The Evangelical Fortified Church in Criț

În NE–ul unei piaţete, pe strada principală a satului, se ridică cetatea bisericească. De la bazilica cu hramul Sfântului Petru, realizată la începutul sec. 14. se păstrează doar 2 chei de boltă, astăzi, înzidite în masa altarului, care reprezintă un „Agnus Dei” şi Sfântul Petru . Biserica medievală a fost demolată în 1794 şi în 1797 a fost terminată noua biserică care are corul orientat spre vest şi este o biserică hală cu 3 nave. Patru perechi de piloni cu secţiune octogonală cu capiteluri ionice legate prin arce” mâner de coş” suportă un tavan drept. În navele laterale sunt balcoane. Corul are înspre vest o absidă semicirculară. Biserica este în conjurară de 2 respectiv trei incinte. Zidul interior, de 8m înălţime, are un plan oval iar spre est două segmente de linie dreaptă la a căror intersecţie este un turn cu plan pentagonal din anul 1676. Zidul de incintă este prevăzut cu fante de tragere şi guri de păcură. Biserica a trecut printr-un proces de reabilitare în perioada 4 februarie 2020 - 17 noiembrie 2023, datorită implementării unui proiect finanțat prin Programul Operațional Regional 2014-2020. Lucrările au inclus reabilitarea fundațiilor, curățarea și refacerea rosturilor, refacerea legăturilor elementelor dislocate, eliminarea drenului perimetral, precum și conservarea diafragmelor portante și a bolții de la capelă. De asemenea, s-au efectuat consolidări la planșeele bisericii, completări la turnuri și reabilitarea scărilor, toate contribuind la îmbunătățirea rezistenței, stabilității, siguranței în exploatare și durabilității ansamblului. Astfel, Biserica Evanghelică Fortificată din Sânpetru renaște în toată splendoarea sa istorică, pregătită să ofere o experiență autentică vizitatorilor interesați de patrimoniul cultural și arhitectural al regiunii. Sursă text: https://www.agramonia.com/

Capela construită în a doua jumătate a sec. al XIII-lea in Cincșor a fost punctul de plecare pentru ridicarea actualei biserici finalizate în 1421. Edificiul a fost fortificat pas cu pas in sec. XV- XVI, după cum mărturisesc structurile de tip “fachwerk”. Corul a fost sprijinit cu contraforți și prevăzut cu drum de strajă, sistem construit și la clopotniță. Sătenii au ridicat în jurul bisericii un zid de incintă cu patru turnuri de apărare și un șanț cu apă la exterior. Au folosit în acest scop inclusiv pietre provenite din ruinele unei tabere militare romane care se aflase pe un deal în apropiere. Ansamblul şi-a păstrat până astăzi imaginea medievală: între ziduri şi turnurile de apărare timpul pare că a stat pe loc. *Pentru vizitatori individuali: cheile sunt la d-na Iuliana Cseh, tel. +40756584739 *Grupurile de vizitatori sunt rugate să se anunțe în prealabil la d-na Carmen Schuster, tel: +40744373090 *sursă text & foto *sursă text & foto 

The evangelic church and the ruins of the Teutonic Knights’ fortress, separated only by a ditch, are the pride of Feldioara. The 13th century Romanesque basilica with three aisles and a later added bell tower shows an interesting particularity, a vaulted gallery at the second level of the tower dedicated to the founder of the church. During the 18th century the tower is provided with a roof, constructed after the model of the Black Church in Braşov. The interior of the church is covered with crossed vaults, which in the chancel are supported by half-column piers. Their capitals are decorated with vegetal, anthropomorphic and biblical motifs. From the pre-reformation altar only few parts were preserved and moved later to the Black Church. From the curtain wall only some remains still exist, while the boulder walls of the nearby Teutonic fortress still stand. The latter’s defence walls were 4 m thick and enforced with four towers. The remains of a chapel within the enclosure can still be seen today. Contact: The keys are with Mr. Gheorghe Taus phone: 0040727188557 Adress: Octavian Goga str., no. 90 Text source: http://kirchenburgen.org/

