Mosna!

One of my intentions when I went to Romania was to see the fortified Saxon churches all over the area. I had not counted on wasting three days due to issues with my bank card. This cut my adventures short a bit but I was still able to do some sight seeing outside Sibiu.

A friend had recommended that I hire a cab driver to take me to all the little towns in the surrounding area. I picked the two churches I most wanted to see based on the description in my guide book just in case I was unable to go to all of them. I really didn't have a good feel for how far away they were, how long it would take the see each of them, etc.

After my first three days of bank card hell I got things worked out but I had to switch hotels because my other hotel didn't have any rooms available. It had only been my plan to stay three nights, but I decided to extend my stay after my first three days were relatively wasted.

The day after I switched hotels I got up early and I worked up my nerve and went down to the traffic circle at the end of Nicolae Balcescu where all the cabs line up. I had practiced saying what I wanted in Romanian but I had also written it down.

My cab driver seemed intent on using his GPS device and iphone to figure out distance and rates before we agreed on anything, and he didn't seem to want to go to multiple towns because he couldn't figure out the distances. I finally just agreed on Mosna which was a town that I really wanted to see. I tried to explain to him I wanted to stop in the towns on the way to Mosna but he spoke no English whatsoever and my Romanian was limited to hello, goodbye, yes, no, mineral water, some other food items, thank you, and "can you take me to the Lutheran church."  :)

My driver was very nice. Romanian cabs are a trip. The drives always have cards of saints and the Virgin hanging up in their cabs. This guy had a picture of a model on his phone holster, a picture of his wife on the dash, a rosary hanging from the rearview mirror, and a bunch of saint cards, and a picture of the Virgin on his sun visor.

He made a big deal of turning on the air conditioning, and also of playing some special music for me. I think he turned off the bad Romanian techno to play some bad Romanian Christian rock, but I'm not sure. It sure sounded like Christian rock. After awhile he picked up an English language radio station and I listened to Hotel California. Yeah, I always wanted to listen to the Eagles in Romania.  :)

This guy drove so fast the countryside was just whizzing by me which was a real shame because I saw some amazing sights. Traveling in Romania is like stepping back in time. We were driving through a rural countryside, with fruit trees and fields of crops and tiny little villages dotting the hillsides. In some ways it reminded me of the countryside outside Boone, NC. When we first left Mosna you saw sweeping hills and it looked kind of like it does when you drive from say, North Wilkesboro, to Boone.

You see roadside crosses with the Crucifixion painted on them. "For the Dead travel fast." You see painted wooden wagons being pulled by horses, with people, or farm implements, or both, crammed into the back. you see those crazy hay ricks everywhere. You see old ladies dressed in all black with black veils over their heads and faces, tottering along. It looks like something out of a historical photograph of Russia in the 20's or something. And every town you pass through, no matter how small, has a fortified Saxon church. You can see the church towers standing out from a distance as you approach the towns. There are beggar children everywhere, and dogs roaming the roads alone or in packs. I think dogs must have a lot of fun in Romania.

I wanted so badly to take photographs but my driver so speeding along so crazily and he didn't understand me. If I said I wanted to stop he would just say, "Mosna! Mosna!" and nod his head. I have to admit I was a little nervous although I knew I probably shouldn't be. Having grown up with my grandmother, who beat it into my head as a young child never to talk to strangers, and NEVER to get into a car with one, well, it felt a little strange to be driving 140 KM round trip with a strange man I'd never laid eyes on until 15 minutes earlier. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was doing something wrong and I kept thinking, "If nobody back in the States hears from me again it will be because I didn't listen to what Granny taught me."

After what seemed like forever, we finally reached Mosna. We had to go through tons of little tiny towns along the way and also through the large town of Medias. I had wanted to see the church there but they were working on it, which is probably a good thing because I don't know if I would have been able to get my driver to stop.  :)

The road from Medias to Mosna got very narrow and gravely and bumpy, and there were people just milling around in the road that didn't seem to want to get out of the way, reminding me of an incident Jimmy and I had near Vandemere, NC once when we encountered an old man laying in the road one night, but we finally made it. We pulled into a tiny town with absolutely nothing going on except some Roma people hanging out in the grass beside the road listening to what sounded like Gypsy music. They were drinking beer, idly watching my cab pull up and staring at me getting out in true tourist fashion with my camera in tow.

