The Medieval Fortress - Part 3.

Not long ago I had the chance to visit the medieval fortress of Targu Mures, Romania, a place that have a long history that you can learn about by visiting. This is a medieval fortress, just like the others is Transylvania, has a church inside the walls. Back in medieval days, a church was a starting point, a center of the community, where people had the chance to pray, seek shelter or protection during tough times. In case of calamities, people were gathered inside the church with their animals saved.

How To Get There

The fortress is situated in the vicinity of the city center, so if you can get to the city center, you can take a 5 minute walk to the fortress.

The Fortress Church

Unfortunately at the time of my visit, the church was undergoing some renovation works, thus it was surrounded by scaffolding and construction materials were all over the place. Although this for me was a huge setback as I could not go closer, nor visit the interior of the church, I'm still happy the church is kept in good condition. This is the only way we can pass these monuments on to the next generation.

Built in the 14th century by the Franciscans, this church is the oldest of Marosvásárhely, Târgu Mureș. In the 16th century the city became the property of the Reformed Christians, the cross was taken off.

According to some historical sources the church got burned down. In 1658, the church got another hit, Turks that fighter against György Rákóczi II., the Prince of Transylvania damaged the church very church. The organ, the painted windows and the ceiling got damaged.

The church was rebuilt between 1685–1693, thanks to Mihály Teleki, the chief general of Transylvania's donations. The new organ was built by Johannes Prause in 1789.

There are two bells in the church, the big one weighs 1600 kg and was made by János and Dániel Andrássofszki in Kolozsvár, Cluj Napoca. The other one is smaller, just 603 kg and was made by János Zlotaru.

The Franciscan Monastery

The monastery was under restoration as well and I believe it's not open to visitors anyway.

Although the building went through a lot of renovation, the original style is kept intact. The windows are like back in those days.

These buildings have a great importance in the city's history. There were held here no less than 37 parliament meetings in the Fortress Church, King Louis the Great, János Hunyadi and János Zsigmond are just a few names who also visited here.

If you look at the photos, there's a clock on every wall of the tower.

There's a well on the other side of the church tower, that was of utmost importance during medieval times. During the attacks, people of the city were gathered inside the fortress walls and most of the time, when the attacks took longer than they were planning, the most important things to survive were food and water. Many wars ended not because one troupe was better than the other, but because one ran out of food or water and had to surrender.

Another common practice was to poison wells and kill everyone this way. Having a well inside the fortress's wall was the only way to survive. There must have been more than one but now there's only this one.

There is a heavy iron door on the left side of the church. I'm not sure how old this door is but it looks old. Must have been a secret entrance or exit, just in case you needed one.

This is the side door, also on the left side of the church. This must still be in use as it looks well preserved. The wood must not be too old, looks newish and around it you can see the stone that is original.

This was the main entrance two years ago. At the moment of my visit, it was completely covered as renovation work was going on, so i could not take any photos. Now I'm using the photos I took two years ago, when I visited the place.

Above the door there was a welcoming sign, saying come to me, all of you and the date when the church was built, which is 1490.

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At the entrance of the church there are two statues, both of Kálvin János (John Calvin), who was a French theologian, pastor and reformer during the Protestant Reformation. At the time of my visit the statues were covered to protect them from getting damaged, so I'm using my old photos.

He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, aspects of which include the doctrines of predestination and of the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation, in which doctrines Calvin was influenced by and elaborated upon the Augustinian and other Christian traditions. source

Taking photos of a place every time you visit, has its advantages. Places get restored many times. These photos can document any evolution.

I'm always saying a city or a country is as old as its history. That sounds logical and a few may laugh saying this is stupid but history is not always what it looks like. History can be changed, modified, rewritten over time to look comfortable to some. This happened in Romania during communism, old, historical buildings were demolished, one after another, street names changed, history books rewritten, according to what the communist party wanted. Cemeteries destroyed so old headstones can no longer testify in modern years. Minorities were heavily controlled and repressed.

This place could have easily been the victim of an ambition reorganizing/rebuilding plan but thank God it wasn't. Maybe they recognized the strategic value of the fortress.

This is it for today, stay tuned for the next episode.

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