Sighisoara and Biertan
Thursday, September 11, 2025 Sighisoara and Biertan
The entire old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and has no cars other than those belonging to the small number of residents. Here is the face of the clock tower on the town hall which I showed yesterday:
We climbed up the stairs to the clock and were able to see the mechanism dating to the 1600s:
There were some small rooms in the tower with exhibits, and one was of Hermann Oberth, of Transylvanian Saxon descent. He was a physicist and rocket pioneer in the 1920s, who wound up working for the Reich, and he was an instructor of Werner von Braun. His Nazi activities were not commemorated in the exhibit:
The view of Sighisoara from the top of the clock tower were beautiful, especially as the rain stopped:
At the top of a hill above the town is a lovely church. The path up begins with a covered stairway of nearly 200 steps:
The church was originally Catholic as were many of the churches in Transylvania, and all of them were transformed into Lutheran churches during the Reformation.
As part of that transformation, much of the Catholic decoration and imagery was covered over. Here is a fresco of St. George and the Dragon which has been uncovered. This fresco has more color than many of the ones we’ve seen which were completely blanched by the application of plaster:
Today, these churches are all museums as the populace is almost totally Orthodox, and there are newer Orthodox churches which they attend.
The writing says, “The couple was locked inside the room with a single bed, table chair, plate, glass and one spoon that they had to share until they pledged to get along with each other.” The bed was tiny. Alin, our guide, said the rations were only enough for one person, also, and that couples were imprisoned for a full week. Wow!
We then drove to Sibiu and checked into our hotel. More later.
Wow, an interesting solution for couples experiencing marital discord. I suppose the theory is "consider that things could be a lot worse." I'm also struck by the number of Catholic churches that got transformed into Lutheran ones and now are in disuse because the population is largely Orthodox. I never imagined that the religious shifts in a country could leave such concrete physical reminders. It's a shame that so many frescoes got inadvertently bleached by the plaster. I'm sure they're rich in traditional imagery that echoes various traditions within Catholicism (and European culture generally--after all, Catholicism, before Luther, was simply "Christianity" for most of Europe--the only other branch being the Orthodox ones in Greece, Russia, etc.). Well, you'll learn lots more about religious history, surely--and maybe can enlighten us (or at least me).--I love the covered long staircase. This makes total sense, esp. for weary travelers, the aged, etc.
ReplyDeleteLove that last photo!!!
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