{"id":21842,"date":"2025-08-07T09:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T09:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/?p=21842"},"modified":"2025-08-07T09:30:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T09:30:02","slug":"transylvanian-brunch-in-weingartskirchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/transylvanian-brunch-in-weingartskirchen\/","title":{"rendered":"Transylvanian Brunch in Weingartskirchen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 90 guests attended the Transylvanian Brunch<\/strong> in Weingartskirchen<\/strong> at the beginning of August.
\nThis new format by the Fortified Churches Foundation<\/strong> has now reached its halfway point \u2013 about half of the planned events have already taken place. And yet, it\u2019s clear that each event has its own unique character and stands out in its own way.<\/p>\n

The concept is the same for all: the aim is to bring the Transylvanian Saxon fortified churches<\/strong> \u2013 this remarkable European cultural and historical heritage \u2013 more into the public eye through a new format. Primarily, it targets people living in Transylvania. This is particularly important because many of these buildings are not in the best condition \u2013 including the one in Weingartskirchen<\/strong>, part of the M\u00fchlbach church district<\/strong> \u2013 and are in urgent need of help.<\/p>\n

Such a brunch includes a rich culinary offering of local specialties<\/strong>, a short excursion into Transylvanian Saxon history<\/strong>, including a church visit, a short hike<\/strong>, and a quiz for young and old<\/strong> to reflect on what they\u2019ve learned \u2013 all with the aim of spending the day in a special atmosphere and connecting with people interested in the preservation of fortified churches.<\/p>\n

What was special in Weingartskirchen<\/strong> is that, for the first time, representatives of the local community association (HOG)<\/strong> from Germany showed interest in hosting such an event around their village church. This was mainly thanks to the Leister family<\/strong>, who moved everything into motion and organized the entire event. In the days before, people baked, cooked, fried, and prepared spreads \u2013 the long table was overflowing with delicious food. Local producers were also present \u2013 offering honey, wine, and homemade juices.<\/p>\n

Another special feature: most of the guests were \u201csummer Saxons\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 people spending their vacation in their former hometowns and houses. This event even set a new record for participation<\/strong>, with around 90 visitors, two-thirds of whom were these \u201csummer Saxons.\u201d
\nTypically, over 90% of attendees at such events are young Romanian families from cities<\/strong> such as Sibiu, T\u00e2rgu Mure\u0219, Cluj \u2013 even Bucharest \u2013 who particularly appreciate this idyllic setting.<\/p>\n

In Weingartskirchen<\/strong>, only a handful of Saxons still live there \u2013 which raises the difficult question: what will happen to the church in the future?<\/strong> The roof was at least repaired a few years ago, the organ is now in Prejmer (Tartlau)<\/strong> \u2013 but if the church is to be restored, it would require extensive work.<\/p>\n

The informational part of the event<\/strong> (as well as much of the organization) was handled by Cristian Cismaru<\/strong>, managing director of the Fortified Churches Foundation. In his opening remarks, he also welcomed local Orthodox priest Cosmin Solomon<\/strong> and district dean Alfred Dahinten<\/strong> with his wife.<\/p>\n

The church tour was led by Pia Pade<\/strong>, a stonemason of (East) German Saxon descent who has been involved in restoring fortified churches for years. She once again emphasized the historical significance of these valuable buildings, which have endured a turbulent past over the centuries.<\/p>\n

This early August Saturday was rounded off with a walk through the nearby vineyards<\/strong>, including an improvised wine tasting<\/strong> and a visit to the wine cellar, where 6,000-liter barrels<\/strong> could still be seen.
\nUnfortunately, the news is less uplifting here as well: most people \u2013 whether Saxons or Romanians \u2013 have left the village<\/strong>, young people work abroad, and the vineyards have long seen their best days<\/strong>.
\nStill, such events help to draw attention back to these special monuments<\/strong> and spark ideas on how they can be better cared for and preserved.<\/p>\n

Author: Hans K\u00f6niges<\/p>\n

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Around 90 guests attended the Transylvanian Brunch in Weingartskirchen at the beginning of August. This new format by the Fortified Churches Foundation has now reached its halfway point \u2013 about half of the planned events have already taken place. And yet, it\u2019s clear that each event has its own unique character and stands out in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-events","8":"czr-hentry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21843,"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21842\/revisions\/21843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirchenburgen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}