The fortification in Roadeş consists of the former aisle-less hall church with polygonal chancel and bell tower built in the 14th century. The church was fortified in the 15th century and the tower was surrounded by a massive wall, which enclosed the former open entrance atrium. The chancel and the nave were provided with defence levels on buttresses and loopholes. Sideways a two-level sacristy was built and the tower was heightened by five levels and a defensive platform. Most of the defensive systems of the chancel, nave and the tower were demolished in the 19th century. The church was surrounded by a curtain wall with outer bailey and five defensive towers. Only three of them still stand today. The interior features a late Gothic chancel vault, a partially two-level gallery painted with images of the Roadeş church in its Baroque phase, before the demolition of its defence levels, as well as the 1838 organ. The valuable winged altar from 1533 has been moved to the Saint John’s Church in Sibiu. In February, 2016 it came to a partial collapse of the tower. Contact: The keys are with Mr. Gerhard Hietsch. phone: 0040741959588 address: Roadeș, no. 63 Text and photo sources: http://kirchenburgen.org/; http://www.rupeaturistica.ro/

The fortified church of Bunești was built with marine sedimentary rocks as one can see from the fossils in the masonry. Residential houses of the same period were built with timber. When the village was under attack, the inhabitants took refuge from the looters and arsonists inside the fireproof fortifications. The 13th century late Romanesque pillar basilica was early prepared for battle by demolition of the side naves and fortification of the central nave and the tower by adding defence levels. The chancel was heightened in 1500 by adding a defence level with machicolations. The 1847 added tower marks the present image of the church. The interior impresses with its tall and narrow proportions, underlined by the two-story balcony on the northern side, erected between 1680 and 1775. The railings were painted by the Roessler family, grandfather and grandson. The fortification wall, originating in the 14th century was strengthen by four towers and had grain storage rooms on the inside. Contact: fam. Wagner, phone: 0040268248702, Bunești no. 14 Text and photo source: http://kirchenburgen.org/

The evangelical church in Meșendorf has a coherent aspect, with proportional choir and nave, both vaulted and supported on the outside by equal buttresses. A buttress on the northern side of the choir nevertheless indicates the location of the old sacristy. During the last modifications of the church, making it fit for defense against Turkish attacks and civil wars, both components of the church were super-elevated, but on the upper part the defense solution of choice consisted of a wooden wall corridor supported by corbels. During the same time the inner vaulting systems were abandoned. Some of their elements were surprisingly preserved: several ogee crosses depicting God’s Right Hand (Dextra Domini) and a Marian rosette, initially used in the eastern end of the ogee network. The opening of the old windows was preserved, unlike the original decoration. Inside, one still finds a tabernacle with preserved ironwork, though it is not necessarily medieval in origin. The tribune’s panels are of great value since in 1765 Georg Rosenauer painted them with naive landscapes that include building complexes. The fortification is also based on the church’s bell tower whose height dominates the entire complex. Contact: Mrs. Doina Scoica phone: 0040740903744 address: Meșendorf, no. 102 Text and photo source: http://www.rupeaturistica.ro/

„The Cats’ Village” (Katzendorf) appears relatively late in written documents (around 1400), but the aspect of its church testifies immediately to an origin over a century before. The edifice is among those well preserving the basilical structure of the nave (end of the thirteenth century), with semicircular arches and tower on the western facade. One can still see today the twin towers of the main nave, located above the side naves. Unhappy about the choir, anyway too long in comparison to the naves, the villagers extended it in the fifteenth century, provided with polygonal ending and only furbished its vault. Some of the old decorations were on the western facade and can still be seen there today, making viewers wonder how such elements ended up there and what might their meaning be. The bell tower is the result of late restoration and building works (from the nineteenth century), when the strange sacristy was also added to the southern side of the choir. Unlike other churches, when the defense buildings in Caţa had to be consolidated, they did not affect the church, only its surroundings. The result was a prolonged polygonal curtain wall, provided with four rectangular towers placed on the outside. Two of them are located on the north; one of the southern towers was demolished during the nineteenth century, while the gate tower, on the west, seems to have been only built along the second, outer curtain. The latter might have been built sometime after 1550, as indicated by the constructive family of the south-eastern tower, with the corner along its axis. Another tower, on the northern side, was also demolished. It is significant that despite other complexes, the outer curtain in Caţa proved to be high and long lasting. Contact: Mrs. Markus Anna, phone: 0040268248564, address: Cața, no. 282 Text and photo source: http://www.rupeaturistica.ro/

