History does say many sad stories about different monuments that a while ago played an important role in the lives of the people, but how are we supposed to learn more about the past of our home country if not by taking the information right from the source?

It's curious that with all the things currently going on in the world with the pandemic and many other important events that most likely everyone will remember one day, people tend to remember only the history that ended a long time ago, namely the one between the 12th-19th centuries.
Of course, we are talking about a reality that came to an end a while ago where things were a lot more serious than what happens these days, but the difference between then and now is that I can hardly believe that what's done in the 21st century will last at least as much as those that were built before the 00'.
During my travels, I attended both new and old monuments, where, the funny part is that the ones that seemed to be more well maintained are the oldest ones which had simpler materials and less professional machinery to work with at their structure.
I'm not saying that we can't have buildings that will last (almost) forever built in the 21st century, but where we have history, somehow, everything lasts a lot longer than it happens for those that are not rich in stories and legends to be shared further.

However, if you've read my previous post you will notice a pretty similar story for the church we visited in the current article called Biserica Evanghelica Fortificata Cristian.

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Both of the churches were built in the same period, namely, in the 13th century, and they are part of Sibiu County.

Nevertheless, each of the religious monuments has its own story and are playing a major role in the villages they are part of, but they are just 2 of the many buildings that are making Transylvania so rich in history, legends, and getting the feeling of being able to step into imaginary portals to explore new lands that ended a while ago.

At the beginning, Biserica Evanghelica Fortificata Cristian was recognized as being a Roman Catholic church that was called in Latin Insula Christana.
The first documentary attestation was in 1223 and even though it didn't represent a new thing amongst the churches of this type from Transylvania, it still gathered a lot of attention from foreign invasions that tried countless times to set it down.
A more representative event was in 1493 when the whole village was set on fire by the Turkish invaders who were attacking quite frequently the churches from Transylvania back in those times, remembering Densuș Church and Strei Church where the same enemies vandalized the murals by removing the eyes of the saints.
But the invasion of the Turkish army didn't make the church remain in the same condition because during 1472-1498 this one was turned into a gothic church with 3 naves making the religious place a lot bigger and more imposing in front of the strangers who wanted to ruin every single part of it.

Since we are talking about a pretty tiny village where there are not so many people not even in 2021, the church played the role of a fortification too which wanted to take care of the locals and protect everyone as best as it could.

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However, the passage of time didn't only come with lots of challenges but also with the desire of always levelling up the religious place bringing it in its best shape and closer to the perfection that can be seen even today.

That's how, around 1550 there was built a secondary room located on the north of the main room, and just 30 years later a new tower was raised in an octagonal shape that is considered as playing for a long while the role of a chapel.

As significant the defensive role of the towers used to be back then, as impressive their role was among the population which was the most important one during the invasions and plagues which were quite often back then.
That's how the southeastern building was mainly focusing on the well being of the locals that when something bed was going on, they were all gathered together and served with the food from the supplies of the religious place.
While the village covers only the surface of the hills being placed on an altitude of barely 444 meters, surrounding the church with imposing thick walls came as a necessity for being safer rather than the desire of creating both a fortress and church in the same place.
There was a total of five towers which represented the right of the fortress to apply the supreme punishment whenever it was needed, but they also played common roles, such as one of them being named Turnul Slăninii (The Bacon Tower) where, just as its name says, it was filled with lots of supplies based on meat products.
The one mentioned can be still explored these days and even taste the food so popular back then, but unfortunately, one of the five towers was entirely destroyed by the Cibin river so there are only four available for a visit that are surrounding the church.

That's how, whenever it was anticipated that a bad thing is about to happen, everyone was coming to the church and be able to feed themselves with the food that resisted very well in the stone towers which were filled with huge blocks of ice to keep the supplies fresh any time of the year.

Source of the pictures: paulalbu.ro
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Even though The Fortified Church of Cristian can be visited daily between 9 AM - 12 PM, being on the road most of the time and exploring more places in the same day, sometimes we end up to our destinations a little bit later for a visit. That's also what happened when we tried to visit the church and noticed we were just a few minutes later after closing time.

However, being located just 7 km away from Sibiu, we promised that one day we will return there for a proper visit, but until then, we had to be happy only with the pictures we got from the outside.

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Being a historical monument that dates for so long and there are some people who are valuing them more than anything, there is also a tax that has to be paid in order to enter the church and visit the interior part of it.
The price of the ticket is of 7 RON / 1.41 EUR per person and there is a free guidance in Romanian or German included in the cost of it.

In order to reach Biserica Evanghelica Fortificata Cristian you have to arrive at the village with the same name that is located 7 km away from Sibiu if you get on the national road DN1 on the way to Sebes.

As soon as you enter the village, you have to get out of the national road and follow the road sign to Orlat - Gura Raului as that will make you cross the street that is surrounding the church and arrive at your destination.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

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