Located between the cities of Sibiu and Agnita, on the Hârtibaciu Valley, Hosman (German: Holzmengen) is a typical Transylvanian Saxon village, which hiding, as also the neighboring villages, one of the last authentic medieval landscapes in Europe: flowering meadows, forests and pastures spread across the gentle hills, traditional old Transylvanian Saxon houses, an old mill with a bakery and a blacksmithing, and the fortified church which dominates panorama projected on a always exchanger background offered by the Făgăraş Mountains.
The Romanesque church was built around 1270 and is surrounded by a mantle wall at the bottom of the hill. Initially, the church had three naves, an apse for the altar, and a five-storey bell tower. The late Romanesque doorway has similar decorations to those in Avrig, Săcădate and Toacla. All these building sites were influenced by the concurrent building of the great Alba-Iulia cathedral that drew master masons from Austria and the German territories.
The church is surrounded by two mantle walls. The inner precinct has two square-plan towers with three floors each and a fortified house in the western section. The walls themselves are 7 to 8m high. The first three meters are made of stone and are part of the old ruins. The remaining 4-5m were later constructed in brick with one layer in stone. The second precinct has two towers. Additionally, there is a new school in the north-eastern section of the courtyard.
About the stamp
The first stamp, depicting Anthericum ramosum, is part of the series Flowers’ Clock (II), about which I wrote here.
References
Hosman / Holzmengen - Fortified Churches
Biserica fortificată din Hosman (rom) - Wikipedia
Sender: Dănuţ Ivănescu
Sent from Sinaia (Prahova / Romania), on 07.08.2015
Photo: Mioritics
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