Protestant Churches in Schäßburg

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Church on the Hill
 


The dates 1484 and 1488 (in the Church on the Hill), visible to everyone after the restoration, suggest that no significant changes have been made since the end of the 15th century.
Before the reconstruction, which stretched over several construction phases, there was a smaller Romanesque church (around the 13th century), fragments of which are preserved in the crypt (beneath the choir of the "present-day Church on the Hill").
During the construction of the larger, Gothic church, the building site on the Schulberg became too small. Earth was heaped up, and the church was converted into a crypt. However, we are awaiting a complete documentation from Dr. Christoph Machat, which will be published after the current extensive work (surveys, excavations, etc.), and which will, of course, provide much more detailed information.


Fresco to the legend of George





 
Monastary Church



The Monastary Church looks like this. After the Mongol invasion of 1241, the Dominicans also came to Transylvania.
We have an indulgence from Pope Boniface VIII dated March 20, 1298, in which the monastery and the Church of St. Mary (in Romanesque style) in the castle are mentioned as already existing. This means that the construction phase must have taken place earlier (1950s, 1960s, 1970s, etc.).
Since the late 15th century must have been economically more prosperous, the monastery could also afford to enlarge the church. The current monastery church, however, is a mixture of Gothic and Baroque, as there was a major fire in 1676 that destroyed almost the entire castle.
In the monastery church, everything made of wood burned, and the vault above the nave collapsed.

During the Reformation period (first half of the 16th century), the Transylvanian Saxons joined the Lutheran Reformation, including the people of Sighisoara.
The monks were expelled, the monastery buildings were secularized, and all sorts of things were housed there (for a long time, they served as schools, and at one time, the city council also met there). In 1886, the monastery buildings were demolished, so that today we only have the (monastery) church. The name, however, testifies to the "monastic" past. Before the Reformation, the Bergkirche was the actual "parish church."
After the Reformation, the Klosterkirche competed with the Bergkirche for this position. From today's perspective, one must say that the Klosterkirche "won," since the climb to the Bergkirche is arduous.
From an architectural point of view, however, no comparison should be attempted. Each of the two churches has its own particular beauty.

Lepers' Church

The Lepers' Church was built around the middle of the 16th century.
The Siechhof was—as the name suggests—a leper colony, where there was also a school for the sick. The "curiosities" of the Siechhof Church include an outdoor pulpit (still in existence today) and a window for the distribution of Holy Communion (now walled up).
Currently, the Siechhof Church is in the care of the Greek Catholic community.