The South and South-East of Transylvania has a rich cultural heritage and tourism potential which is untapped. This potential is encapsulated in the fortified churches of the region. These fortified churches represent all stages of this important European architectural phenomenon. It is not only the diversity of fortified churches as they exist today or their architectural splendour which makes them such outstanding treasures, but also how they richly evidence two centuries of use and adaptation by the community in their complexly developed structures. These achievements are not isolated. On the contrary they express a general phenomenon, in a defined geographical and historical context, namely that they were an integral part of the Saxon colonies of the old "royal lands" of Transylvania.

The fortified churches around Transylvania are remarkable and unique. There is nowhere else in the world where so many fortified churches are concentrated in an area so small (100), which highlights the importance and unmatched scale of these geographical and ethno-cultural phenomena. They are an exceptional architectural achievement because of their diversity and the range of European late Middle Age defensive patterns they display. In western and southern Europe churches have homogeneous defensive patterns characteristic of the territories or countries in which they are located (for example, fortified churches in France and the Nordic countries or inside the fortified churches in Germany and Austria). While in Transylvania, in the small area already mentioned, there are three main types of fortifications: the church inside the fortification (e.g. Prejmer), the fortified church (e.g. Saschiz) or the fortress-church (e.g. Viilor Valley, a complex example). It is worth mentioning how these fortifications are sometimes adapted from older monuments. The sites of these older monuments were transformed in a range of innovative ways, in order to strengthen them, which resulted in the creation of a variety of differing church forms and plans. For example, some fortified churches were fashioned from Roman small basilicas without towers or with a western tower, others were adapted Late Gothic nave churches with towers. Today, these monuments are seen as fortifications with a dual-use: sacred and defensive and have a perfectly balanced formal and functional use.

Today, seven villages with fortified churches and the town of Sighisoara are on the UNESCO Heritage List. The settlements and agglomerations, that were historically Saxon villages in their Transylvanian colony, incorporate values that are related to ethnology, history of architecture (defensive architecture, especially), urban history, and elements of political, social and religious history.

The typical appearance of these localities are a regular network of streets, made up of houses with compact front facades and exterior walls that enclose the house and garden or courtyard. These houses are closely grouped around the church and help define the cultural profile of this area of multiethnic and multicultural Central Europe.