3423 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - Cârța Monastery

The Cârța Monastery is a former Cistercian (Benedictine) monastery in the Țara Făgărașului region in southern Transylvania in Romania, currently an Evangelical Lutheran church belonging to the local Saxon community. It lies on the left bank of the Olt River, between the cities of Sibiu and Făgăraș, and was probably founded in 1202-1206 by monks from Igriș Abbey (daughter house of Pontigny Abbey), being disbanded in 1494, when the apostolic legate Ursus of Ursinis ratified Cârța Abbey's attachment to the Provostship nullius of Sibiu.

ROMANIA - Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania (UNESCO WHS)

In the 12th and 13th centuries, simultaneous with the advancement of the Kingdom of Hungary's border to the east and south-eastern Transylvania, until its stabilization along the Carpathians, Hungarian kings encouraged Germans and Székelys to colonize the areas newly conquered, in essence for economic and military reasons. The German colonists were named Transylvanian Saxons, despite the fact that most of them came from the western Holy Roman Empire. The political, economic and social influence exercised by them in the last eight centuries in Transylvania was a major and beneficial one. Unfortunately after the WWII, but especially after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, many members of this community emigrated to Germany.

3021 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - The last Transylvanian saxon in Richiş

3021 Johann Schaas, the last Transylvanian saxon in Richiş

In Târnavelor Plateau, at five km from Biertan, one of the emblem-communes of the Sibiu county, with a fortified church inscribed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is located Richiş (Reichesdorf in Transylvanian Saxon dialect), a small village with a few hundred inhabitants,  documented for the first time in 1283. In 1939 in Richiş lived 1,300 Saxons, but after the WWII many of them either went to Germany or were expropriated and / or deported by the communist authorities, so that in 1989 only 800 remained.

2770, 2771 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - The Historic Centre of Sibiu and its Ensemble of Squares (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

2770 Sibiu in 1898

 
Located in Transylvania, Romania, Sibiu (German: Hermannstadt) straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt. The first official record referring to the Sibiu area comes from 1191, when Pope Celestine III confirmed the existence of the free prepositure of the German settlers in Transylvania, the prepositure having its headquarters in Sibiu, named Cibinium at that time. The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary (1141-1162), the main task of the Transylvanian Saxons being to defend the southeastern border of the Kingdom of Hungary.

2771 The Big Square in Sibiu in 1900

 

Although Sibiu is an ancient settlement dating from Neolithic, the overall form and shape of the city is medieval. Its evolving lines of strong fortifications, together with its characteristic street pattern, squares and building plots, developed and grew especially following the Tatar invasion of 1241. In the 14th century, it was already an important trade centre, and from 1366 onwards became known as Hermannstadt. In 1376, the craftsmen were divided in 19 guilds. Sibiu became the most important ethnic German city among the seven cities that gave Transylvania its German name Siebenbürgen (literally seven citadels).

2688 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - Octavian Goga (1881-1938)

Known in Romania more as poet and politician, Octavian Goga was also playwright, journalist, and translator. He was born on April 1, 1881 in the village Răşinari, near Sibiu (in Transylvania, back then in Austro-Hungary), as son of Joseph Goga, an Orthodox priest, and Aurelia, teacher. In 1900, after the high school graduation, he joined the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy at the University of Budapest, then continued his studies in Berlin.

2530 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - Holy Trinity Cathedral in Sibiu

The Holy Trinity Cathedral in Sibiu is the seat of the Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Sibiu and Metropolitan of Transylvania. The idea of building an Orthodox cathedral in Sibiu began with Metropolitan  Andrei Şaguna, who in the autumn of 1857 asked Emperor Franz Joseph I for permission to send a circular to his diocese requesting that priests and laymen give donations. He sent the letter before Christmas that year, and the first donor was the Emperor himself.

1847 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - Mălâncrav fortified church

The history of Mălâncrav fortified church, as also of the commune, is related to the Apafi family, upper class noble landowners from Transylvania . Because it was a latifundium placed in the midst of the Transylvanian Saxon Seats of Schassburg (Sighişoara), Mediasch (Mediaş) and Grossschenk (Cincu), it was assigned by the Hungarian king to the Apafi family. The first acknowledgment of Mălâncrav (German: Malmkrog) dates from the 14th century in a series of documents related to some disputes over property, which will continue until the 18th century.

1833 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - Hosman fortified church

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.

1815 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - Moşna fortified church

Located to the Târnavelor Plateau, on the Moșna Valley, Moşna (German: Meschen) was attested documentary in 1283 as a free commune in Wine Country, under the name Musyna. The village hearth retains even today the urban planning and architectural characteristics of the Transylvanian Saxon colonists who founded it. Unfortunately, as in all of Transylvania, after WWII, the Transylvanian Saxons were deported or left the area in large numbers.

0339 ROMANIA (Sibiu) - Biertan fortified church - part of Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania (UNESCO WHS)

0339 Biertan Fortified Church

Biertan (Birthälm) was one of the first settlements of the Transylvanian Saxons, and received the right to organize a market, placing it in competition with Mediaş and Moşna; it was also the see of the Saxon Lutheran Church from 1572 to 1867. Built in the center of the town, on a hill (Hill of Berth), in Late Gothic style with Renaissance touches, Biertan fortified church was the last one erected in this style in Transylvania, between 1486 and 1524. It was limited by terrain configuration, the choir, 18m long, vaulted with a network of ribs, being built just after the old building ships were replaced by three ships of equal height.