On the main square of Blaj stands the former Bagdi Castle, which since 1738 (with a small interruption in the 20th century) functions as the Greek Catholic Archbishop's Palace. The castle was built in 1534-1535 by György Bagdi, who designed a T-shaped residential tower with three floors. The entrance was reinforced with a fire-line.
In 1617 the building was known as the hunting seat of Gábor Bethlen. The Prince of Transylvania reconditioned the castle and the church standing in the garden as well and in 1619 donated it to Simon Pécsi, Chancellor of Transylvania. The new owner started renovating the castle and repaired the nearly one hundred years old Protestant Church too. The inscription of a marble plaque right above the church doors is an excellent evidence for this: „Hic iter est, veniant sitientes bibere, lymhos, post quas non ultra concutit atra sitis. A.D. 1629” On December 14th, 1664 Anna Bornemissza, the wife of Mihály Apafi (Prince of Transylvania) moved into the castle. On October 27th 1687 a very important agreement had been signed in this building between the Habsburg Empire and the Transylvanian Parliament, pursuant to which Transylvania was officially attached to the Habsburg Empire. On this occasion Charles, Duke of Lorraine represented the emperor and Mihály Teleki, Chancellor represented the Transylvanian Assembly.
In 1737 Charles III donated the estate to the Greek Catholic Church and in the next year Inocentiu Micu Klein used the building as the bishop’s residence. Since then the castle had undergone various construction projects, in 1842 it was expanded with a north wing as well.
https://castleintransylvania.ro/

Bagdi Castle (Blaj)

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Once in Cetatea de Baltă, Alba County, on the banks of Târnava Mică and discovering Bethlen-Haller Castle that seems to guard the entire horizon, we cannot fail to notice the new life that it has. Our hearts are filled with gratitude, noticing that we can easily get lost in a landscape similar to France or Italy. The beautiful reborn Bethlen-Haller Castle, its details, the order and the surrounding air.
We are guided with good energy, smiles and a lot of passion by Bogdana. As we love the places that breathe through their people, we understand from the beginning that we will be very happy to return.
The journey at Bethlen-Haller Castle begins with a tour. It has a troubled history, unknown sometimes. Similar to the styles in which it was built (Renaissance, Baroque, avant-garde and extravagant) so are its days, owners, stories. Typically Renaissance built, the four-tower Bethlen-Haller Castle was built between 1615-1624 by Miklos Bethlen, Chancellor of Transylvania. However, it has undergone numerous transformations over time. Between 1769-1773 it was renovated in Baroque style. It was bought from the Tax Office, sold, bet and lost at card game, passing from the possession of Bethlen family to Haller family. It was like this starting with the second half of the 19th century, until the year of expropriation, 1948.
During the communist period, Bethlen-Haller Castle became vinification section, while the original furniture, decorations and collectibles disappeared or were destroyed. After 1989, it was claimed and returned to Haller family, then bought by Necşulescu family, who restored it. It became after a symbol of Jidvei and in 2020 the family opened it completely for the public.
We are grateful for the generous tour, for the small imperfections we observe, which make Bethlen-Haller Castle more beautiful. In one of the towers there is an old wooden staircase. Hanging on the walls surrounding the staircase we see old clocks, one for each birthday celebration of the owner. Also it is said that at the base of the stairs, the old door would have been the passage to a secret tunnel that connected the two castles of the Bethlen family. It is this one and the one in Sânmiclăuș.
We also find out that the current objects and paintings inside Bethlen-Haller Castle have been collected over time from various collections. Some of the rooms have been painted by students from the University of Arts. However, one of the painted walls has only an outline, without a completed model, a symbol of the beauty of imperfection, the specificity of this place. We stop next to an old piano, the only object left in the castle from the period when it became a warehouse. Made in Vienna, today it looks tired, completely out of tune, but with a symbolic beauty, that only a trial can offer as gift. We can feel the emotion while touching it.
Bethlen-Haller Castle is, therefore, a story. It needs to be discovered in peace, understood, valued. It has many corners, windows, details that are worth sniffing in a personal rhythm. We arrive to our room, one of the four currently available and renovated. Time travel, tall windows under which a beautiful field and sunset appear, perfect furniture, white bedding, painted walls and an elegant bathtub, romantically surrounded by a transparent curtain. For a moment you are there, back in time.
On the first day we better understood the history and current story of Jidvei wineries. We were glad to find out so many new things. Jidvei has 2500 ha of vineyard, the largest single-owner area in Europe, processing over 25 million kg of grapes annually. At the same time, it inaugurated the first gravitational winery in Europe and today it produces 54 different labels. Jidvei has four wineries, in Jidvei, Tăuni, Blaj and Bălcaciu. The storage capacity is over 35 million liters. Jidvei winery, built in 1974, has the largest storage capacity, with a modern fermentation technology, fully automated. Blaj, founded in 1989, hosts the oldest wines. Bălcaciu (1958) has the sparkling wines and wine distillates. Established in 2014, Tăuni is unique, thanks to fermentation and storage tanks, equipment and facilities, modern technologies. It uses gravitational energy, for minimal intervention in the winemaking process.
https://romanian-romance.com/

