enemy. In the 1966 restoration, the church regained its original shape.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Alma Vii Evangelical fortified church

St. Margaret's Church (Romanian: Biserica Sfânta Margareta; German: Margarethenkirche) is a Lutheran church, located at 1 Piața Castelului in the historic town center of Mediaș (Mediasch), Sibiu County, in the Transylvania region of Romania.
The present, late Gothic structure was built between 1437 and 1488 by the ethnic German Transylvanian Saxon community at a time when the area belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary. Consecrated as a Roman Catholic church, with St Margaret of Antioch as its patron saint, it became Lutheran following the Reformation.
St. Margaret's church is located at the center of a large church fortress. About 150 of these buildings still exist in Transylvania. Seven of these villages with fortified churches are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.
History
Archaeological surveys conducted in 1971–2 have shown that a church building had already existed at the site of the current church by the second half of the 13th century. Human burials were unearthed which were attributed to the German sepulchral culture of this time. Already by the beginning of the 15th century, this building was replaced by a second, which took the form of an aisleless church with an unusually long nave. Parts of this structure survived in the northern nave of the current building.
St. Margaret's church was first documented in 1414. The construction of the present building probably started after a devastating Ottoman raid in 1438. The church registry of 1447 relates that a Father Christian from Mettersdorf (Dumitra) had filed a public protest against the Bishop of Weissenburg (Alba Iulia) "in porta ecclesiae parochialis beatae Margarethae virginis et martyris in oppido Medyes – at the door of the parochial church of the blessed virgin and martyr Margaret". The oldest church bell has an inscribed date of 1449. During the second half of the 15th century, the choir, nave, and south aisle were modified. According to the 18th century historian Georg Soterius, an inscription was found on the walls of one of the towers relating its date of completion as 1484, and that the building was completed in 1488.
Some fortification works were already documented in 1453. The fortress with its triple encircling walls, moat and five defensive towers, was likely completed later.
In 1545, the first Evangelical Synod of Transylvania assembled in St. Margaret's church. In the wake of the reformatory iconoclastic fury, all side altars and religious statues and images were removed, the frescoes on the north wall of the nave and north aisle were painted over in white. Further renovation works are documented for 1584, 1606, 1636 and 1668. In 1732, the organ was restored on the western gallery. In 1832, the pillars on the northern side of the nave were reinforced. Major restorations were also conducted from 1888–1892. In 1927–1930, the foundations of the main tower, the Trumpeter's tower, were stabilized. An archaeological survey of the building and its surroundings was conducted by the Romanian scientists Vasile Crişan and Mariana Beldie-Dumitrache in 1971 and 1972. In 1973–1974, the foundations of the Trumpeter's tower had to be reinforced again. This time, the two lower floors were mantled in prestressed concrete. Further restorations were conducted from 1973–1986.[5] From 1976–1982, the late Gothic winged altarpiece, one of the masterpieces of Transylvanian art, was thoroughly cleaned and restored.
Interior
The main altar, located in the choir of St. Margaret's church, is a late Gothic winged altarpiece, dated between 1480 and 1520. Its work-day (closed) view is adorned with eight painted panels depicting the passion of Christ. On the northern walls of the nave and north aisle, frescoes were discovered under layers of white paint, and partly restored. In the choir, eight grave slates are on display today, one of them commemorating the pastor, poet and humanist Christian Schesaeus (1535–1585). Various wooden and painted epitaphs adorn the interior of the church. St. Margaret's church also harbours one of the largest collections of the so-called "Transylvanian" rugs, 16th–18th century Anatolian rugs in Europe.

St. Margaret's Church (Mediaș)

