LOCATIONS

Archita / Arkeden

On August 28th 1748, Archita was the scene of a fire that destroyed the roof, melted down the bells and turned the furniture to ashes. Such was the devastation that it took the locals two whole years to renew the roof and make new furniture.

Seica Mica / Kleinschelken

The village of Kleinschelken is situated 48 km north of Brasov and 23 km west of Medias. It has a fairly long and richly documented history. The first settlement in this area dates back to the Bronze Age though is in no way related to the 1280 Saxon settlement.

Cincu / Schenk

The settlement of Cincu was founded in the 12th century by German colonists on a plateau set between the Olt and Hartibaciu rivers. Its German name, Schenk, comes from the German word for a "pub", called a "Schink". First documented in 1329, the settlement grew quickly in importance and soon became the seat of Schenk.

Altana / Alzen

Legend says that the first Saxons to set foot on these lands were led by ten local lords called greavi. They summoned a Council to chose a name for their settlement. Because each of them insisted that the settlement bear their name, they finally decided to name it after the one who would prove himself worthy by working hardest. But because they had worked all equally hard and eagerly, they agreed on naming the settlement after all ten of them in German, All Zehn.

Veseud / Zied

The name of the settlement comes from vesszö, the Hungarian word for "rod" or "stalk", and first appeared in 1308 as Wassid. Veseud lies 13km from Seica Mare, with the church and its surrounding fortification works set on high ground next to the road.

Harman / Honigberg

The story of Harman, though, dates back long before this siege of 1643. It relates to the Teutonic Knights who had settled here and in Feldioara, Prejmer, Rasnov, and Sanpetru at the beginning of the 13th century. Its first written acknowledgment came only later, in a document dated the 21st of March 1240, 15 years after the Teutons had been chased off this territory.

Feldioara / Marienburg

Feldioara lies on the left bank of the river Olt, 17 km north-west of Brasov. This territory was continuously inhabited since the Neolithic and bronze era up to the times of the Roman conquest. The glass fragments, ceramics, golden objects and 21 gold coins that were found here date back to those times. Five golden ingots dated to 402-408 AD supported the hypothesis that the people here might have paid tribute to a migratory population, probably the Huns.

Cisnadioara / Michelsberg

In 1223, King Andrei II ratified the agreement by which the deputy to the head priest of the parish of Gocelnius gave to the Cistercian monks at Carta the basilica at Cisnadioara and its respective land. This agreement is the first documented acknowledgement of the settlement at Cisnadioara. It appears that in those times the basilica was in a very early phase of construction, as only the choir and the foundations of the naves had been built. Archaeological digging revealed the fact that a settlement dating back to the Latene period had existed on the hill where St. Michael's church was built.

Movile / Hundertbuecheln

In the village of "a hundred hillocks" (in Romanian "movile"), the parish has been served by a wooden church with a stone belfry from as far back as the 12th century. Following the Tatar invasion of 1241, the church was burnt down and only the tower was left standing. A year later a church was built right next to it, a forerunner of the early 16th century Gothic church. The belfry was in the free district of the "lordly county", that belonged to the seat of Cincu. Up to the 16th century it had five storeys that were linked by wooden ladders. There was a vaulted portico on the ground floor and a retractable ladder led up to the first floor. Later another storey was added to serve the clock's mechanism and the wall passage. Nowadays it contains the three massive bells cast before the times of the Reformation.

Prejmer / Tartlau

How terrible it must have been for the folks of Prejmer to hear the bells toll faster than when beckoning them to the holy service! Two hundred years before, it was the Tatars' ruthlessness they feared. Their rampage on three occasions is still remembered to this day. But this time it was the Turks who, just ten years after 1421, came roaring to their walls with the renewed threat of a near total destruction of the village. So all the Saxons ran to the fortified church, locked the gates, lowered the portcullis and loaded their famous "organ of death". They were the only Saxons to possess such an inventive weapon.