Viscri
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Viscri Deutsch-Weißkirch Szászfehéregyháza |
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| Basic data | |||||
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| State : |
 Romania
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| Historical region : | Transylvania | ||||
| Circle : | Brașov | ||||
| Municipality : | Buneşti | ||||
| Coordinates : | 46 ° 3 ' N , 25 ° 6' E | ||||
| Time zone : | EET ( UTC +2) | ||||
| Height : | 581 m | ||||
| Residents : | 467 (2002) | ||||
| Postal code : | 507039 | ||||
| Telephone code : | (+40) 02 68 | ||||
| License plate : | BV | ||||
| Structure and administration | |||||
| Community type : | Village | ||||
Viscri (German White Church ; Hungarian Szászfehéregyháza ) is a place in the Brașov County , Transylvania , Romania . It is located northwest of Rupea ( Reps ) and southeast of Sighișoara ( Schäßburg ). Between the 18th and 20th centuries the village had about 700 inhabitants, mainly Transylvanian Saxons , there was also a Romanian part of the village. Viscri distinguish both the fortified church and the village structure, which is characterized by Saxon courts. The fortified church and village are on the UNESCO World Heritage List .
Historical development
history
The place was founded by the Transylvanian Saxons at the end of the 12th century and was first mentioned in 1185.
Current situation
After they emigrated to Germany in the late 1980s, only about 15 - mostly older - Transylvanian Saxons still live in Viscri. In 2009 there were still 36 church members of the Evangelical Church of the Transylvanian Saxons.
The approximately 450 villagers today are mainly Romanians and Roma , more rarely Hungarians . The history of the village experienced a significant turning point with the "Exodus" of 1989/90. The era of the Transylvanian Saxons is drawing to a close. The mostly Romanian population shapes the village in their own way, but tries to maintain the image and character of the village. Despite the problematic economic situation for many of the villagers, most of the houses are well-kept and many of the Saxon farms are still managed and maintained today. In the village there are three shops, a school, a post office and a health station.
In recent years - especially since it was included in the World Heritage List in 1999 - tourism to Viscri has increased and forms an additional source of income for the people of Viscri. There are also influx of western (partly German) foreigners. Viscri belongs to the Repser Land, lies at approx. 550–700 m altitude and is surrounded by hills, meadows and forests, where bears and wolves live.
Village
Viscri is remote from the main road and can only be reached via a bad gravel road. It is thanks to this fact that there are almost no new buildings and little car traffic in Viscri and the settlement structure has hardly changed until today.
The village with its Saxon courtyards is a prime example of a Saxon village with a fortified church. The closed townscape of this kind is rarely found in Transylvania. The former Langgasse, about 1 km long, and the two streets branching off to the church castle (Kirchgasse and Neugasse) are built on with Saxon courtyards. Mostly the gable facade of the residential buildings and the gate entrances to the street side show. Towards the rear, the regularly arranged courtyards first have stable buildings and, towards the rear, large barns. At both ends of the village you can find the houses of the Romanians, which are similar in architectural style, but mostly a bit smaller and are decorated with a cross on the facade.
Fortified church
The fortified church stands at the north-western end of the village . In the 12th century, Szekler built a small Romanesque hall church here before the German settlers. An expansion took place in the 13th century. After the first Turkish invasions, the church was fortified in the 14th century and a defense ring with defensive towers was built.
The townscape of Viscri is largely shaped by the towering castle complex with a total of six defense towers. The compact complex is dominated by a fortified tower with a pyramid-shaped roof connected to the church. In addition to the defense towers, living quarters and storage rooms were also integrated into the castle wall.
In the 16th century, the fortified church was given its present form through various modifications. The fortified church was never taken by enemies.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
The fortified church and the village center were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 . In addition to Viscri , the fortified churches of Biertan ( Birthälm ), Prejmer ( Tartlau ), Dârjiu ( Ders / Székelyderzs ), Saschiz ( Keisd ), Câlnic ( Kelling ) and Valea Viilor ( wormhole ) are on the list of world cultural heritage.
In addition, the London Mihai Eminescu Foundation tries to preserve the fortified church and the structure of the village. Prince Charles has visited Viscri several times to support the work of the foundation. The German World Heritage Foundation , a foundation of the World Heritage cities of Stralsund and Wismar , decided in autumn 2004 - in cooperation with the GAIA Heritage organization from France and the Romanian Mihai Eminescu Trust - to support a pilot project in Viscri with the aim of restoring the traditional structure of the To restore village road.
Personalities
- Michael Markel (* 1939), literary scholar, was born here.
Other special features Viscris
Viscri is also known for the initiative "Socks from Viscri", a self-help project of the village. The wool for the socks, which are mainly sold to Germany, is produced in a spinning mill organized by the women's initiative.
various
The plot of the 16th volume of the children's book series The Little Vampire takes place mainly there. After their return to Transylvania, the von Schlotterstein family lived in the basement of the fortified church. In the book, the vampires often use the term "black tomb" for Weißkirch.
literature
- Herman van der Haegen, Paul Niedermaier (ed.): Weisskirch. (Deutsch-Weisskirch / Viscri). A Transylvanian village in the grip of time. On the settlement history of Romania (= Acta geographica Lovaniensia. Bd., ISSN 0065-1257 ). Instituut voor Sociale en Economische Geografie, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven 1997.
- Timo Hagen: UNESCO world cultural heritage village and fortified church Deutsch-Weißkirch Viscri. = Deutsch-Weißkirch, Viscri, Szászfehéregyháza, village and fortified church, UNESCO World Heritage Site (= Schnell. Art Guide 2726 = Small Art Guide in the Potsdam Library, Eastern Europe. Vol. 1). Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7954-6812-5 .
- Werner Schmitz , Sara Dootz: I get up with the sun. A farmer from Transylvania talks about her life. LV book, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-7843-5081-3 .
- Annette Schorb: My Romanian diary. sn, Brașov 2004.
- Annette Schorb: A village like nowhere else: our 22 years in Viscri / Deutsch-Weißkirch in Transylvania Hermannstadt / Bonn - Schiller-Verlag, 2019, ISBN 978-3-946954-51-4
- Andreas Unger: From the socks. In: Brand Eins. Volume 10, No. 7, July 2008, ISSN 1438-9339 , pp. 150-155. ( PDF; 0.7 MB )
- Michael Wagner: Fates and Memories. Contemporary stories from the past of a Transylvanian village. 2nd Edition. Hora-Verlag, Hermannstadt 2002, ISBN 973-8226-13-9 .
Web links
- Official website
- Information from the Mihai Eminescu Foundation about Viscri
- More information about the fortified church
- Information about Viscri and the socks project, description of a documentary from 2006
- Information on the current situation of the villagers of Viscri
- Wiener Zeitung : Newspaper article about Viscri from Austria ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dieter Drotleff: Pastors, curators, numbers of souls. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung. Enclosure: Karpatenrundschau , March 4, 2010, p. 3.
