Apold Fortified Church

After the collapse of the original Romanesque church in Şaeș in 1802 the ruins were entirely removed and replaced with a neo-classical hall church with narrowed chancel and western bell tower, completed in 1820. The facades of tower and church show a subtle composition of pilasters and cornices. A pyramid roof covered with color glazed tiles caps the tower. On top of the pyramid a lantern is placed covered with metal sheets and decorated with garlands made of metal.
The interior of the church appeals by its consistent original design and inventory. A remarkable detail is the entrance door, an empire jewel.
The remains of the fortifications consist of parts of the curtain wall, a defense tower and a defense building. The latter is supposed to have served as a chapel during the construction of the new church. Unfortunately the total loss of this building must be faced because of its very bad condition. The church itself shows severe structural problems as well, that should be tackled in the near future.

The entrance of today’s church that was probably built in the 15th century from the remains of an older church, is located higher than it was initially. The floor of the nave was also raised by 2m, due to the repeated floods caused by a water stream which flows close to the fortification and which has brought over 3m of alluvial deposit over time, both inside the fortification and around it. The defence story comprises a first level built with stone, above which a second wooden level was raised and endowed with a parapet walk on buttresses and wooden consoles.
The circular palisade that defended the church for 200 years was replaced in the 16th century by a fortified wall with defence towers.
Inside the church there is a fountain from which villagers and tourists can obtain clean drinking water.

The completion of the first hall church in Daia occurred in 1447 according to its mentioning on the keystone in the chancel. The church had no tower at the time, which was only added in the western part during the fortification works in the beginning of the 16th century. Later it was dismantled until it reached the height of the nave. In the same fortification phase, a defense level was built above the chancel and the church was surrounded by a ring wall, strengthened by two fortified buildings. The western one is nowadays a ruin, but the eastern one still preserves a good image of the typical storage construction equipped with defensive systems.
In the 19th Century the defensive systems of the ensemble were dismantled step by step, but outside the fortification an impressive freestanding neo-classical campanile, considered to be one of the highest in the country was built between 1829 and 1834. The hall of the church was covered with a flat ceiling in 1884, but the chancel still preserves its late Gothic ripped vault. After the ensemble was closed for regular church service, only the galleries and the pews remained inside.