The church

The All Saints' church was first mentioned in 1322. Built in the early 14th century, the church has a single nave. Its pentagonal choir, built in quarry stone, is the oldest part of the church and has a cross-ribbed brick vault. The nave has a similar vault with ribs and a square section that comes together in a rose-shaped keystone. The buttresses that support the western wall from the outside were initially much less massive than they are today.

The Axente Sever church along with the ones in Agarbiciu, Ocna Sibiului and Turnisor are among the few to have the bell tower above the choir. The ribless brick vault above the choir is supported by two strong pointed arches that open towards the east and west of the church. Above the vault, the three storeys of the belfry are supported both by these arches and by the thick northern and southern walls. The bell-tower is also equipped with a wall passage on wooden brackets. Leaning on the southern wall of the choir, a chapel with an oriented apse was built in the late 14th century. Access to it is through a pointed arch doorway in the south wall of the choir. The apse of the altar has a simple, brick penetration vault with terracotta ribs that cross each other in a simple key stone. In the beginning, the apse had five windows, two of which were walled up. Today, none of the five windows preserves its original appearance.

The fortification

The oval precinct was built at the same time as the fortification works done on the church. The 6-8 meter high curtain walls are equipped with outwardly extending machcolation, battlements and buttresses. From the inside of the precinct the walls seem shorter, because of the higher level of the ground. The storage rooms built on the inside of the walls have access to the wall passage above them through a series of openings in their ceilings.

You can find more information about this church and many others on this CD dedicated to the fortified churches in Transylvania.