Cristian Fortified Church
Cristian, Brașov County · Transylvania
About Cristian Fortified Church
In the centre of Cristian, beside the road from Brașov to Râșnov, a yellow bell tower with a pointed spire rises between grey stone towers. The village, called Neustadt by the Saxons, was founded in the 13th century, in the years when the Teutonic Knights had settled the Burzenland. The first church, a basilica dedicated to Saint Nicholas, was built around 1270, and its round-arched portal and the rose window above it survive, set into today's tower.
In the 15th and 16th centuries the community surrounded the church with a double wall, strengthened over time with nine towers and a barbican, and a moat fed by the Ghimbav stream ran around the fortress. Towards the end of the 18th century the moat was filled in, and in 1792 the cemetery was laid out on its site. The basilica, weakened by earthquakes, was pulled down in 1839 and replaced by a Neoclassical hall church, consecrated in 1848; only the bell tower was kept, which had already been given its spire with four corner turrets in 1803.
What you can see
Eight of the nine towers have survived, each of a different shape: some semicircular, others rectangular, with gun loops and traces of battlements. The walls and towers are best seen by walking around the fortress, and the former gate tower has become the parish house. Until 1899 storerooms for provisions lined the inner face of the first wall, as at Prejmer; today only the walls remain, partly covered in ivy.
The church interior is bright, with galleries on arcades, biblical inscriptions in German on the parapets and an altar dominated by a statue of Christ giving his blessing. The stained-glass windows beside the altar show Martin Luther, Johannes Honterus and the apostles Peter and Paul. Behind the altar is the gravestone of Anna May, the pastor's wife, who died in 1631, and above the nave hangs an iron chandelier put up in memory of the villagers killed in the First World War. The west gallery holds the organ built in the mid-19th century by Heinrich Maywald.
Good to know
The church has no published visiting hours; arrange your visit in advance with the Lutheran parish. Cristian combines easily in a day with Râșnov, Brașov, Hărman and Prejmer.
- The bell tower, the only part left of the medieval basilica, with its 13th-century round-arched portal and rose window.
- A walk around the fortress, past the double enclosure and its defensive towers of different shapes.
- Anna May's gravestone from 1631, behind the altar.
- The iron chandelier put up in memory of the villagers killed in the First World War.
Good to know before you go
- Getting there
By car: from Brașov take the DN73 towards Râșnov and Bran; the church is in the centre of Cristian, ~12 km (~20 minutes) from central Brașov. Râșnov is another ~6 km south on the same road.
Public transport: RATBV metropolitan buses 130 and 131 (Brașov – Râșnov, via Cristian) stop in the village centre. Regional trains between Brașov and Zărnești call at Cristian station.
- Facilities
five-room guesthouse in the former parsonage, run by the parish
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