Agarbiciu Fortified Church

Location: Agarbiciu Fortified Church, Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania
Address: Agarbiciu, Sibiu county
Nearest large town: Medias(18 km)
Attested: 1415
Architectural style: early Gothic
Visiting Hours: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., Monday through Sunday

Contact
Phone no: +40 269 855 143
Mobile Phone no.: +40 726 107 652

Agarbiciu Fortified Church (Agârbiciu/Arbejän/Arbegen)

On the road between Medias and Sibiu it is Agarbiciu Fortified Church, in the village of Agarbiciu, Sibiu County.

In the early 14th Century an early Gothic basilica was built in the middle of the village. The Agarbiciu Fortified Church it was documentary attested in 1415, built in an early Gothic style it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

In the 1500 the aisles were removed and the arcades were bricked up, this is the moment when the church was fortified. Above the chancel a defensive tower was built. The chancel’s polygonal closure was heightened with two defense levels and the buttresses were connected by arches, in order to build a gallery behind them. The Agarbiciu Fortified Church was strengthened by a surrounding wall in 1502, completed by a gate building and a bacon room on the north-west side. The tower was heightened in 1827 and received its striking pyramidal roof.

The inside of the Agarbiciu Fortified Church is oval shaped. The furniture from the 18th Century is still kept today.

Responsible for the music in the Saxon villages were the cantors, the organists, the teacher, the priests and the pupils. Fanfares were founded in the Southern and Central regions of Transylvania at the beginning of 16th Century and their musicians had contributed to the social harmony of the village community. The fanfare was singing from Agarbiciu Fortified Church tower on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. They were also singing at weddings, Christening parties and at other events.

Fortified Churches in Transylvania

The Fortified Churches in Transylvania are one of the most famous historical monuments in Romania. Their construction, history and organization methods is revealing the medieval time in which they lived their glory . This monuments of history left deep traces in the history of these places in southern Transylvania.

A fortified church is a church that is built to play a defensive role in times of war. This churches were specially designed to incorporate military features, such as thick walls, battlements and embrasures. Churches with additional external defences such as curtain walls and wall towers are often referred to more specifically as fortress churches or Kirchenburgen (literally "church castles").

A high concentration of fortified churches may be found in parts of Europe where there was a lot of hand-to-hand warfare, for example in Transylvania, which was the scene of Ottoman invasions.

South-eastern Transylvania region in Romania has one of the highest numbers of existing fortified churches from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. More than 150 villages in the area count various types of fortified churches, seven of them being included in the UNESCO World Heritage under the name of Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania.

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