Şeica Mare Fortified Church

The former importance of the locality Șeica Mică is reflected by the size of the 14th century three-aisled pillar basilica. The building was enlarged throughout the centuries and modified in Gothic style. It was provided with a western tower, which was later on heightened together with the chancel by adding of two defence levels. Two smaller towers were preserved, while the double curtain wall was partially demolished. The inner defence wall was secured on the western side by a gate tower. In order to protect the fountain which was vital to the villagers in case of besiege, the church tower and the western tower were merged through 14 m high wall, thus forming the so called “Fountain Yard”. Its enclosure walls were equipped all around with a battlement walk featuring watchtowers.
During the 18th century the church’s interior was extended by building galleries above the side aisles. The naves were covered with a flat ceiling, while the chancel still exhibits its Gothic ribbed cross vault.

In the early 14th Century an early Gothic basilica was built in the middle of the village. The aisles were removed and the arcades were bricked up in 1500, when the church was fortified. Above the chancel a defence tower was erected. The chancel’s polygonal closure was heightened with two defence levels and the buttresses were connected by arches, in order to build a machicoulis gallery behind them. The ensemble was strengthened by a surrounding wall in 1502, completed by a gate building and an adjoining bacon Chamber on the north-west side . The tower was heightened in 1827 and received its striking pyramidal roof. At the same time its defence systems together with the defence level of the chancel were removed . The typical western gable of the church was erected in the same time with the renewal of the roof in 1854. Inside the church the mainly 18th-century furniture is still preserved.

The land on which the fortified church in Ruşi was built was not very merciful to the first building erected in the Catholic time, which collapsed and was replaced by a new church in 1636. Despite many repairs, the second church also collapsed in 1780. Still the weak foundation soil, as with the well-known tower of Pisa, will bring fame to the actual church erected in 1782, whose bell tower has a tilt of 1,50 m.
The hall church with square chancel and polygonal closure is home to many valuable Baroque pieces such as the 1641 altar, the 1764 canopy of the pulpit, and the 1805 organ. In 1785 Daniel Knobloch painted the railing of the gallery with Saints and the village’s coat of arms held by two men wearing traditional costumes from Ruşi.