A Fortress on a Hill and a Major City
Where are we Going Today?
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| Romania |
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| Romania with Sighişoara, Rupea and Braşov underlined |
Saschiz
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| Mureş County |
Only one of the towers remains. It acquired an impressive spire in 1677 and was presumably further refurbished in 1832 as the date is prominently displayed. The angle of the photograph makes it look like the tower is part of the church, but it is actually 10 metres in front of it.
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| Saschiz Evangelical Lutheran Fortified Church |
In 1999 Saschiz joined Biertan and its surrounding villages as part of the ‘Transylvanian Villages with Fortified Churches’ UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Rupea
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| Braşov County |
The county's population is about half a million, some 60% of whom live in and around the city of Brașov. The north of the county is
thinly populated and we drove through a large green plain where cereals swayed in the breeze.
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| The fields of northern Braşov County |
Rupea is only 20km south east of the county boundary, and it was not long before we could see a rocky outcrop in the distance. The outline
slowly resolved itself into the shape of Rupea Fortress.
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| Rupea Fortress on its rocky outcrop |
The Fortress
The strategic importance of a rocky outcrop with extensive views in all directions was obvious to the earliest humans. Stone tools and pottery from the palaeolithic and neolithic eras have been found here and in the first century CE the Dacians built a settlement on the summit. According to legend, Decebalus, the last Dacian king, committed suicide here in 106CE to avoid capture by the Romans.
Later people felt safe enough to moved down to the flat land beside their fields, provided there was a refuge in times of trouble. The
Transylvanian Saxons built the first fortress on the summit in the 13th
century, and expanded downward over the next 500 years, their tiered walls
exploiting the natural contours of the hill.
Unlike the builders, we had to start at the bottom. The lowest level was added in the 18th century and was mainly used for living
quarters and storage.
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| Rupea fortress - starting at the bottom |
From there we worked our way upwards following the curve of the walls.
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| Inside Rupea fortress |
From the middle level, a 15th century downward extension, we had a good view over the town of Rupea. Vlad pointed out that the houses are built ‘sideways on’ to the road with gaps between the buildings. When a hoard of Tartars, Mongols or Ottomans (depending on era) hove into view, the residents could quickly retreat through the town and take refuge in the fortress.
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| Rupea - for most houses along the main two streets, the gable end faces on to the road |
Building at the top of the hill started in the 13th century, but development continued throughout the life of the fort. Of a hundred 16th and 17th century dwellings, one group of three remains intact. Only the upper floor was residential, the ground floor was used for workshops and warehouses.
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| Dwellings, Rupea fort |
At the very top is the Peak House. From here the garrison could communicate with nearby towns...
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| Peak House, Rupea Fort |
and keep watch for trouble approaching across the green hills and valleys of Transylvania.
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| The hills and valleys of Transylvania, My apologies for blocking out so many of them |
The fortress was abandoned in 1790 after a storm destroyed the roof. It was never rebuilt and the fortress gradually fell into disrepair. Restoration started early in the 21st century. With the authorities keen to develop a tourist circuit, Rupea neatly filled a gap between Sighișoara and Brașov. Digi24.ro claims (in Romanian) that there were 150,000 visitors in 2015, but I can find no later figures. Presumably the promoters of Transylvanian tourism would be pleased we did exactly what they planned, but less happy that we (almost) had the fortress to ourselves.
Brașov
From Rupea it took an hour to drive the 65 km to Brașov.
A Little History
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| Braşov City |
The factories and new residential areas grew on the flat land north of the old centre. Many of these factories closed in the economic
crash that followed the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989, but the city has
slowly worked its way back to some level of prosperity.
The old centre may now be on the edge of town, but it still conducts itself like a city centre, with the large Council Square fringed with the
tables and umbrellas of umpteen restaurants and cafés. To help the lost and
bewildered, the city fathers have erected a large sign on Tâmpa Mountain,
letting us know where we are. I don't think Hollywood need feel threatened.
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| Council Square, Restaurants below the Braşov sign |
Șcheii Brașovului
But we did not start in Council Square, Vlad first drove us a kilometre south to Șcheii Brașovului. Romanians have been the largest ethnic group in Transylvania since before records were kept, but despite providing a couple of Hungarian kings (see Part 3: Hunedoara and Alba Iulia) Romanians were (prior to the First World War) the poor relations of the ruling Hungarians and prosperous Transylvanian Saxons. From the 13th to the 17th century, Romanians were not allowed to live within the city walls and so settled in the Șchei district.
