February 11, 2004
The Black Church in Braşov
Here are some pictures of the Black Church in Braşov.
The Black Church was built by German settlers from 1383 to 1477. It's the biggest Gothic building in Romania and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Originally Catholic, the church became Protestant after the Reformation in Romania. The church was badly damaged in the big fire of 1689. The roof was completely destroyed and the walls blackened, hence the name. Rebuilding the church took another 100 years. The churches possesses the largest free-swinging bell in Romania and the largest organ in Romania -- 4000 pipes, 4 manuals and 76 registers.
In front of the church you can see a statue of Johannes Honterus who led the Reformation in Transylvania in the 16th century.
The following pictures are thumbnails. Click to get the full versions.
The Black Church from two angles
The sign warning about falling stones, and the table
announcing the deaths in the German community.
I get this weird "alternate history" feel every time I try to read Romanian. I took four years of French and a year of Latin in school, have picked up a little Spanish here and there, and with all that can sometimes make my way through Italian. But through that filter, Romanian tends to just look *wrong*. Partially intelligible mixed with bits of just strange.
But I can still read more of it than I can of the German.
Posted by: Lois Fundis at February 11, 2004 08:00 PMIn April, we are flying to my brother's wedding in Spain. I'm sure we'll have the same feeling then, although both Doug and I do have some rudimentary Spanish. That'll be fun, to talk in Romanian to our then in-laws! :-D
Claudia