TOUR description

The fortified churches are a unique and very interesting phenomenon. They can be found in a few locations in Europe but in Transylvania existed more than 300 German fortified churches. The Saxons who built them lived on Romanian land for more than nine centuries and their presence in Transylvania has yielded into a cultural and architectural heritage, unique in Europe. The villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania are examples of defensive vernacular architecture made by Saxon settlers. They date from the 13th to the 16th century.
The fortified churches were built to provide refuge, defence and resistance against the frequent attacks from the Tatars and the Turks. The churches were adapted for military use by building several rows of walls, water trenches, counter forts, bastions, towers and storage rooms. Apart from the superb masonry of both the churches and the defence walls, one thing you'll notice is the beautiful, simplistic feel of the Romanesque and early Gothic architectural styles. They are scattered along the main roads between Sibiu, Sighisoara and Brasov. Every village has the typical small, brightly coloured houses and a bulky and sometimes oddly shaped church.
During this tour you’ll discover some of the most representative monuments of Saxon rural religious architecture: the fortified churches of Biertan, Viscri, Prejmer , Cisnadiora, Calnic are usually on our list, but the itinerary will be planned together with you, depending on your location or time available.

Points of interest