Miniature History At Szejke (Băile Seiche)

in #hive-163772last year

About a week ago I had a post about my trip to the Miniature Transylvania Park, in Szejke (Băile Seiche).

Miniature History At Szejke.jpg

It's in Harghita county, Romania and a tourist attraction loved by many. Looking at the miniatures it may seem like a toy park or a playground, but in fact it's Transylvania's history.

20230730_121739a.jpg

Walking among these miniatures make you think about what places you've seen so far and what are the destinations you should visit. I've heard many talking about the places they've been at and remembering the good times. It's a walk through history, or back in history if you like.

20230730_120958a.jpg

20230730_121007a.jpg

The church of pilgrimage site of Csíksomlyó (Șumuleu) is a well known place in Europe, especially for Catholics.

Csíksomlyó became a pilgrimage site in 1442. In the 1990s the church and the surrounding region could no longer accommodate the hundreds of thousands pilgrims. In 1993, a new altar was built at the mountain side and since then the celebration of the Eucharist have been taking place outdoors. source

Thousands of people are gathering in this place each year from all over the world, on that specific date. I've never been there, not a Catholic ether, but should visit the place one nice day.

20230730_121025a.jpg

20230730_121044a.jpg

This is where the religious ceremony is held each year as the church is too mall for so many people.

20230730_121112a.jpg

20230730_121107a.jpg

Another castle that is on my radar for some time.

20230730_121119(0)a.jpg

20230730_121126a.jpg

20230730_121133a.jpg

This is the Catholic church of Ditró (Ditrau) and I'm proud to say I've been there. Not so proud to admit that the church was closed and could not see it from inside. It was on a Sunday afternoon and that's a rest day for village people, so there was no chance to go in. As you can see, it's an impressive building from outside and I's sure it's beautiful from inside as well.

20230730_121147a.jpg

20230730_121153a.jpg

This is the "Székelytámadt" fortress of Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc), which unfortunately looks different today. It has a rocky past, has gone through a lot of transformations, has been demolished and rebuilt several times during the centuries and all it's been left of it is some walls. Unfortunately there was no time to visit the ruins when we were there, so it's on my list for next time. Here's a video about its transformation over the years.

20230730_121200a.jpg

It's a real pleasure to look at these mock-ups. It feels like a huge playground and trust me, there were kids wanting to cross the barriers to play with them. I did not envy the parents as it's difficult to explain to a 2 year old, why they are not allowed to go play with them.

It's impressive though, to have such a park. With the technology we have today, almost everything is possible. In the video I linked you above, there's a simulation of what the castle looked like back in the day and you can see it from every angle. This is huge. It's like walking back in time.

20230730_121230a.jpg

The Catholic church and the Catholic high school of Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc), which I posted about yesterday, so these are getting a check mark and I'm glad to collect these check marks, one by one.

20230730_121300a.jpg

20230730_121305a.jpg

The Franciscan Church and Monastery of Székelyudvarhely. It's another check mark as I was able to enter the church and wrote about it in my post a week ago I believe. It's a gorgeous one, but it's not a surprise as catholic and evangelical churches are usually nicely decorated and have a beautiful architecture.

20230730_121313a.jpg

20230730_121319a.jpg

I knew there were Armenians in that region, years, maybe decades ago, but to be honest, I've never been to an Armenian church. Have no idea how it looks from inside, but would love to visit one, or as many as I come across.

20230730_121328a.jpg

20230730_121338a.jpg

Look at this beauty. It's a nice fortress with a long and bumpy history. I've heard of it but have not visited it yet.

As you can see, most of the buildings, or at least the original buildings were built in medieval times. Many have been burnt down, destroyed, several times, then rebuilt.

20230730_121343a.jpg

20230730_121351a.jpg

Another check mark as this is the Reformed College of Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc). I wrote about it yesterday. The good thing is I got to see this mock-up from above. The building is huge and you don't realize how big it is at the scene.

20230730_121405a.jpg

20230730_121411a.jpg

This was an interesting one, a fort inside another fort. But if you read the description, you understand why. Too bad only there ruins can be found today.

20230730_121550a.jpg

20230730_121544a.jpg

This castle has been on my radar for ages and I've never managed to visit it. I think having a list can help me make things happen faster.

