The Evangelical Church Of Alma Vii

in #hive-163772last year

On our tour of visiting medieval churches and fortresses in Transylvania, two weeks ago we topped at Alma Vii, a small village in Sibiu county, where there's a hidden jam on the hill.

The Evangelical Church Of Alma Vii.jpg

Alma Vii, formerly known as Alma among Vii, Saxon Alma (in German Almen, in Hungarian Szászalmád, Almád, Szászalmás, Német-Almás, Almás) is a village in the commune of Moșna in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania.

The first documentary mention dates from 1289 in the act "Herritus de Alma sacerdotes" and from it we learn that the locality depended on the Chapter of Mediaș, so that another document, this time from 1356, mentions it as a free commune of the See of Mediaș. It was in this situation until 1872, when it was included in Târnava Mare county. Between 1951-1968 Alma Vii belonged to the Brașov Region, Mediaș district. Since 1968 it has been part of Sibiu County. source

Alma Vii is a village with 367 inhabitants, according to Wikipedia, but the data is from 2023, which means it's 12 years old. We had a census in 2022, which was mandatory and it's been a year since, but it looks like data is not ready yet. Maybe another year is needed to finalize the census that was mostly done online? Anyway, Alma Vii is a village forgotten by the world, as we call these villages where life is going backwards, development has stopped long time ago and the only people living there are those who don't want to leave at old age. Maybe digital nomading can change life there, but who knows.

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The fortress and the church is on a hill and it is visible from far. I wouldn't call that small hill as we had to walk up where the trees were and there were stairs leading to the entrance. As you can see, the view from down there is fantastic. We had a wonderful weather, the temperature was over 33°C, which it really hot here, but the nice experience can compensate the discomfort caused by the heat.

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There was a poster on the ground, so we picked it up to see what it was and saw there was an invite for dinner and a concert held in August, a 2 day celebration with the occasion of the village days. Dinner, traditional farmers market with local products, folk dance by children from the village and hiking on the surrounding hills, this is what they are offering to participants. To give you a little bit of context so you can understand, this may mean nothing to someone living in a big city and used to several events each week, but for them, this is the only event, or one of the few organized there. Therefore, I hope people will attend from other cities, villages as well.

Also, you have an aerial view of the fortress and the church, which I could not do as you need a drone for that and I'm not into that.

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The road is what you see on the photo above. Now this is important as the church service used to be held up in the church and regardless of the weather, people had to climb the hill to get there. There's a school next to the fortress, which means kids had to climb the hill every single day of the week to get to the school, regardless of the weather. You'll also see photos of the school later in this post.

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The old clock was still in functioning condition, indicating the time correctly.

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The entrance of the fortress. According to Wikipedia:

The wall has a thickness of 1.5 meters at the base, being built of unhewn stones and river boulders, then thinning in the upper part, where brick was used. source

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There was a poster on the door, that seemed a bit strange as had a name and a title, saying Glass with flowers and a period of 4 months, so I guessed it was about an exhibition.

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These photos are testimony of how the fortress looked before the restoration works and after.

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This is how the entrance looked like from inside. There were those dry flowers hanging on the wooden support, which were strange as well, but you'll see why those were there.

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The door of the church, from 1874 they say. You may not be able to tell from the photo, but the door is quite low. I'm not a tall person, just of average height but I had to watch my head.

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Tagging @mikezillo here for the door and the handle. We had a discussion at one of my earlier posts, here and this is the photo and the other one below I promised.

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Have you ever seen such a door handle? I keep bumping into them lately and I could not be happier as this is history, these are items from past centuries you don't get anywhere these days. It's not easy to open the door with this handle, you have to hold it and push it down with some effort, but they look great.

I almost forgot an important thing that needs mentioning here. The entry was not free, we had to pay 10 RON, which is around 2€. It was a surprise as churches usually don't have entry fee, but later I realized why you have to pay.

As soon as we entered the fortress's yard, heard organ music coming from the church. For me, the whole thing started to look like Christmas. I'm a huge fan or organ music and consider myself lucky every time I get to hear organ music live.

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But as soon as we opened the church door, a huge surprise was waiting for us. This was what we saw. If you've ever been to a church, you know this is not how they look like, regardless of the religion they represent. Turned out they had a dry flower and glass exhibition, as the poster showed at the door.

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Pencil drawing on long paper sheets hanging from the gallery above.

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There were these glass jugs displayed and dry flowers as well. I'm not saying it wasn't nice, but being in a church, it was a bit strange.

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I loved the wooden cabinet and the glass jugs too, would love to have these in my dream house, but in a church? Weird.

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This is what the other half of the church looked like.

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There was a small, but beautiful organ at the top level and the surprise for me was, that no one was playing the organ. A slap on the face basically, as the music was coming from a device we could not see. So in other words, it was fake.

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The Saxon church stands on the slope of a hill overlooking the commune and dates from the early 14th century, but the fortification around it was erected almost two centuries later. At the beginning of the 16th century, the small church-hall type church was fortified by raising the choir with two defense floors accessible by a movable staircase, the last one supported on profiled stone consoles that open pitch mouths between them.

The church organ, built in 1840, is located at the west end of the hall, on which occasion a small annex was also built to house its organs.

In 1966, a massive restoration was undertaken, which restored the fortress to its original appearance, removing some modern additions. source

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There were these old tools hanging on the hanger, to demonstrate what they were using back in the day.

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Drawings of old tools on this long paper sheet.

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The back door of the church.

