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| 0339 Biertan Fortified Church |
Posted on 22.09.2012, 19.08.2015
In the 12th and 13th centuries, simultaneous with the advancement of the Kingdom of Hungary's border to the east and south-eastern Transylvania, until its stabilization along the Carpathians, Hungarian kings encouraged Germans and Székelys to colonize the areas newly conquered, in essence for economic and military reasons. The German colonists were named Transylvanian Saxons, despite the fact that most of them came from the western Holy Roman Empire. The influence, both political and economic and social, which they exercised in the last eight centuries in Transylvania was a major and beneficial one. Unfortunately after the WWII, but especially after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, many members of this community emigrated to Germany.
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| 1835 Viscri Fortified Church |
Being situated in a region constantly under the threat of the invasions, they built fortifications of different sizes. The most important towns were fully fortified, and the smaller communities created fortifications centered on the church, where they added defensive towers and storehouses to keep their most valuable goods and to help them withstand long sieges. At its peak, were about 300 such fortified churches, but now are left around 150, most of them well preserved. Seven of them (6 in Saxons villages and one in a Székelys village) were included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, under the name Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania.
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