Bethlen-Haller Castle

The church in Boian was erected around the year 1400, but it is difficult to determine which parts of the initial construction have been preserved to this day. Nevertheless, it is known that around 1500 the religious edifice was fortified, a defence level being built above the chancel. The fortification wall was designed to include a parapet walk, partly built on two levels and strengthened by a gate tower. The latter also served as a bell tower having its entrance protected by a portcullis (sliding wooden lattice reinforced with iron). Another detail that is worth mentioning is the decoration of the cornice with angled bricks, a method often used for the Orthodox churches in Moldavia and Muntenia regions.
Furthermore, on both gate tower and northern entrance of the church one can find the coat of arms of the Moldavian prince Stephan the Great, to whose fief Boian briefly belonged.
Place and surroundings
It is utterly uncommon to find the symbol of the ureox at the entrance to an Evangelic church. And yet, in Boian, on the Northern portal of the fortified church, one can see the symbol of Moldavia carved in the shape of the relief of two ureox heads. Unlike most of the Saxon villages, this place was not part of the Royal Land (a self-administered Saxon territory), but it was part of The County of Cetatea de Baltă (Moorland Fortress). The colonists on the Royal Land were loyal only to the Hungarian king and used to enjoy a special status and privileges, while the inhabitants of the counties, Hungarian admininistrative areas, were all serfs under the authority of the feudal lord.
In 1498, Matei Corvin, king of Hungary, offered The County of the Moorland Fortress as a gift to the Moldavian prince Stephan the Great. The prince supported the completion of the massive fortification around the sacred church, fact that is suggested by the presence of his coat of arms on the wall – the ureox head.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Boian fortified church

The castle was built by Bethlen Miklos between 1667-1683. It used to be surrounded by a double stone wall, five bastions and a moat. Bethlen Miklos' daughter Agnes married count Kemeny Zsigmond here in 1719. In 1856 the castle became the property of the Bruckenthal family. They restored the building and opened an agricultural school in it. The communist regime gave the castle to the state owned agricultural institution, and used the luxury rooms to accommodate the families of young engineers and milk-men coming from other parts of the country.
The castle was built by Bethlen Miklos between 1667-1683. It used to be surrounded by a double stone wall, five bastions and a moat. Bethlen Miklos' daughter Agnes married count Kemeny Zsigmond here in 1719. In 1856 the castle became the property of the Bruckenthal family. They restored the building and opened an agricultural school in it. The communist regime gave the castle to the state owned agricultural institution, and used the luxury rooms to accommodate the families of young engineers and milk-men coming from other parts of the country.In a span of 50 years the castle functioned as kindergarten, prison, canteen, butcher's shop and champagne section, this leading to the destruction of all beautiful frescos and stuccos.
The spiral stairs that once were amazing with all those statues are now on the verge of collapse, and so is the balcony. The void that lies behind the broken windows is now protected by a huge lock on a rusty chain, but this does not protect the building against one archenemy: time.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Sânmiclăuș Bethlen castle