The Valea Viilor fortified church is a Lutheran fortified church in Valea Viilor (Wurmloch), Sibiu County, in the Transylvania region of Romania. It was built by the ethnic German Transylvanian Saxon community at a time when the area belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary. Initially Roman Catholic, it became Lutheran following the Reformation. Together with the surrounding village, the church forms part of the villages with fortified churches in Transylvania UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Background and church
There is evidence to suggest that an earlier Romanesque church existed in the village, as remnants could formerly be seen beneath the floor of the sacristy. This building is believed to have been 10 m long, less than half the length of the present church. The latter, in Gothic style and dedicated to Saint Peter, was begun in the 14th century. The small nave has a vaulted ceiling with a complex network of ribs, which rest on seven pairs of poles attached to the walls. The choir has a ceiling of the same type. Built in 1528, the pulpit was produced in a period of transition from Gothic to Renaissance.
The church underwent modifications at the beginning of the 16th century: a defensive level featuring parapets was added atop the nave, while towers were built next to the north and south entrances. Next to each of these was a small round tower with a spiral staircase that reached the fortified level. A third tower, near the buttress at the southwest end of the nave, provided access to the belfry, itself fitted with numerous and varied defense mechanisms. The choir was rebuilt as a three-story brick defensive tower with walls 1.5 m thick. A fourth level, which juts out slightly atop a row of corbels and is supported by arches built between the buttresses, has a timber frame parapet. The altar painting was executed in 1779 by an artist from Sighișoara.
Fortifications and recognition
A single oval fortification, constructed around 1500 and equipped with a battlement resting on brick arches, surrounds the church. Access is through an arched passage beneath the gate tower on the western side. This could be closed with a portcullis that had a grille of wood strengthened by iron. Three bastions survive, each facing one of the cardinal points. The walls reach 6–7 m in height; they have both parapets and embrasures supported by corbels.
In 1999, Valea Viilor, together with five other places, was added to the already-listed Biertan to form the villages with fortified churches in Transylvania UNESCO World Heritage Site. Additionally, the church is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, with the wall and bastions being listed as a separate entry.

Valea Viilor fortified church

Brătoiu town boasts a church built in the 14th century. It has three ships and a bell tower, flanked by the two side ships. Subsequent changes led to the elevation of the outer wall of the southern ship. The stucco ceiling appeared in 1846. The altar was built in the 16th century. The fortification surrounding the church dates back to approximately the same period as major changes to the church.
The defense wall has an oval shape and adapts to the ground. Unfortunately, the watchway is not retained, just some counterfort that occurs at regular intervals. The wall has holes for holes and ramparts. In the west is a deep trench, the southern and eastern side is defended by a massive square tower, and gateway. The bell tower with wooden parapet houses the bells. From the entire church, only the northern ship remained at its original appearance.
Gothic font was made of limestone in the fifteenth century. The sacristy preserves the epitaph of the priest Johannes Hermanus, who died in 1592.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Brateiu Evangelical fortified church

The Biertan fortified church is a Lutheran fortified church in Biertan (Birthälm), Sibiu County, in the Transylvania region of Romania. It was built by the ethnic German Transylvanian Saxon community at a time when the area belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary. Briefly Roman Catholic, it became Lutheran following the Reformation. Together with the surrounding village, the church forms part of the villages with fortified churches in Transylvania UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Description
Background and church
Biertan was founded by Transylvanian Saxons in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. It was allowed to organize a market, placing it in competition with Mediaș and Moșna; it was also the see of the Saxon Lutheran Church from 1572 to 1867. This accounts for the elaborate church and its defenses.
A hall church with three naves that retains a design close to the original, it was the last such church built in Transylvania, and was constructed between 1486 and 1524 on the site of an earlier Romanesque church. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and built in Late Gothic style with Renaissance touches, the structure was constrained by the hilly landscape. The choir is 18 m in length, with a rib-vaulted ceiling, while the three naves of equal height also have rib vaulting. A defensive level above the choir has parapets and a battlement. A second, wooden, level was demolished in 1803. The polyptych altarpiece has 28 panels executed between 1482 and 1513 by a painter likely trained at Vienna and Nuremberg. In the center, there is a sculpted group: a crucifix with Jesus Christ hanging, Mary standing and Mary Magdalene embracing the cross. The upper side panels show visions of Ezekiel and Augustus. The stone pulpit, which shows scenes carved in relief, dates to 1523. The richly decorated intarsia door of the sacristy has a complex lock, displayed at the 1889 Paris World's Fair. Its central system blocks the door in thirteen points, ensuring the safety of the valuables kept in the sacristy.
Fortifications and recognition
The King granted the town the right to bear arms when the Ottoman army was frightening the surroundings. The Transylvanian Saxons chose to build instead of fortresses around the towns, to fortify the churches. The church has three rows of exterior fortifications linked by gate towers, nine in total. The first, with four towers, dates to the 14th century; the second was built together with the church, and has a series of reinforcing arches; the third, also with towers, is from the 16th and 17th centuries. The clock tower to the north of the church also serves as a gate within the inner fortifications. Four stories high, it has a wooden battlement and parapets. The clock is above the pyramid-shaped roof. The wooden bell tower is located north of the church, while the mausoleum tower contains the headstones of the priest who built the church as well as the bishops buried at Biertan. The Catholic tower was used by the few Saxons who did not adhere to the Reformation but kept their Roman Catholic faith. Its chapel (ca. 1520–1530) features a rare example of 16th-century Transylvanian mural painting, forming an exception to the austere aesthetic that predominated. The grounds contain a "matrimonial prison" where couples wishing to divorce were confined so they could be sure they wished to end their marriage. The lockup lasted for two weeks, although the pair could leave early if they reconciled. They had to share a single bed, plate and spoon. During the three centuries that bishops resided at Biertan, just one couple ended up divorcing.
The church was occupied and robbed in 1704, during Rákóczi's War of Independence. It suffered damage during the 1977 Vrancea earthquake and subsequently underwent restoration work between 1983 and 1989. Since 1990, Saxons come annually to Biertan to celebrate their heritage. In 1993, Biertan and its fortified church were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site; it was joined by six other places in 1999 to form the villages with fortified churches in Transylvania site. Additionally, the church is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, with each of the three fortifications considered a separate monument. Biertan was the subject of two 2011 postage stamps, a joint issue between Germany and Romania.

