The church

The villagers started building a single-nave Romanesque church, which is uncommon for a Saxon church, in the 13th century. They began construction by building the first choir and a semicircular apse, which opened towards the rest of the church through a chancel arch. The church was very small and had a bell-tower on its western side.

The tower had a cross-ribbed vault over the ground floor and a loggia above the doorway with three setback arches. On the second level there was a circular arcade leading into the western loft which was later sealed up. The nave of the church was initially topped by a flat ceiling which was replaced in the 1500s with a gothic vault supported by detached columns in the corners of the nave. Other elements were built on either side of the southern bell tower which enclosed a corkscrew staircase leading up to the attic. The belfry appears that it has never been divided into separate storeys despite the wooden ladders attached to the walls starting from the western loft and leading to the wall passage.

The fortification

It appears that the stronghold has never been conquered. The villagers’ strategy when attacked was to send their cattle into the forest and then to run inside the walls of the fortress. Their enemies seem to have unsuccessfully laid siege to the fortress for as long as two weeks until finally giving up. The first mantle wall follows a rectangular path and was built in the 15th century. On the corners it has towers equipped with machicolations. Two wall passages, one on top of the other, connected the four towers and were supported by wooden brackets. A small gate-tower guards the entrance on the western side. The inner curtain wall was surrounded with a second one. In 1657, the north-western tower was replaced with another which that measured 10 metres in height. This tower had a pentagonal plan and four storeys, later becoming the Lard Tower. On the fourth floor its walls were decorated with red and blue ornaments and stories were written in three niches within its walls.

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