Saint Nicholas is Braşov's oldest Romanian Orthodox Church, or at least, the wooden original was. Built sometime after 1292 it it was replaced by a Gothic style stone church in 1495 which has since enjoyed a Baroque makeove.
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| St Nicholas Church, Braşov |
The first school teaching in Romanian was founded here when the stone church was constructed. A new school building beside the church was opened in 1760.
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| Romanian School, Brașov, 1760 |
It is now a museum showing the old classrooms,…
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| Old Romanian School, Braşov |
…an early printing press and various books,
manuscripts and icons.
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| Printing Press, Old School Museum, Braşov |
In front of the church, in Union Square, is The Unknown Soldier. Commissioned by the local authority in collaboration with veterans' associations the statue commemorates those who died in WW1 and have no known grave. Ironically it was unveiled in 1939, just in time for another round of blood-letting. The internet has many photos of this statue, and the apparent vigour of the bayonet thrust varies enormously depending on the photographer’s angle.
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| The Unknown Soldier, Union Square, Braşov |
Council Square
Back in Council Square we checked into our hotel and then ate lunch in the square. In this land of soups and ciorbe that was what we had, though I cannot remember which. Then we set off on a walking tour.
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| Soup, or possibly ciorba |
The Old Town Hall
The square gets its name from the old Town Hall.
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| The Old Town Hall, Braşov |
In 1420, the Farriers Guild permitted the County Council to build a room for public meetings and trials on top of their guild house. The
‘Trumpet Tower; was added in the late 16th century. From here watchmen surveyed
the whole town and warned of fire, invasion or any other problem by blowing a trumpet.
Growing prosperity led to the addition of a spire, a clock, many more chambers and eventually a new building elsewhere. The Old
Council House was retired in 1950 and is now a museum.
The Catherine and Schei Gates
To the east of the square are two city gates. The Catherine Gate was built by the Tailors’ Guild, in 1559, replacing a gate destroyed by a flood thirty years earlier. The tower is 16th century but the rest is later. The gate was the only access point for Romanians, who could enter the city at permitted times but had to pay a toll to sell their wares.
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| Catherine Gate, Braşov |
Later the Șchei Gate, built in 1828, gave free access for all.
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| The Şhei Gate, Braşov |
Beth Israel Synagogue
Brașov’s Jewish community settled here in the early 19th century. It grew steadily and was flourishing when the Neo-Moorish Beth Israel Synagogue was built in 1901. ChatGPT informs me the community faced periods of hardship, especially during World War II – an epic understatement, I suspect. There is however still a Jewish community, it is small but sufficient for Beth Israel to remain a functioning synagogue.
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| Beth Israel Synagogue, Braşov |
The Black Church
At the south end of Council Square, hemmed in by other
buildings is the Lutheran Cathedral of St Mary. Built 1383-1476 by the Transylvanian
Saxons, it started as a Catholic Church and became Lutheran during the
Reformation. Its walls were blackened during the great fire of 1698, hence it
is known as the Black Church, though all signs of charring are long gone.
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| The Black Church, Braşov |
The statue outside is of Johannes Honter (1498–1549) a cartographer and one of the founders of Lutheranism in Romania.
The building is 89m long and tower 42m tall making this the largest Late Gothic church in south eastern Europe. The clock is worth a closer look.
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| Clock, the Black Church, Braşov |
The surrounding buildings make the church difficult to photograph. Wikipedia have a drone picture, which I won’t borrow, you can click this link, or
make do with my efforts.
Inside, like most Lutheran Cathedral, it is not overly ornate.
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| Inside the Black Church, Braşov |
The 4,000 pipe organ was built by Carl August Buchholz in 1839.
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| Organ, Black Church, Braşov |
There is a fresco of the Nativity, with the emblems of King Matthias Corvinus (ruled 1458-90) and his wife Beatrix of Aragon in the corners (see Hunedoara). Corvinus was a Romanian King of Hungary, and definitively not a Transylvanian Saxon ...
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| Nativity, Black Church Braşov |
... and a couple of carved memorials to large men with huge beards, both apparently preparing to sneak out of their stone imprisonment.
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| Big men, big beards, Black Church Braşov |
1848 was the Year of Revolutions in Europe, with nationalist pressures within both the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. The bullet holes in a pillar, the consequence of an 1848 skirmish have been carefully preserved as a reminder of the turbulence from which Romania emerged.
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| Bullet holes, Black Church Braşov |
The building work was done by Bulgarian masons. Like the Romanians they were not the sort of people the Saxons wished to mix with and,
so, like the Romanians, their accommodation was outside the city walls in
Schlei. There is a story that a Saxon boy was annoying the Bulgarians workers,
so they threw him off the roof and then immured his body in the cathedral walls.
