A Mighty Fortress Is Our God: The Fortified Saxon Churches of Southern Transylvania

The old city of Sibiu is a cultural hub of Southern Transylvania and one of the most entrancing urban environments in Central Europe, so it was with great excitement that I arrived there last April for a week-long workshop on the Fortified Churches of Southern Transylvania, a 2010 World Monuments Watch site. The workshop was organized by the Coordination Office for Fortified Churches (Leitstelle Kirchenburgen), with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest.

Sibiu was the seat of power for the Transylvanian Saxons, a group of ethnically German communities that created a distinct culture since they settled in Transylvania starting in the twelfth century. These "Saxon" communities traced their origins to western Europe—"Saxon" was a designation referring to their privileged status within the Kingdom of Hungary. The most important privilege that they secured in order to relocate to Transylvania was an extraordinary degree of political autonomy, which the Saxons zealously guarded for many centuries. The Saxon civilization reached a peak in the sixteenth century, at the same time that the Saxon communities converted to Lutheranism. More than 150 small villages used to lie outside Sibiu, or Hermannstadt, and in order to defend themselves against invasions and raids from Mongols, Tatars, and Ottoman Turks the Saxons developed distinct forms of fortified churches that still dot the hilly landscape, long after losing their defensive function.

The Saxon achievement began to unravel in the face of assimilation attempts by the modern nation-state, which led to the beginning of a slow migration of Saxons out of Transylvania and the creation of an international Saxon diaspora. Later, during the 1930s, many Saxons were swept up in the rise of German nationalism in Europe; after World War II, many fled ahead of the arrival of the Soviet army, while others were condemned to forced labor in Soviet labor camps. Saxon numbers have continued to decline steadily during the second half of the twentieth century, with a mass exodus right after the 1989 Romanian Revolution. The dwindling population figures have posed a serious challenge to the social life of the Saxon community in Transylvania, and to the upkeep of the unique material artifacts of Saxon culture.

To call attention to these challenges, the fortified churches were included on the 2010 World Monuments Watch after being nominated by the Coordination Office for Fortified Churches, a special office within the Evangelical Church A.C. in Romania that was formed in 2007 to coordinate preservation efforts for these important historic and spiritual places.

Following the 2010 Watch, the Coordination Office secured funding from the European Regional Development Fund for the restoration of 18 fortified churches between 2011 and 2013, at a total project cost of €5.5 million. In addition, the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation supported the restoration of the fortified church in the village of Moard??.

Last month’s workshop focused on the valorization of the fortified churches and on new opportunities for the future. The tourism infrastructure is strong in Sibiu, and at World Heritage sites like Sighi?oara or Biertan—where World Monuments Fund has also been working to restore the fortified church in partnership with the Transylvanian Saxon Foundation—but it is minimal in many other locations. What are the right investments to make and the best new offerings to develop in order to attract more tourists—and keep them there for longer? In addition, are there ways to ensure that a greater portion of the revenue stream generated by visitors benefits the preservation of the fortified churches? What about more effective ways of asking visitors for voluntary donations? These efforts are significant not only for tourists, but also for the members of the Transylvanian Saxon diaspora, who often return to visit Transylvania. The Saxon diaspora is now spread across Germany and North America. Are there new ways of reaching the members of this community, and of engaging with them? For example, thanks to growing interest in genealogical research in the United States and elsewhere, church records reaching back centuries could become an invaluable resource.

These and other questions about potential new opportunities framed the thinking of international visitors and our local colleagues during the week-long workshop. The workshop was also the prelude to the announcement, later in April, that the Coordination Office will be transformed into an independent organization, under the joint patronage of the President of Romania and the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. This unique endorsement underscores the modern-day relevance of this historic landscape for local communities and beyond. The new organization will be able to expand its reach, as the challenges of heritage conservation remain numerous and require everyone’s best efforts!