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Published: March 7th 2021
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http://www.heygo.com 7th March - The Treasures of Transylvania: Horse drawn carriage ride through a UNESCO Saxon Village and its Fortified Church
Today we are in Viscri, with it’s many traditional houses, part of the Saxon heritage of the community, Viscri is best-known for its white fortified church, first mentioned in 1400.
The King of Hungary in the 12th century had a problem, his kingdom needed defending, especially in the south and east, in what is now Romania. It was the Middle Ages, and everybody was fighting over territory. So he sent ethnic Germans to settle in Transylvania, and they continued to move there until the end of the 13th century. These colonists became known as Saxons.
In order to defend themselves against attack, especially from the Ottomans they built fortifications. In some cases the fortification centered around a castle or even an entire town, but in many smaller villages, they instead added defenses to their churches.
Historically, the church in Viscri went through three construction phases. Its earliest foundations date back to the beginning of the 12th century when the local Szekler population built a small church. At the end of
the same century, the German colonists took over this church while settling in the region.
During the second phase that started sometime in the 13th century, the Saxons of Transylvania built the main tower on the west side and enlarged the nave of the church towards the east. It’s during the third construction phase of the 15th century that the church was fortified, partially preserved until today as some of its fortifications were demolished after the Ottoman threat disappeared.
As with most of these virtual tours, due to Covid many churches are closed but our guide did show a photograph of the inside of the church & also a overhead view of the fortification.
About 150 fortified churches are scattered across Transylvania. Seven of them together make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site including the one In Viscri.
As we took the horse & cart ride around the village our guide explained more about the Saxons.
The colonization of Transylvania by Germans began un the 12th century.For decades, the main task of these medieval German-speaking settlers was to defend the southeastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary the against
foreign invaders.
The first wave of settlement continued well until the end of the 13th century, they came to be collectively referred to as Saxons.Gradually, the type of medieval German once spoken by these craftsmen, guardsmen, and workers became known locally as Såksesch.
The Transylvanian Saxon population had steadily decreasing since World Word II as they started massively leaving the territory of present-day Romania, relocating initially to Austria, then predominantly to southern Germany especially Bavaria.
The process of emigration continued during the Communist rule.
After the collapse of the Ceausescu regime in 1989, still many of them fled to the unified Germany,
The vast majority of Transylvanian Saxons live in either Germany or Austria but a sizable Transylvanian Saxon population also resides in the United States & also Canada.
I had some vague recollection about Prince Charles and this area so it was good to be reminded.
The Mihai Eminescu Trust (The MET) was founded in 1987 in London.
Since 1990, the Foundation has dedicated its activity to protecting historical Transylvanian heritage.
The whole village project for rural sustainable development.
This is the most complex MET
project, born out of the relentless ambition to restore this ancient, beautiful, and historically important area by rebuilding the villages. The whole village project is the initial MET project in Romania, starting in 2000 under the patronage of HRH the Prince of Wales.
Prince of Wales has owned a traditional farmhouse here since 2006. We stopped outside the distinctive blue house, a simple traditional Saxon property like any other in the village; distinguished by features such as broad wooden gates and clay roof tiles, part of the house even dates back to the 18th century, the photographs looked very nice inside.
Back into the cart and we continued along to meet the local blacksmith,still working with traditional methods.
This village has become a very popular tourist destination so today with no overseas tourists it was a delight to be there.
Sighisoara: the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler (aka Dracula
Sighisoara stands as one of the most beautiful and best-preserved medieval towns in Europe.
Designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, this perfectly intact 16th century a gem with nine towers, cobbled streets, burgher
houses and ornate churches.
It is the birthplace of Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), ruler of the province of Walachia from 1456 to 1462.
It was he who inspired Bram Stoker's fictional creation, Count Dracula.
The house where he lived is now a restaurant. We did see a bust statue not far from where he lived.
We entered through the 14th century Clock Tower, this tower controlled the main gate of the half-mile-long defensive wall and stored the city's treasures.
A walk through the town's hilly streets with their original medieval architecture, magical mix of winding cobbled alleys, steep stairways, secluded squares, towers, turrets and enchantingly preserved citadel, is like stepping back in time.
To reach the Evangelical Church on the Hill from our guide climbed the 175 steps of the so-called Pupils’ Stairway, it was built in the 18th century to give dry access to the school and church during the winter.
The old school of Sighisoara is mentioned for the first time in a document from 1522. Its existence is, however, long before that date because,
according to transcripts of the University of Vienna, the institution's courses were followed during 1402-1520, by 95 students trained at the school in Sighisoara.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century the school was moved on the top of the Hill.
My signal at home dropped quite a bit so I missed some of the commentary and views but what I did see looked very interesting & the cobbled streets with the colourful buildings were very pretty.
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