My visit to Criţ was not planned. While staying in Sighiṣoara in the heart of Transylvania, I arranged for a side trip to Viscri. After a brief vist of Saschi, I asked my driver to stop so I could take a photo of the a village just west of the highway. He asked if I would like to go into the village. While he visited with a client, I roamed around the center. The colorful town pleasantly surprised me. I had not heard of it during my extensive research before my trip. Many of the finest moments while traveling are the unexpected.

The name of village Criţ (pronounced Creets) comes from Krets the Saxon dialect German word meaning cross. The Saxon Germans of Transylvania are not to be confused with the Saxons of northern Germany. In Transylvania, the word Saxon refers to the Germans who were invited to settle in the area beginning in 1211. The number of Saxon Germans in Romania has decreased greatly since the end of World War II, dropping from 750,000 to 35,000. Most were welcomed back to Germany, the land of their ancestors.