About us

The Fortified Churches Foundation was established to preserve the Transylvanian-Saxon fortified churches and the cultural heritage of the Evangelical Church A.C. in Romania. It is a follow-up institution to the former Coordination Office of Fortified Churches.

The foundation has its seat in Sibiu. It is managed by an honorary Board of Directors:

  • Friedrich Gunesch, Chairman of the Board
  • Dr. Konrad Gündisch, focus: cultural heritage and monument preservation
  • Dr. Carmen Schuster, focus: economy and finance

The Board of Trustees of the Foundation, which acts in the sense of a supervisory board, is composed of 13 members from Romania and other European countries.

The following team works in the Foundation office:

Philipp Harfmann

Managing Director
ph@kirchenburgen.org

Andreea Mănăstirean

Office management and project management
am@kirchenburgen.org

Ruth István

Specialist Tourism and Public Relations Officer
ri@kirchenburgen.org

Wieland Köber

Project administration
wnk@kirchenburgen.org

Sebastian Bethge

Commissioner for the Preservation of Monuments
sfb@kirchenburgen.org

Experts from numerous trades support the team on an ad hoc and project basis.

The work of the Fortified Churches Foundation builds on the almost ten years of work of the Coordination Office of Fortified Churches and continues to develop it decisively.