Thursday, December 26, 2019

Transylvania Fortified Church




My internet browsing turned up this little article about the town of Viscri in Romania and this nifty looking Fort caught my eye. The building is actually a fortified church. I really like the architecture and look of this building.  The article is copied and pasted below:


The Transylvanian town of Viscri is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A preservation grouphas worked hard to bring Viscri into the tourism fold and provides plenty of opportunities for guests to get a taste of ancient rural life in Transylvania. There are plenty of traditional houses spread across the town, but the major draw is the centuries-old white fortified church. The oldest parts of the building date back to the 12th century. The additions placed over time are a testament to the historical power shifts that the town has witnessed.
The village has worked to bring back traditional activities, and the effort has been such a success that many local people have now made them a part of their daily life. Blacksmiths create horseshoes and nails, and they bake handmade bricks in an oven. Guests can feast on delicious fare sourced entirely from local ingredients. It's a town that wasn't so much stuck in time as one that intentionally chose to go back and recapture some of the most charming and authentic pieces of history.

4 comments:

  1. That's a great looking church and sounds a great place to visit.

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  2. About half of my congregation here in Ontario are made up of "Siebenbergishe Sachsen" (Transylvanian Saxons) and their descendants. They were Germans given land in Transylvania about 500 years ago. Many of the towns have two names, one German, one Romanian. Interesting folk.

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  3. That would be some centrepiece on a wargames table...

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  4. When we holidayed in Bulgaria at the town of Bansko many of the old buildings are surrounded by high wooden walls with rooms and balconies inside and no windows on the street. We were told it was from the time that the Ottamans occupied all these areas and tolerated the (Orthodox) Christian religion as long as things were out of sight. I imagine this fortified church might be with the same constraints in mind.

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