Saschiz Fortified Church

After the old church was destroyed, a new construction was erected between 1521 and 1524 and finds itself in a well-preserved state today, as well as the polygonal ring wall strengthened by towers in each corner. The southern tower was replaced in 1819 with today’s bell tower. The aisle-less church with polygonal chancel was provided with defence level and machicolation between the buttresses from this construction phase.
The parapets of the 18th century three-side gallery inside the church are decorated with floral motives and paintings illustrating different fortified churches. The organ above the altar was installed in 1832 on the substructure of the original 1716 altar. One of the oldest inscriptions from Transylvania can be found behind this altar: 1524 is the year when the construction works of the church were completed.

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.

The neo-classical hall church with chancel and western bell tower was built between 1810 and 1813, after the collapse of the initial construction, first mentioned in documents from 1270. But there is no information concerning the aspect of this former church. It is, though, supposed to have been represented in a drawing on one of the church’s pews, dated 1793. The interior hosts the altar with organ gallery, the pulpit and the font, which were made partially at the same time with the construction itself, but also in 1822.
Only the ring wall and four defensive towers are still preserved from the 15th century fortification system, while the fifth tower collapsed in 1925 and was never rebuilt. On the southern side, next to the former kennel, only the ruins of the old Saxon school still exist today.