20230730_120732a.jpg

20230730_120735a.jpg

20230730_120748a.jpg

This is not a fortress, or a church, but it's just as important. It's called the Szekler log funicular and has been used to transport logs. Unfortunately the fire of 1996 severely damaged it and only the remains can be seen today.

20230730_120753a.jpg

20230730_120755a.jpg

This cool toy was functioning at the time of our visit, so we got to see how transporting logs used to be done, live. Kids absolutely loved it.

20230730_120805a.jpg

It's a smart solution in any case and I'm sure it made the work easier.

20230730_120937a.jpg

20230730_120929a.jpg

The Mikó Fortress. Another one on my list, that I need to visit, most likely next year. Since it functions as a museum, it is a must as I can see the interior too, not to mention the exhibitions the museum is hosting.

I hope you liked the tour. I wish each region could have a similar miniature park. Europe has a rich history, there are so many castles, fortresses, churches that can be reproduced, restored, brought to life this way.

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:


presearch

Sort:  

Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍

Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!

Want to have your post on the map too?

  • Go to Pinmapple
  • Click the get code button
  • Click on the map where your post should be (zoom in if needed)
  • Copy and paste the generated code in your post (Hive only)
  • Congrats, your post is now on the map!

Wow, what a really cool place. I'd love to visit Romania.

There was someone in my hometown who built a lot of little models like this and left them in a park for people to look at and enjoy, they had been there since before I was born, and about a year or so ago, some lads were on their way home drunk one night and decided to destroy, which is such a shame.

The Székelytámadt fortress is my favourite of the ones showcased here, it would be cool to see the ruins of the castle in person, but it's sad to hear that it was destroyed and rebuilt so much that it lost its original identity and look. I love castles and ruins and have made a short documentary on a local heritage site here in Ireland.

!LUV

@erikah, @killerwot(1/1) sent LUV. | connect | community | HiveWiki | NFT | <>< daily

Join in Hive General chat | Type ! help (no space) to get help on Hive. Info

Made with LUV by crrdlx

Romania has a lot of beautiful places and worth visiting for sure.

I'm really sorry to hear about the vandalism that happened in your city. It's always heartbreaking to know how some people can't appreciate other people's work and can destroy priceless values without thinking.

Unfortunately, when a building is rebuilt, this can happen. Most of the times the original architecture is followed, but there are exceptions.

I'm glad to read you made a documentary about the local heritage. It's important to leave something behind. As time passes, things change and it's nice to know history.

Today I'm going to post another batch of the photos, if you're interested :) And thanks for the tokens :)

Beautiful place to learn about history. It was very interesting and educational for sure.

I'm glad you liked it.

When it comes to architecture and arts, I could say the best are in Europe. Even in our country Catholic churches built during Spanish colonization are really awesome.

What a great display of history and architecture this park has to offer. You can learn so much and appreciate more of it.

Europe has an old history, full of nice architectural beauties and no matter where you go, you always find something lovely, let it be a castle, a church or a fortress.

Spanish colonizers left a lot of beauties behind, for sure.

Congratulations @erikah! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)

You have been a buzzy bee and published a post every day of the week.

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Check out our last posts:

Women's World Cup Contest - Quarter Finals - Recap of Day 2
Women's World Cup Contest - Quarter Finals - Recap of Day 1
LEO Power Up Day - August 15, 2023

A creative way to show history to the people...those are truly cute..

Indeed, you can learn better when you see it with your eyes and having these miniatures in one place is a big help.

This is a very great historical relic,Your photography doesn't need to be doubted anymore, it's really extraordinary.

Thank you @jasonmunapasee and have a nice day :)

Found out about this place last year but still didn't manage to see it with my own eyes. Thanks for another reminder that I should see the mini-museum soon haha

There's nothing lost yet, you still have time to visit this beauty as it's not going anywhere 😃

Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1967.

Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!

Become part of our travel community:

Many thanks Kim!

wow, this looks breathtaking, it's also a fine and interesting way to show the history of the place.

It's the beat way I suppose, especially that there are descriptions and audio guide too.

It's lovely.

beautiful place I hope to visit one day

@erikah Very beautiful miniature work, which leaves a legacy to all who visit the place, and a way to never forget the history of our people.