Even though Romania is largely Orthodox Christian, it is a complicated religious landscape. In the heart of Saxon Transylvania clustered around Brasov and Sighisoara are large fortress churches (mostly Protestant), designed to offer shelter to entire villages during the periodic raids the people suffered. A few of these fortress churches are on hills, but most are on the plains. Biertan is one of the better known of these churches, high on its hill. Further north, where the people were either Orthodox or Uniates, wooden churches, distinguished by almost absurdly high spires were built. The tallest of these wooden steeples was at Surdesti (1721), a startling 54 meters high. In the last century taller steeples were built at Sapanta and Barsana. Amazingly, because of their engineering, none of these ultra tall steeples have ever fallen. In the Bukovina (northeastern Romania) the people are Orthodox Christians and the churches in that part of the country are known as the painted monasteries, which have their own page on this web site.
