Biertan Fortified Church

Biertan is the fortified church to see if you only see one. It sits on a hill in the middle of the village inside three separate rings of defensive wall, linked by towers and gates, and it is one of the seven Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania inscribed by UNESCO.

From 1572 until 1867 it was the seat of the Saxon Evangelical bishops of Transylvania — which is why a village of this size has a church of this ambition.

The two things everyone remembers

The sacristy door, made in 1515, is closed by a single lock throwing nineteen bolts at once from one key. It is the kind of object that stops an argument about whether medieval craftsmen were sophisticated.

The other is a small room in one of the towers. For roughly three centuries, a couple who came to the bishop asking for a divorce were sent into it together — with one bed, one table, one set of cutlery — for up to six weeks, before the request would be considered. The local account is that very few divorces followed.

Getting in

Biertan is a working village and the church keeps its own hours, which vary by season. It is a normal part of visiting the Saxon villages that a church is locked and someone nearby holds the key — build slack into the day rather than a schedule.