Biertan, Evangelical fortified church

GPS Coordinates:
46.13517 N, 24.52131 E

Saxons were settled to this land in the XII-XIIIth century, during the Hungarian Kingdom. The settlement is mentioned for the first time in 1283. A document, dating from 1412, mentions an evangelical church. It is from that time that the great western wrought-iron, even today working, breech mechanism dates. We know about the second church that it was started in the XVth century and it was finished in 1516.

Between the years 1572-1867 this was the bishops' seat, but Georg Daniel Teutsch moved it into Sibiu. This small settlements great church is surrounded by 7 bastions and by three fortified walls. The gate, clock tower and mausoleum are in the inside girdle of walls.One tower from the middle girdle of walls gave place to the town council, another part had been used for storing smoked bacon. Bacon, bread and onion, these were the main food for the people who lived here. In another tower the maiden's dotal gifts were kept.

The third, unfinished wall, was built in the XVIth century, it has got two towers and one bastion, which was used as a prison. From the North-Western tower 73 covered stairs lead to the upper yard. The palisade altar, built in 1524, has 28 pictures, the second row holds the oldest of them. On one of the pictures the number 1483 shows, probably, the date of its birth. The inside walls of the church are decorated with medieval guild flags and eastern wall carpets. In 1933 it entered into the culture inheritance of the UNESCO.

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