The center of the settlement was organized around the architectural complex of the Evangelical church. Its history already started in the thirteenth century. The original building was a three-nave basilica, as indicated by the central nave, the only standing today, after severe transformations. The new polygonal altar is certainly of Gothic origin. Two inscriptions from the first half of the seventeenth/sixteenth century indicate the building schools employed. One does not know if the altar was soon changed when the decision was made to turn the church in a real fortification block. Anyway, almost none of the medieval jewels are well preserved. The sacristy, for certain, still holds its old medieval dowry. Though the church was renovated around 1621-1623, it burned down during the Turkish-Tatar invasion of 1858. The furniture, including stalls and tribunes, is dated by inscriptions to 1788. The present-day bell tower was only built around the middle of the nineteenth century. The precinct around the church was designed according to a principle of classical simplicity, as a rectangle with corner towers. Among them, the only fully preserved tower is located on the south-eastern corner and there are traces of the tower once standing on the opposite corner. The towers were built by cutting the curtain’s corners. Almost the entire western half of the old church fortification was demolished or partially included in other buildings during the erection of a parish house and of a confessional school. The aspect of the corner building, with stepped buttresses, does not fit the characteristics of a very new construction. The access gate was located in the same sector. The present-day gate, well strengthened with iron bars, dates back to the seventeenth century. The preserved sectors, rising no higher than 6-7 meters from the ground, still include two rows of loop holes that one could reach by wall walks built on several levels one on top of the other. The upper ones project well to the exterior/ provide appropriate firing positions indicating that the walls were super-elevated during a late building stage. A second curtain, with only one side still visible today, was built according to a triangular ground plan, annexed to the southern side. Its access ways were also located in the sector where the new buildings now stand. Text and photo source: http://www.rupeaturistica.ro/

Late Romanesque church later fortified. A tower, probably incorrectly labeled as a keep, was built over the ancient choir. As long as both chronology and owner remain unknown, one can hardly accept the tower’s function as keep without precaution. Its military role becomes more evident when compared to the ancient bell tower that is shorter and incorporated in the church’s building on the west. Unlike the bell-tower, the one erected over the altar is much more impressive (11 meter-long sides and 3 meter-thick base). Presently, the latter extends over 8 levels and that fits a fifteen-century building. It was accessed through a spiral staircase that one could enter on the southern side. Above the church’s choir vault, the access continued with wooden annexes. The firing gallery and pyramidal roof underwent several rebuilding stages. Two curtain walls are grouped around the church. The one closest to the church follows a pentagonal polygon shape in ground plan, consisting of a rectangle whose upper side was bent almost in the middle. Traces of the wooden firing gallery are visible on all sides, with severe degradations at the level of its stairs and floors. A 1788 written source mentions their rebuilding. Each major corner of the ideal rectangular curtain was provided with a tower. All these towers seem to have been located on the corners. The tower on the north-eastern corner has lost all its sides (1899) except the one connecting it to the curtain wall. The south-eastern and south-western towers were rectangular in ground plan and covered with shade roofs. The only tower that is more elaborated is that on the north-western corner. It is pentagonal in ground plan, with the edge corresponding to the curtain’s angle, and has a shingle roof. The only attested (re?)construction year (1657) is also connected to this tower. The outer curtain wall, today incomplete for several reasons, including the erection of the school building over part of its eastern and northern sides, seems to have lacked flanking elements. As in the case of other monuments, one must interpret it as having functioned as protecting precinct for the community’s animal husbandry in case of siege. A well functioned there as well. One knows that the monument underwent sieges and fires during the military events of 1623, 1658, and 1663. Contact: Fam. Marton, phone 0040268286609 Text and photo source: http://www.rupeaturistica.ro/