The Saxon villages and fortified churches of Transylvania

Biertan fortified church

 

Transylvania is home to many UNESCO World Heritage sites, among which are a series of traditional Saxon villages, many with fortified churches.  If a town were too poor to build walls around the entire town, often it would fortify its church instead, providing refuge for the townspeople during attacks, mostly from the Ottoman Turks.

restored village houses

The villages, themselves, are also World Heritage Sites, separate from the fortified churches.  Some have restored their houses and others are trying to do so.  We saw large signs with detailed instructions on how to restore and paint a house, what to do and what not to do.  For centuries, Saxons (Germans) occupied these villages, but most of them left for Germany during World War II and many more departed in the 1960’s and 1970’s to avoid Communist rule.  Then, the German government paid the Ceaucescu government a bounty for each ethnic German who left for Germany.  Roma people moved into the abandoned houses in these villages, where they still live today.

Copsa Mara fortified church

Many of the women we saw wore traditional peasant costumes.  When we asked our guide about this, she said that the villages were now mostly occupied by Roma, who prefer their traditional ways.  I’m not sure all the women would agree with that since we saw women cleaning their pots and pans at the village well and collecting water from the well into numerous large jugs.  That means there is no running water in many houses, something I doubt most women would think was a great way to live, do laundry, prepare meals, and care for their families, much less to manage their work responsibilities in the fields.  The houses do have electricity, but no water and only outhouses.

woman getting water 

Under Ceauscescu, the Roma were forced to spend about half the year in one place—hence their occupation of abandoned village houses.  The rest of the year, they are able to travel in caravans, now mostly in vans with trailers, selling their goods, doing manual labor to earn money, and camping along the many rivers.

The village houses are mostly small, often brightly painted.  While most of the villagers have cars, most also use horses and buggies to transport wood, hay, grain and their families from place to place.  One of our guides told us that “without a horse and buggy, a farmer is dead”, meaning he can’t manage is farm (always “his”) without the help of his horse and wagon.  The horses are amazingly calm, unlike the cattle horses I grew up with, standing absolutely still while they’re being loaded, while their owners are off doing something else or even when a large truck roars past.

horse and buggy in village

We stopped at Copsa Mara to see the fortified church there.  The caretaker opened the gate for us and wanted to give us a detailed tour, but we were already late, so we declined.  He is doing a lot of small renovations on the church and has a vegetable and flower garden next to the church, which, I’m sure, helps to feed him since there are almost no visitors.

Biertan wood carver

Biertan is the primary fortified Saxon church, with large and sturdy walls, a substantial internal space where families lived during times of threat or war.  There were small rooms within the walls for the villagers, which we did not see at the other 2 fortified churches we visited.  Because this is the Saxon church that tourists generally visit, there are craftsmen working away outside, hoping to sell their wares.  I’m sure they are more successful during the summer tourist season than they are right now in what is a cold, rainy autumn.