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The sad part was this. This is what it was behind the curtain. The pulpit and there should have been the altar too. This means there are no services held there and most likely there are no Saxons either in the village, which is sad. The church lost it's original destination, has become museum now, or exhibition hall. I hope one day the whole church will be restored to its original state and will regain its original purpose.

Alma Vii Map 2.jpg

Alma Vii Map.jpg

source

How To Get There

The easiest way to get there is by car. These are the coordinates:
46°2′53.8″N 24°25′51.73″E.

All in all, this is a place that worth visiting for several reasons, so if you're in the area, don't miss it.

This was my post about the church but stay tuned as there's more to come. The fortress is a real and valuable museum, which I'm going to write about in one of my upcoming posts.

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


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I'm a little surprised that the church is now used as an exhibition hall, but I can understand why it might be necessary. It's a shame that there are no longer any Saxons living in the village, but I hope that the church will be restored to its former glory one day.

I really enjoyed seeing a lot of the entrances and wooden doors. I love the one with the keys in it. I have not seen a door handle quite like that, it's interesting. Thanks for the walk through I've never seen a church only museum, I would think there aren't many.

That door handle was indeed interesting. I'm always paying attention to these details as you don't see them just anywhere.

I'm glad you liked it and stay tuned as there's more to come :) The bastions, next week.

I've been on a bit of museum craze lately as well. I look forward to next week :)

I really liked the place, the church to see that it was from 1840 and see it in such good condition is beautiful, I like the road and the hillside to get to the church is a beautiful journey, the heat would be the least to see such beautiful scenery although it will exhaust a little or sure as I'm used to that climate would not pay me so much.

What a nice glass bottles, no doubt they are provocative to have, great tour friend @erikah

I think it should be in a much better condition, but the truth is, there are less or not evangelics at all and restoring costs a lot of money. I'd say it's a miracle that it is in this condition and did not mind paying the ticket. The heat was inconvenient, but long term you forget about the heat and what remains is the nice memories.

That glassware was indeed nice, i wish we could have some, right?

When I read that you were visiting Transylvania I couldn't stop thinking about vampires, I imagine that happens to many. Does Dracula's castle really exist?
Although this fortress here has nothing to do with vampires, a very nice place, with lots of light and lots of vegetation in the surroundings. Not a gloomy and gloomy place at all, with a unique and singular church and even if it doesn't function as a place of worship but as a museum it is still a beautiful church!

Yeah, Transylvania means mostly Dracula to quite many, although that's not even 0.000001% of it. The Bran castle is often called Dracula castle but that's not its real name.

Stay tuned to see the rest of the fortress as it's going to be interesting.

One would really serve in a cloud of witnesses if that church would come alive again. Who knows, maybe church services will start there again. A lovely little town and I love the history.
!PIZZA

The problem is, Saxons left a long time ago and the population of the village id of Orthodox religion, so there no one or just a few people (if) to use the church. It's a pity, but at least it functions as a museum or historical building. It's important to keep it alive.

Oh, yes, I understand that, so without new blood moving in, that little village will eventually die.
Then again maybe not, as it depends on the villagers procreating.
You are right, as at least they preserve that little church, even if it's used now for other purposes.
A great post methinks.
!PIZZA

PIZZA!

$PIZZA slices delivered:
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Greetings @erikah, this church is a big box of surprises, I loved the flower display, I don't think I would have ever imagined finding something like this in a church, they know how to surprise parishioners and visitors; The jars are also beautiful, there is a variety of designs to choose from, heh, heh.

For the years that the church has, it is very well preserved, the landscape is really beautiful, the abundant vegetation combines very well with the building, thanks for sharing beautiful photographs.

Happy and blessed day!

It was indeed a big box of surprises, good and bad as well.

I don't think I would have ever imagined finding something like this in a church, they know how to surprise parishioners and visitors;

Tell me about it! My jaw dropped when I saw it, but appreciated what I got.

The church seems relatively well preserved as it has been renovated. Before it looked terrible.

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How are you dear friend @erikah good afternoon
What a beautiful place and full of history to visit, although admission is not free, what they were able to see and enjoy inside was worth every penny
A pity that the old church is not fulfilling its original purpose, as you say, perhaps after a restoration they will
beautiful photographs, I appreciate that you let us know all your history
have a beautiful afternoon

Hey @jlufer.

Transylvania has a lot of medieval cities, fortresses, castles, full of history and I'm trying to bring these places to Hive, in case someone wants to visit them. I did not mind paying the fee as it will be used to maintain the fortress and I truly hope they will restore the altar area as well.

Alma Vii is the place that i've been looking for! A Village with only a number of people. But, its too far from the Philippines. But seriously, it is a beautiful place, you can surely find a peaceful life in there. But, there's a lot to give up if people plan to live in there. There's no internet in there for sure. But if there's people living there, that shows that they prefer it that way. Maybe some just become accustomed to it, especially those families that was passed down through different generations. And the church, it has really an old vibe. Especially the door handle, it is unique but beautiful 🤔

Lol, you as a Filipino would be very surprised here 😁 life and the climate is totally different here.

There's no internet in there for sure.

Here you are wrong. Romania is among the 10 best countries regarding internet connection and prices. You can have internet almost everywhere. However, those old people who still live there don't need it. If you move there, you can still have mobile internet at a very nice price, or broadband as well.

Old vibe, yes, that's everywhere if you visit Transylvania, especially the medieval parts.

Oh gosh, for someone's that's very accustomed to hot weather, this will be a big problem, I think, lol

So, there's no problem when it comes to internet, then that's even better. The only problem that I might face will be the weather then, lol.

beautiful place

It is indeed.

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