The Dârjiu fortified church ( ro, Biserica fortificată din Dârjiu; hu, Székelyderzsi erődtemplom) is a Unitarian

fortified church A fortified church is a church that is built to serve a defensive role in times of war. Such churches were specially designed to incorporate military features, such as thick walls, battlements, and embrasures. Others, such as the Ávila Cathedra ...

Dârjiu Dârjiu ( hu, Székelyderzs, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. The toponym "''Székelyderzs''" was first mentioned as "De ers" in a ...

(''Székelyderzs''),

Harghita County Harghita (, hu, Hargita megye, ) is a county (județ) in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea Ciuc. Demographics 2002 census In 2002, Harghita County had a population of 326,222 and a populatio ...

, in the

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

region of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It was built by the Székely Hungarian community at a time when the area belonged to the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. Initially

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, it became Unitarian following the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The church is noted for its interior frescoes, and together with the surrounding village, forms part of the

villages with fortified churches in Transylvania The south-eastern Transylvania region in Romania currently has one of the highest numbers of existing fortified churches from the 13th to 16th centuries. It has more than 150 well preserved fortified churches of a great variety of architectural st ...

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Description

Church and fortifications

First built in Romanesque style in the 14th–15th centuries,Dan Ghinea, ''Enciclopedia geografică a României'', p.516. Editura Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 2000. the church was transformed into a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

one in the latter part of the 15th century. The semi-cylindrical rib-vaulted arches, which reach into the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

, date to the first half of the 16th century. The vaults are supported by

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

s that in the choir have carved decorations: a pelican with chicks, the sun, the moon, masks and a symmetrical

plowshare In agriculture, a plowshare ( US) or ploughshare ( UK; ) is a component of a plow (or plough). It is the cutting or leading edge of a moldboard which closely follows the coulter (one or more ground-breaking spikes) when plowing. The plowshar ...

. The

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es date to the same period and are linked by a corbel and little arches that support the

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

.Dârjiu/Dersch
at biserici-fortificate.com The church is 28 metres long, 7 metres wide and 20 metres high; the slate roof is from 1760. The fortifications, erected in 1400, reached their final form around 1530. The 5 m high walls form a square; their

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

s are at an oblique angle and jut out from the walls at all four corners. A similar bastion is found in the middle of the western wall. The fortifications' oldest and most visible element, the tower, is to the south of the church. The

gate tower A gate tower (german: Torturm) is a tower built over or next to a major gateway. Usually it is part of a medieval fortification. This may be a town or city wall, fortress, castle or castle chapel. The gate tower may be built as a twin tower on ...

retains its original form, with openings for firing guns that can be closed with wooden shutters. Modifications in 1788 included the creation of storage spaces for the villagers.

Frescoes and recognition

The church's interior features a partly destroyed but valuable series of mural paintings. These Gothic,

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

-influenced works were executed in 1419 by Paul of

Ung Ung or UNG may refer to: People * Woong, a Korean given name also spelled Ung * Ung (surname), a Cambodian and Norwegian surname * Ung Thị (full name Nguyễn Phúc Ung Thị; 1913–2001), Vietnamese-born American businessman * Franz Unger ( ...

; the most detailed is a ''

Conversion of Paul the Apostle The conversion of Paul the Apostle (also the Pauline conversion, Damascene conversion, Damascus Christophany and the "road to Damascus" event) was, according to the New Testament, an event in the life of Saul/ Paul the Apostle that led him to c ...

'' that includes the artist's portrait. There and in ''The Pursuit of the

Cuman The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...

'', part of a

Saint Ladislaus legend An episode from the Legend of Saint Ladislaus provided the subjects for numerous murals painted in medieval churches in Hungary during the 14th to 16th century. Historical background Ladislaus I of Hungary was a chivalrous king in Hungary in the ...

group, Paul managed to integrate the subject into the composition's other elements. Other subjects he painted were the ''

Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand The ''Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand'' is an oil painting by Albrecht Dürer, dating to 1508 and now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, Austria. It is signed on a cartouche which hangs from the artist's self-portrait in the center, saying ' ...

'' and several saint-bishops. Beneath his portrait, in

Gothic minuscule Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...

, he wrote a love declaration in Latin: "This work did master Paul, son of Stephen of Ung, paint and prepare, AD 1419; he wrote this inscription while keeping in mind a beautiful girl"."Atemporalul satului săsesc la Saschiz și Dârjiu"
, ''Jurnalul Național'', January 18, 2007 The damage to the frescoes occurred when the arches were built and later, in the 17th century, when a

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

was installed.

Vasile Drăguț Vasile Drăguț (January 9, 1928—November 1, 1987) was a Romanian art critic and academic. Born in Murgași, Dolj County, he graduated from Saint Sava National College in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and ...

, ''Arta gotică în România'', p.228-30. Editura Meridiane, Bucharest, 1979 In 1999, Dârjiu, together with five other places, was added to the already-listed

Biertan Biertan (german: Birthälm; hu, Berethalom) is a Communes of Romania, commune in Transylvania, Romania, in the north of the Sibiu County, 80 km north of Sibiu and 29 km east of Mediaș. Biertan is one of the most important Saxon villa ...

to form the

. Additionally, the church is listed as a

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, with the fortifications being listed as a separate entry.Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2010: Judeţul Harghita
/ref> File:Szekelyderzs 01.jpg, Exterior view File:Darjiu Ansamblu (2).JPG, Another exterior view File:Darjiu Ansamblu.jpg, Tower File:Darjiu Incinta (1).JPG, Fortifications from interior File:Darjiu Incinta.JPG, Bastion File:Derzs6.jpg, Church exterior detail File:Derzsx.jpg, Church interior File:Darjiu Biserica unitariana (1).JPG, Saint Ladislaus mural

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darjiu Fortified Church Churches completed in 1530 Unitarian churches in Romania Former Roman Catholic church buildings Historic monuments in Harghita County Churches in Harghita County Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania sites Gothic architecture in Romania 15th-century churches in Romania 1410s paintings Fresco paintings in Romania Hungarian paintings