A church where the mystery is real, without any clear information to what happened to the monument, and which represents one of the most important historical buildings of Transylvania.

When we reflect about history, we often end up by thinking about citadels or museums - but in reality, some of the buildings that have been part of lots of historical events of great importance are nothing else but the churches themselves which are dating from the first beginnings of the world.
The churches not only that are taking part in many events, but they represent a real victim during the invasions of other nations.
This is how today we are going to find out a little bit more about a veritable treasure of Transylvania called Biserica „Adormirea Maicii Domnului”, or, in a shorter version Strei Church, which is one of the oldest historical monuments of Transylvania, dating since the 13th century.
The name of Strei Church comes from the place where the monument is located - Strei Village from Hunedoara County, or from the name of the valley which is, pretty obvious, named Strei Valley (Valea Streiului).
The tiny church has been entirely built from rough stone, aiming to have a gothic style with byzantine and northern Italian influences which shelter lots of precious murals realized by the master Grozie.

Strei Church is composed of a bell tower on the western facade, and short vaulted ship planks, as well as a rectangular altar on the opposite side, decorated with some massive crosses also made from stones. The murals from the altar represent Jesus during his moments of glory together with the apostles, and the keel with Annunciation, St. Nicholas and other Saints.

The size of the church is pretty small compared to what we usually see during these days, while the space from the inside is even more narrow since the thickness of each wall is of 0.85 meters

But the church hasn't always looked like this. It actually used to be one of the main churches from the area and there is also a cemetery that is surrounding the monument where are still coming from time to time locals to visit their loved ones, and to listen to the deafening silence and history that is making felt its presence even in the 21st century.

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that the churches are often the biggest victims during invasions or different historical events.
That's how, through the many chapters of painful moments Strei Church has been part of, we remember the flooding from the 19th century when the locals were able to do almost anything just to protect their single church, and built a chapel to strengthen the walls of this one, which later on started being considered a Roman rustic villa and which has been destroyed during one of the invasions of other nations.
Unfortunately, there have been some other more painful events whose reasons are still unknown, such as the mystery created by all the murals with the saints which are not having eyes.
Of course, all the paintings are pretty damaged after more than seven centuries since Strei Church has been built, but a more uncommon thing is that the only thing missing of each image is the eyes.
There are two legends of what happened there even if not too many people know the truth and currently the locals are split between the two stories - the first one pointing to the invasions of the Turks from the past who were attacking the churches from this part of Transylvania and which most likely has also desecrated the icons.

And the 2nd story which is focusing on the witches that were haunting the cemetery and who considered that by removing the eyes of the murals they will also take the power of the church.

But the stories are not ending here since Strei Church was the victim of some locals too who used to sharpen the blades of the knives on the walls of the church and which also stole the bell of the tower to sell it and get rid of poverty.

Due to the special importance that Strei Church represents for the history of the country, the national bank of Romania created back in 2011 a special coin made from silver which was representing the church on its faces.

Source: primariacalan

Through the many people who offered their support to keep the monument alive and be restored when needed, we also remember the Prince Charles who created a group of volunteers and gave a hand of help to save Strei Church from being destroyed by the passage of time.

To reach Strei Church you need to get first to Strei Village which is just 14 km away from Simeria by following the national road DN66, and then follow the muddy path of the village until you reach the edge of the village on a tiny hill where the church is located.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

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