Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania
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How it came to be
The villages of southern Transylvania were founded in the 12th century by German colonists whom the kings of Hungary settled in the region. Known as the Transylvanian Saxons, they kept their language and customs for centuries among a Hungarian and Romanian majority.
Under threat of Ottoman and Tatar raids, the villagers ringed their churches with towered walls or turned the churches themselves into forts. Inside the walls were grain stores and rooms for every family so the community could hold out through long sieges. Of some 300 fortified churches, more than 150 survive.
Seven of the villages form the World Heritage site: Biertan, Câlnic, Prejmer, Saschiz, Valea Viilor and Viscri are Saxon, and Dârjiu is Székely. Biertan was inscribed in 1993 and the others were added in 1999.
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