LOCATIONS

Stejarisu / Probtsdorf

The settlement is first acknowledged in 1223 under the name of Probstdorf, meaning the "prepositus' village". The document attests to the fact that Stejerisu became property of the prepositus of Sibiu. Centuries later after the prepositus of Sibiu was abolished, the settlement became a free commune of the seat of Schenk (Cincu).

Viscri / Deutschweisskirch

Located on an unsurfaced side road away from the national road that links Brasov and Sighisoara, the village of Viscri is home to one of the most spectacular fortified churches of Transylvania. That explains the fact that this church is one of the six included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Bradeni / Hennendorf

The settlement is now called Hennendorf in German, Bradeni in Romanian and Hegen in Hungarian, but was first mentioned in 1297 under the name of Terra Heen and later as Villa Hegun in 1349. A 1350 document from Rome first mentioned the church itself by offering an indulgence for the church’s parishioners at the request of three local men by the name of Vasmuet, Andrei, and Herbord.

Apold / Trappold

Ceramic vases found in Apold and bearing little resemblance to those of the Saxons indicate that this settlement was inhabited even before the arrival of Saxon colonists.

Carta / Kerz

Alberic de Troisfontaines jotted down a story about Carta in his 13th century chronicle of a crusade written in Latin. He says that "in Transylvania (ultra sylvas), near Carta (Kerte), an evil scheme of the demons appears to have taken place.

Cincu / Schenk

The settlement of Cincu was founded in the 12th century by German colonists on a plateau set between the Olt and Hartibaciu rivers. Its German name, Schenk, comes from the German word for a "pub", called a "Schink". First documented in 1329, the settlement grew quickly in importance and soon became the seat of Schenk.

Altana / Alzen

Legend says that the first Saxons to set foot on these lands were led by ten local lords called greavi. They summoned a Council to chose a name for their settlement. Because each of them insisted that the settlement bear their name, they finally decided to name it after the one who would prove himself worthy by working hardest. But because they had worked all equally hard and eagerly, they agreed on naming the settlement after all ten of them in German, All Zehn.

Feldioara / Marienburg

Feldioara lies on the left bank of the river Olt, 17 km north-west of Brasov. This territory was continuously inhabited since the Neolithic and bronze era up to the times of the Roman conquest. The glass fragments, ceramics, golden objects and 21 gold coins that were found here date back to those times. Five golden ingots dated to 402-408 AD supported the hypothesis that the people here might have paid tribute to a migratory population, probably the Huns.

Cisnadioara / Michelsberg

In 1223, King Andrei II ratified the agreement by which the deputy to the head priest of the parish of Gocelnius gave to the Cistercian monks at Carta the basilica at Cisnadioara and its respective land. This agreement is the first documented acknowledgement of the settlement at Cisnadioara. It appears that in those times the basilica was in a very early phase of construction, as only the choir and the foundations of the naves had been built. Archaeological digging revealed the fact that a settlement dating back to the Latene period had existed on the hill where St. Michael's church was built.

Movile / Hundertbuecheln

In the village of "a hundred hillocks" (in Romanian "movile"), the parish has been served by a wooden church with a stone belfry from as far back as the 12th century. Following the Tatar invasion of 1241, the church was burnt down and only the tower was left standing. A year later a church was built right next to it, a forerunner of the early 16th century Gothic church. The belfry was in the free district of the "lordly county", that belonged to the seat of Cincu. Up to the 16th century it had five storeys that were linked by wooden ladders. There was a vaulted portico on the ground floor and a retractable ladder led up to the first floor. Later another storey was added to serve the clock's mechanism and the wall passage. Nowadays it contains the three massive bells cast before the times of the Reformation.