Category: Rural

Transylvania Fortress Wall Houses

Valentin Mandache
Typical houses lining up the fortress wall protecting a village church in Saxon Transylvania (Harman/ Honigsberg/ Szászhermány, Brasov county), some dating from late c13th from the time of the first Tatar and Turkish raids over the  region. (©Valentin Mandache)

Saxon Transylvania is the largest rural medieval architectural region left in Europe. It has a very embattled history because of it precarious geographical location at the old frontier between Christendom and the Muslim power projected by the Ottoman Empire and their Tatar allies. The term “Saxon” is an umbrella name given to the ethnic German population, originating in what is today the principality of Luxembourg and its adjiacennt areas in France, Germany and Belgium. They settled in Southern and Eastern Transylvania beginning with c12th through royal patents issued by the medieval Hungarian kings. The devastating Tatar and Turkish raids that began after the region was first overrun during the Great Tatar Invasion of Europe that ended in 1242 (initiated by Genghis Khan and his successors), prompted the locals to build strong defences around their towns and villages. Thus, a very peculiar medieval military-civil architecture emerged in the region, with many examples still surviving today. The main fortifications were built around the village church and also the church itself was transformed in an impressive fortified building as point of last resistance. The wall enclosure had also to accommodate the village population, food and their livestock during the Tatar-Turkish raids and thus every village household had its own assigned fortress wall house and grain storage area  as in shown in the photograph above, which I took in June last year inside the citadel of Harman village (Honigsberg in German, Szászhermány in Hungarian).  There are many surviving such examples in Southern Transylvania, which would constitute an excellent restoration/ renovation project for someone with imagination and passion for medieval architecture. Unfortunately there are not many takers of that opportunity and these exceptional buildings are slowly disappearing through neglect, irretrievably damaged by ignorant locals or razed to the ground by rapacious Romanian property developers.

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

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If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Daily Picture 14-Jan-10: Peasant Dowry Chest

Valentin Mandache
Peasant dowry chest, with a mix of ethnographic and "urban" decorations; 1880s made, Dolj county, Oltenia region, Romania. (©Valentin Mandache)

I went last summer to see some traditional farmhouses for sale in Oltenia, a region in SW Romania the size of Wales. Many of the household items were left in place like in a time capsule, as some of the houses were put on sale by the descendants of deceased elderly occupants. I was able to see for example a traditional kitchen with all its medieval looking utensils ready to use, or a quaint wine cellar provided with beautiful bricked arches and lined up with old oak barrels.  The dowry chest in the photograph above was one of those charming items encountered there. It was bought, according to the seller, the son of the former occupants, at local country fair in the 1880s and belonged to his great-grandparents. I found its decoration very interesting as it contains a mixture of ethnographic and “urban” motifs, reflecting the aspirational lifestyle of the peasants of  those times. Some of the ethnographic decoration can also be identified on the local pottery. What I found interesting were the two human figures, the teenage looking, male and female, an allusion to the use of this artefact as a dowry chest and that people got then married at a much earlier age. Their apparent hairstyle and clothes fashion look as early c19th, or even earlier, while their face type is very Austrian in my opinion. The Habsburg Empire had historically a powerful influence in the Romanian lands and Oltenia region was even incorporated for a few decades within the Austrian Empire in c18th. Perhaps that was also the origin of those two figures: a popular pattern/ model circulating among craftsmen for many decades, reflecting an aspirational fashion and look introduced by the new power in the land with its modernising message (Vienna and its empire was always perceived as an European modernising force in these parts of the Ottoman Balkans). I would advise those looking to renovate/ restore a house bought in the Romanian countryside, to furnish it, in order to preserve as much as possible from its personality, with at least some local artefacts, the colourful dowry chests being just one such example, and also try to find out some of the fascinating history behind these treasurable objects.

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I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.