The village of Biertan is one of seven of those listed jointly among World Heritage Sites as Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania. The sections in quotes come from the UNESCO World Heritage Convention website. There are more than 150 villages in Romanian with fortified churches. What sets the seven on the list apart is that in addition to possessing fine fortified churches, the villages a best preserve the “the specific land-use system, settlement pattern, and organization of the family farmstead units preserved since the late Middle Ages.” The church in Biertan is a “late Gothic hall-type building, completed around 1522-23, on a low hill, with two lines of walls, at the foot of the hill, built at the same time as the church.” Restoration work was taking place when I visited.

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