Europe

[Visited: July 2020]

Coming from the Kalibash villages near Bran, we pass Brașov to visit the fortified church of Prejmer. To be honest, we have seen plenty of churches, and we wonder if it is not going to be too much. As soon as we walk through the courtyard, enter a passage under the thick white wall to reach the church itself, we are getting more curious. What we find exceeds our expectations. A wall encircling the 13th century church, with hundreds of storage rooms, wooden stairs and galleries all around. When we step into the Lutheran church, we are surprised to find a section marked for women, but more by an old wooden signboard listing the Germans killed in action in the First World War. The wooden pulpit is written in German: this is the land of the Saxons, and the traces are everywhere. We walk up the rickety stairs, and find many rooms, some with medieval agricultural tools exhibited. We thought we would visit this one fortified church, and then concentrate on other things to see and do in Transylvania. We realise that we want to see more of them.
So it is that when we find Sighișoara flooded with tourists, we leave within an hour and drive back to see more of the fortified churches. Once upon a time, there were 300; half of them are still around. Originally, the churches were standing freely in the villages, but when they came under attack from the Ottomans, the Saxons decided to build walls around them. Inhabitants could take shelter within the walls, which had supplies to survive for longer periods. The Hungarian king invited the Saxons to come to Transylvania in the 11th century, because he saw them as skilled, hardworking people. Still now, the villages have a Romanian and a German name. So we arrive at Criț (Deutsch Kreuz: German Cross), where we find a wide street lined by lovely, colourful houses. At the end: the fortified church itself. We find it open, and deserted. The courtyard is covered in grass, and the walls are much lower than the ones in Prejmer. They do have storage, there are agricultural tools, and there is a well, too. Two signs outside list the German soldiers who died in both World Wars. Inside, I find a list with the Saxon inhabitants who were deported to the Soviet Union at the end of the war. There are handwritten crosses indicating those who died later. It is a short drive to Meșendorf, where we find the church closed. We walk around it, and manage to open a fence, and sneak in. We climb the wooden defence tower, which has a faulty floor, as well as great views of the church below. A dog is fiercely barking, but no one appears. There is a phone number on the door, but we decide to drive on to Buneşti (Bodendorf).
We see a white bell-tower rise high above the surrounding wall, and find a closed door again. There is a number, and literally minutes after I call, Mr. Wagner arrives on his bike. He has a distinctive German look, opens the door, and gives us a detailed story about the history not just of this church, but also the Saxons in this region in general. It is fascinating to hear how the Saxons were invited to work here, formed a formidable community, but always maintained their identity. The communist government tried to send them back to Germany (asking the Germans money for the transaction), and very few Saxons remain. When we enter the Romanesque church, and our guide tells us about its history of making the church smaller to accommodate the walls around it, how they discovered beautiful frescoes on the wall, how balconies were added inside to allow more people in, and how currently, there are less than a handful people attending mass. But he is still convinced he made the right choice by staying in Romania, and not emigrating to Germany which, simply put, is not his country. On our way to Sibiu, we visit the more famous fortified church of Biertan. It is a massive church complex, with a much bigger church. The complex really has the feel of a fortress, with sturdy walls, defence towers, and all. We find one interesting room, the matrimonial prison, where couples with marital issues would be locked up for two weeks, sharing one bed, one table, and one spoon. Over three centuries, only one couple went through with a divorce. We walk up a hill, past the orthodox cemetery, for the best views of the fortified church complex. It will be our last view of any of those lovely, and highly interesting, fortified churches.

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Fortified Saxon churches (Romania)

Fortified Saxon churches > Romania > Europe

[Visited: July 2020]

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