Berethalom

BERETHALOM The fortified church of Berethalom (Biertan, Rumania today) was built in the beginning of the 16th century and was later surrounded by three separate walls. Standing on a hilltop, the fortified church overlooks the entire landscape and, with its seven bastions, gives a very impressive view.
Berethalom locates in southern Transylvania where large numbers of Saxons (an ethnic group of German origin) lived since the 13th century until the late 1980's when the chauvinist Rumanian state administration forced them to repatriate to Germany, after 700 years. With its inhabitants the Saxons, the little town started to develop extensively during the reign of Hungarian kings Louis the Great (1342-1382) of the House of Anjou, and Sigismund (1387-1437) of the House of Luxemburgh. In 1572, Berethalom (German name: Birthälm) became the home of the Saxon Archdiocese. In the 19th centrury the Archdiocese moved to Nagyszeben (Sibiu), and since then the town gradually lost importance. The so-called Chronicle of Berethalom was written here, which is an important document recording many valuable information about the history of the region. (Colour picture : Courtesy of Olivier Clary, Olivier.CLARY@meteo.fr)