Or, the best apprentice was showing so much promise he threatened to eclipse
his master, and in a fit of jealousy, the older man pushed him to his death. Or
a young man working on the roof observed by chance some technique the master
masons wished to keep secret leaving them no choice but to kill him.
Looking up from beside the building, you see a stone effigy of the victim fearfully confronting his fate.
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| The unfortunate, if mythical victim confronts his fate, Black Church Braşov |
Without evidence, I imagine it was once a nasty little story spread to denigrate the Bulgarians – ‘well you know what they’re like’ as
people too often say of those they don’t know. But even today workers die on major construction
projects, so is there a grain of truth somewhere? Maybe somebody fell without
obvious cause and the rumour mill decided they were pushed. Nobody will ever
know.
Dinner and Manoeuvres
During the afternoon soldiers gathered on Council Square, areas were marked out and there were preparations for some sort of display.
Going out for dinner, we found the tables and
chairs outside may of the restaurants, including the one we had earmarked
earlier, stacked up out of the way of the soldiers. The day had been warm, but
overcast, and there was room inside, so we stuck to plan A.
We were pleased our aperitif țuică (Romanian plum ‘brandy’) was served in a tumbler rather that the strange conical flasks favoured elsewhere,
but there was little else to recommend the meal. My duck and pickled cabbage
was alright, but could have done with something else on the plate and ,,,
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| Duck and Cabbage, Braşov |
…Lynne’s pork with stuffed cabbage and sauerkraut disappointed her. The pork she described as ‘bits of ham,’ and she disliked both the stuffed
cabbage and the accompanying yellow dome of polenta, though she enjoyed the sauerkraut
and sour cream. You win some, you lose some, but we eaten sufficient, drunk a
good bottle of local red and not paid much, so we were happy enough as we left.
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| Pork and Sauerkraut,Braşov |
Outside (sunset in June is well after 9 o’clock) we found soldiers getting into position. I wondered briefly if they were forming a
firing squad for the chef, but I should not be so mean. June the 9th is the feast
of St Peter and St Paul – hardly an excuse for a military display – and, I have
learned, the Day of the Romanian Military Police. All over the country there are
ceremonies, and events showcasing their skills and celebrating their service at
home and abroad.
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| The army forms up, Council Square, Braşov |
We returned to our hotel, not quite interested enough to find out what they were doing. Whatever it was, they did it reasonably quietly and had it all packed away by morning.
Epilogue
Our sojourn in the land of the Transylvanian Saxons was nearly complete and we would soon return to Wallachia. We have seen the works of
these industrious people everywhere, but we have not met a single Transylvanian
Saxon.
What Happened to the Transylvanian Saxons?
Since the 12th century, Hungarian kings periodically invited Germanic settlers to help defend their southeastern border against the
Cumans and later the Ottomans. These people became known as ‘Transylvanian
Saxons,’ though few were actually Saxon.
They performed their defensive duties, as Rupea’s fortress and Biertan’s fortified church testify, while interpolating themselves
as a middle class of artisans and merchants between the Hungarians landowners
and the Romanians peasants.
In 1800 Transylvanian Saxons living in self-governing communities comprised 10-12% of Transylvania’s population
Despite political upheavals – the creation of Romania in 1856, the First World War destroying the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Transylvania
becoming part of that Romania in 1920 - the Transylvanian Saxons lost some of
their autonomy, but little else changed.
Romania kept out of WWII until 1941 when the Germans marched through to attack the USSR, conscripting many Transylvanian Saxons on the way. In
1944 they retreated chased by the Red Army. The Russians rewarded many
surviving Saxons with a few years in Siberia. Not all returned. By 1950
Transylvanian Saxons made up only 4% of the population
Romania under Communism was no fun, but getting in and out was difficult. In 1989 everything changed,
Given freedom of movement, almost all remaining Saxons, some of whom had been in Transylvania for 30+ generations, returned to
Germany where the constitution granted immediate citizenship. Their dialect, an
old-fashioned German with abundant Hungarian and Slavic loan words, was
indecipherable to other Germans, but they adapted quickly. At first, they spoke
the old dialect among themselves, but now Transylvanian Saxon is considered endangered.
Romania: An Introduction
Part 1 Bucharest
Part 2 Cozia Monastery and Sibiu
Part 3 Hunedoara and Alba Iulia
Part 4 Biertan and Sighișoara
Part 5 Rupea and Brașov
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