Biertan 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/

Copșa Mare Evangelical fortified church

The Evangelic church in Axente Sever is an important witness of the hard times the region had to bare. Therefore not only the ring wall was strengthened for defensive purposes, but the church building itself was also fortified. The massive tower between hall and chancel, dating back to the 14th century has a parapet walk on the highest level and on the first and second floors simple, elongated loopholes that end as a niche towards the interior. Both the chancel and the nave were heightened with defence levels with loopholes. The arches built between the reinforced buttresses on the western facade support the defence level. A portcullis, whose guiding slides are still visible today, protected the western portal. Along the outer wall there are partially preserved and reconstructed storage rooms which are used as guest rooms today.
Place and surroundings
The fortified church of Axente Sever was not only the religious center of the settlement over the centuries, but also a secure place to deposit valuable goods. In the numerous storage buildings in the precincts of the castle wall, rooms were assigned to each family from the village for storing grain, meat and other food. Corn was not stored on farms, but brought directly to the fortification after harvest to protect it from possible attackers. A special procedure was the storage of the bacon in the so-called bacon towers, which were opened to families only on Sundays after church service. To ensure that no one was serving from a different piece of bacon, each family scratched an individual sign on the freshly cut edges. The storage rooms have been transformed into guestrooms in recent years so that today visitors can sleep inside the mighty walls. In addition, a museum was set up to report on the history of the village and the fortified church.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Axente Sever fortified church

The church was built in the 15th century by the local Saxon community. A century later, it was fortified by adding a precinct wall and the defence towers.
After the 1300s, Bazna was taken over by the Mediaş Seat as a free village, as certified by the documents from those days. In the choir the church still hosts a 1504 tabernacle with a representation of Jesus. A not so common feature is that the belfry which also operates as a gate tower still hosts three bells from the 14th - 15th century. Many bells of the Saxon fortified churches were melted during the First World War to make warfare equipment. The ones from Bazna are among the very few which “escaped” melting.
http://www.sibiu-turism.ro/

The fortified church from Bazna

In the early 14th Century an early Gothic basilica was built in the middle of the village. The aisles were removed and the arcades were bricked up in 1500, when the church was fortified. Above the chancel a defence tower was erected. The chancel’s polygonal closure was heightened with two defence levels and the buttresses were connected by arches, in order to build a machicoulis gallery behind them. The ensemble was strengthened by a surrounding wall in 1502, completed by a gate building and an adjoining bacon Chamber on the north-west side . The tower was heightened in 1827 and received its striking pyramidal roof. At the same time its defence systems together with the defence level of the chancel were removed . The typical western gable of the church was erected in the same time with the renewal of the roof in 1854. Inside the church the mainly 18th-century furniture is still preserved.
Place and surroundings
For centuries, music has added nobility to the wonderful fragrance of the gardens in Agârbiciu. The choristers, the organists, the school teachers, the priests and the pupils used to be responsible for the musical life of the Transylvanian Saxon villages. Beginning with the 16th Century, the brass bands appeared in the Southern and Central regions of Transylvania and their instrumentalists brought their contribution to the social harmony of rural life by the musical harmony they produced. Can there be anything more charming than Christmas carols sounding in perfect unison with the snow-covered landscape and the smell of homemade cakes? The brass band used to play in the tower of Agârbiciu not only on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but also at weddings, balls and on various other occasions. Historical dissonances, wars and Communism have caused the unfortunate end of this tradition. But even without music, the village and its fortified church and old houses harmoniously vibrate with the lively natural environment that surrounds them like the frame of a pastoral picture.
https://kirchenburgen.org/