Romania · 16th century
The Biertan fortified church (Romanian: Biserica fortificată din Biertan; German: Kirchenburg von Birthälm) is a Lutheran fortified church in Biertan (German: Birthälm), Sibiu County, in the Transylvania region of Romania. It was built by the ethnic German Transylvanian Saxon community at a time when the area belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary. Briefly Roman Catholic, it became Evangelical Lutheran following the Reformation. Together with the surrounding village, the church forms part of the villages with fortified churches in Transylvania UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Text adapted from “Biertan fortified church” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Biertan fortified church ranks #1,716 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #19 of the 126 mapped in Romania. Founded 1524, it is older than 41% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 891 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,658 times in the last 60 days, more than 81% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Târgu Mureș, 46 km away. It is one of the 79 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Transylvania. See how Romania compares in the castle statistics.
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