The church castles of Transylvania
Before the threatening invasion of Turkish armies and the conquest of Adrianopolis in year 1366, King Sigismund commanded the fortification of the cities. This led to an attachment of the churches by the Saxons, which meant, that there where several curtain walls built around a church and some defensive projectiles where built above its arch. In some cases though, the church itself wasn’t turned into a fort, but there were one or to curtain walls constructed, as well as bastions with round and angular peels.
These Constructions were built up and maintained by the communities. In case of an attack, the whole village had to be protected there and it even had to accommodate animals. In order to be prepared for long-term leaguers, every family of the village had a repository in the church castles, which was also filled during peaceful periods. There could even be a fountain and schoolrooms found within the constructions.
The church castles incorporate the peculiar way of life in Transylvania. They represent the endangered defence, but also the solidarity among the communities. The most impressive and greatest church castles were built by the Saxons, although many of them were constructed by the Hungarians- obviously according to the Saxon archetype. Almost every village on the royal ground possesses a church for defence. They are original Transylvanian constructions, which can only be found rarely outside of this area.
Until the 80s the communities very big and on Sunday the churches were filled with well-dressed people. But after the grand exodus of the Germans, the century old traditions decayed and so the maintenance of the church castles became rather difficult and has been doubtful until today.
Viscri church castle
Examples for Saxon church-castle architecture
Tartlau (Prejmer) circa 20 km in the northeast of Brasov
This important church-castle has got its roots in the 13th century, when the church was first built. The construction, built during the early gothic period, shows a unique architecture. Instead of a nave, the central-planned building has got 3 cross vaults. Above the crossing there’s an octagonal tower. The Construction was extended by a western vault and covered by a reticulated vaulting. The surrounding wall was built in this time as well. For even more protection it was surrounded by a water ditch. The fortitude of the wall is very impressive, with 5 m depth and 12-14 m height. At its inner walls there are chambers, where the families of the communities could resist during the leaguer. Today there are still 175 of these chambers existent.
Harman
Not far from Tartlau, a little more at the west, there’s the church castle Honigberg. Its surrounding wall is dated from the 15th century and encloses an originally roman church with 3 cross vaults, which later on has been transformed in a gothic style. The history of the castle is characterised by uncountable leaguers. Afterwards it was taken over by rebellious Hungarians.
Birthälm(Biertan)
Situated between Sighisoara and Medias, in the southern Kokel-valley you
can find Birthälm. Right among the houses of the village, on a hill with
a broad view on the Transylvanian hill country there’s the church-castle.
The emblem of king Wladislaus (1490-1516) and the voivod Johann Zapolya
(1510-1526) above the western entrance makes you assume, that the construction
was finished between 1510 and 1516.
It’s a hall church with 3 naves, columns and fancy vault. The choir is vaulted
by a network. The immense winged altar with 28 works of art belongs to the
elaborated ones in the area of Transylvania. The reason for the strong fortification
of the construction is that Birthälm was the Episcopal see of the Saxon-protestant
church from 1572 until 1867.
Originally the church was surrounded by a triplicate protective barrier, but only the external wall has partly been preserved until now. The Hungarians followed the example of the Saxons to reconstruct their churches well-fortified, but only terminally.
A bigger amount of fortified churches and church-castles was mainly built in the area, where the Széklers used to live. Székelyderzs, Zabola, Illgendorf (Illyefalva) and St. George (Sepsiszentgyörgy) are some examples of Hungarian church-castles.m.
Viscri church castle (Foto: Wikipedia)