Guşteriţa Fortified Church

Jews settled in Sibiu in the mid-19th century. There were 5 and 9 Jews in 1850 and 1857 respectively, and 168 Jews in 1869. By the turn of the 20th century, however, the community was much larger and numbered 875 Jews in 1900 and 1,307 in 1910. Such a large community needed a synagogue, which could reflect its size and prosperity. The Great Synagogue in Sibiu was erected in 1899 according to the design of a Hungarian architect Ferenc Szalay. Although the synagogue is well preserved, is was not used for worship in the last 40 years. The small Jewish community today uses for prayer a room in the community building behind the synagogue. The Great Synagogue is a large building with an impressive western façade facing one of the main streets of Sibiu. The façade features Neo-Romanesque decorations and is surmounted by the Tablets of the Law. The magnificent prayer hall expresses the taste of the Orthodox current among Hungarian Jews: the "bimah" is situated in the center of the hall and the women's gallery has a "mehitzah"/arches with curtains, which prevent men from seeing women. Four wooden columns are placed at the corners of the "bimah", a feature popular in Hungarian synagogues. The eastern wall of the hall is richly decorated with murals.

Today’s appearance of the impressive parish church in the medieval city is the result of several alterations of the original Romanesque church, which was built near the first city wall. After its demolition in the 14th century the dimensions of the following Gothic church accounted for the growing population and the significance of the city. Chancel, transept, and the lower part of the tower were completed in 1371, whereas the nave was finished only in 1445 after an interruption of the works. In 1448 the nave was enlarged to the west, thus surrounding the tower. At the end of the 15th century the nave was changed to a hall church at the south side. The newly built gallery was covered with a lierne vault. In 1494 the tower, measuring 73 m, including its distinctive spire was completed. Finally the northern part of the transept was extended by one bay and on the south side the entrance hall and the spiral staircase for the tower were added. The noticeable roofing made of colored glazed tiles dates back to the 16th century.
The interior is dominated by the towering piers and the Gothic rib vault in the nave and the light-flooded chancel. Around 1900 during a general renovation the plaster of the interior walls was taken down completely leaving of the original decoration only a wall-painting showing the crucifixion on the northern wall of the chancel. There is a collection of renaissance epitaphs of distinguished Sibiu citizens.

The church, which still preserves many parts of the former Romanesque basilica, was built during the 13th century and fortified in Gothic style in the 15th century. In the same time the Romanesque chancel was heightened by adding a defence level, a lierne vault was built above the nave and a ribbed vault in the chancel. During its fortification phase the side aisles of the western tower were replaced by turrets, which were demolished later on. Its defence level was also replaced in 1854 by the current spire.
The interior is decorated with lively colored galleries. The painted pews in the aisles were brought here for security reasons from the church in Drăuşeni. grossscheuern2016_portalAlmost nothing remained from the defence wall that was once surrounding the assembly.