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

On the hill of Ozd, you can see the rectangular castle with corner bastions built in Gothic style in 1682 by Pekri Lőrinc, the man of Rakoczi Ferenc II. In 1732 it was rebuilt, after the attack of the lobons, which burned the castle, leaving only the bastions of the corners untouched. The castle was rebuilt by Radák Ádám, Pekri's son-in-law. The last owner of the castle, surrounded by forest, famous for the park and the lake in front of him, was Baroness Teleki Ilona, who left the country because of nationalization in 1945.
The building housed kindergarten, school, house of culture was and seat CAP, which remained in the castle until its destruction. After89 the castle was returned to Mrs Jude Mária, an heiress from France.
Restitution after she donated castle Bonus Pastor Foundation, which decided to renovate the building and annexes nearby. Renovation comes with substantial external help. The works are in progress.
https://www.welcometoromania.eu/

Ozd Pekri-Radak castle

The fortified church is located on the main street of the village. In the village center a church existed around 1420, which was secured with a ring wall, a gate tower, and three defence towers in the course of the 15th century. Beside the gate tower, the north-eastern tower has also been preserved until today. At the end of the 15th century the church was enlarged with a bell tower, which shows a seven-fold staggered funnel-shaped portal. Shortly afterwards the church was fortified. Above the hall of the church and above the bell tower a defence level rests on buttresses. In the 18th and 19th century it was gradually removed, but the bell tower was rebuilt in 1973. The existing pew in the chancel dated 1533, is one of the most valuable of its kind in Transylvania.
Place and surroundings
Regardless of the moment in which the fortress is looked at, in the fresh morning light, under the bright sunlight in the middle of the day or in the soft fog of dusk, its walls seem to have been made of history and legends. Built on the location of an old basilica, the church impresses due to its dimensions and rich ornamentation. Both west and south portals adorned with high quality stone carvings are counted among the best-made stone art works in Transylvania. Fragments of the once lush mural paintings inside the church, a representation of the Apocalypse, were revealed on the northern wall. An organ built in 1804 by Samuel Metz rests on its wooden gallery. Impressive are the eroded drolleries on the chancel, strange masks that have been interpreted both as saints and as demons.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Băgaciu 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 church in Curciu has remained almost unchanged since its construction in the beginning of the 14th century. The remarkable value of the three-aisle basilica with polygonal chancel lies in its outstanding stone masonry. In the chancel the well preserved mullioned windows with tracery can be admired as well as the typical Gothic windows in the tower. The sculptures ornamenting the portals, tower, windows, buttresses, as well as the capitals, keystones, sedilia and the door of the sacristy date back to around 1427. At the beginning of the 19th century the side aisles were heightened, thus obtaining a cross section of a hall church. At the same time both the main nave and the side aisles were covered with a flat, stuccoed ceiling. The tower’s defence level was demolished and replaced in 1913 by the present, with zinc sheet covered spire. Today the ring wall with the gate tower initially used as entrance, as well as a Gothic chapel integrated in this wall still stands as part of the fortified ensemble.
Place and surroundings
A special treasure among the Transylvanian villages is Curciu. This romantic place is situated in the wine-growing region northeast of Mediaş, between hills and forests. The place owes its lush green vegetation to the location between the two rivers Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică and has been nicknamed “Mesopotamia”.
The fortified church of Curciu was built on a hill in the centre of the village. The entrance leads through the gate tower. The chapel inside the fortification has an ossuary, a room in which the bones of the deceased were kept in the past.
The church of Curciu contains many typical for the Mediaş region beautiful architectural sculptures from the 15th Century. The richly decorated western façade shows a bird, a mask and a monster with a human head between the paws.
https://kirchenburgen.org/

Curciu 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

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/