Curciu Fortified Church

The fortified church is located on the main street of the village. In the village center a church existed around 1420, which was secured with a ring wall, a gate tower, and three defence towers in the course of the 15th century. Beside the gate tower, the north-eastern tower has also been preserved until today. At the end of the 15th century the church was enlarged with a bell tower, which shows a seven-fold staggered funnel-shaped portal. Shortly afterwards the church was fortified. Above the hall of the church and above the bell tower a defence level rests on buttresses. In the 18th and 19th century it was gradually removed, but the bell tower was rebuilt in 1973. The existing pew in the chancel dated 1533, is one of the most valuable of its kind in Transylvania.

The small aisle-less church without tower from the 15th century is almost entirely preserved. The chancel was rebuilt in 1500 and the ceiling of the nave dates back to a construction phase from the 19th century. Nothing from the initial defense wall has remained. The importance of the church is given by its mural paintings and constructive details. Painting remains can bee still seen on the western funnel-shaped portal, which features a fine crafted profile. The chancel is richly decorated with figures sculptured in stone placed on the consoles of the ribs. Tracery, the portal of the sacristy, the tabernacle and the sedilia are particularly valuable as well. Conservation works have been carried out in order to preserve the ample paintings in the chancel, representing biblical scenes. The mural paintings on the exterior walls of the chancel are a unique testimony of the past: depictions of the Passions of Christ resemble the mural paintings on the monasteries in Moldavia from the beginning of the 16th century.

Above the previous Romanesque construction, a Gothic hall church with polygonal chancel was erected in the first half of the 15th century. No tower was added to the church, but the hall was heightened by half its size and covered with a lierne vault. Above the chancel that boasts its groin vault, three massive defence levels and a timber frame parapet walk were built. In the 15th and 16th century the church was protected by a wall and several defensive towers, of which only the southern tower, serving both as a gate and a bell tower still exists. Later the town hall was even located here. The defensive systems of the chancel were dismantled in the 19th century and replaced by a high-hipped roof. On the western facade the probably Romanesque painted portal was exposed. The organ, the pulpit and the altar were set up in the second half of the 18th century and the pews and the tabernacle are Gothic. The sedilia with round arches originate from the Romanesque construction phase.