I got out of the car and walked around the church, with my directions in hand about where to ask for the key. I should mention that these little churches are usually closed up, and there is usually a Saxon descendent in the town---typically an old man or old woman---who lets people into the church. These churches are known about by people who are interested in local culture, but they are not widely known. You're not going to buy a Lonely Planet guide book that gives you directions on where to pick up the key. I was fortunate enough to find a book in a cool little book store in Budapest, Irok Boltja, specifically on Transylvania, written by three English people living in Hungary. So it was quite specific and really designed to guide people to these churches, which is rare.

Here are my first views of the outside of the church. It's fortified, so it has an outside wall with towers, like a castle, and the church itself is inside the fortified walls, and is also fortified, with a look out tower. They look like churches because of the tower/steeples, but they also look like small forts or castles.

Outside Wall of Saxon Church at Mosna

Closeup of Outside Wall

Mosna Church Wall Details 

Mosna Church Side Wall

Mosna Church Side Wall

As I walked around the back wall into the courtyard outside of the church, where my guidebook instructed me to look for a little house and ask there for the key, I encountered an ancient looking gnarled tree and saw the back tower of the outside walls.

Gnarled Tree Near Entrance to Mosna Church Wall

Gnarled Tree

Here is the entrance to the outside wall.

Entrance to Fortifications at Mosna Church

And here are some views of the outside tower from different angles.

Tower in Mosna Church Fortified Wall

Church Tower Mosna

Wall Tower at Mosna

Wall Fortifications at Mosna

When I approached the entrance the place was wide open and I could hear workmen inside talking and hammering away, so I didn't have to ask anybody for the key. Once inside, you were in a grassy courtyard surrounded by the walls. The walls had stairs and an inside walkway built into them, where you could approach the rooms and outside towers. I climbed the stairs and walked along the inside walls. The stairs were rickety, the floors were dirt, and let's just say a young child could have easily fallen through those "railings."

Buildings Inside Mosna Church Wall Fortifications

Here are the stairs going up to the inside of the wall fortifications.

Stairs Going Up to Wall Fortifications from the Inside

Upstairs Walkway Inside Mosna Church Wall Fortifications

Looking Outside Wall Fortifications at Mosna Church

Window Inside Mosna Church Wall Fortifications

One really neat thing about the Mosna Church is that the people who take care of it have preserved artifacts from the time period when this church would have been in operation, so the upstairs had a mini museum of sorts.

Check out this old stove that was upstairs in the walkway.

Old Stove Inside Mosna Church Walls 

Closeup of Old Stove Inside Mosna Church Walls

 The stove had a chalice built onto the top of it. Here is a closeup of it.

Chalice Detail on Top of Old Stove

Here is a giant bellows that was next to the stove. It was almost as tall as I am.

Giant Bellows

At the corners of these upstairs fortifications there were rooms, and they had old furniture and artifacts stored in the rooms.

Here is an old balance. It was a lot bigger than it looks in this picture.

Balance in Mosna Church Museum

Here is a room full of old painted Saxon furniture. You can also see traditional Romanian woven rugs on the floor.

Painted Saxon Furniture in Mosna Church Museum

Here is some old embroidery.

Embroidery in Mosna Church Museum

Those pitchers are traditional Romanian painted pottery. I almost climbed the wall tower but the steps were rotting away and so I decided it wouldn't be good if my cab driver had to drive me to a Romanian emergency room with a broken leg.  :)

I climbed down out of the wall fortifications to see the church.

Here are the windows and the door from inside the fortified walls, standing in the courtyard before entering the church.

Mosna Church Window from Outside 

Mosna Church Window with Scaffolding

Door into Mosna Church Sanctuary

Another View of Door into Sanctuary

Once inside the church I was astounded at all the details. I don't know where to start. Here are the carved stone columns holding up the roof.

Fluted Columns Inside Mosna Church

Here is the ceiling with its Gothic vaulting.

Vaulted Ceiling Inside Mosna Church

At the back of the church was a gorgeous organ which was in wonderful condition.

Mosna Church Organ 

Another View of Mosna Church Organ

One of the coolest things was the old wooden balcony painted in the Saxon style.

Painted Wooden Balcony in Mosna Church

Closeup of Painted Wooden Balcony in Mosna Church

Then there were carved details all over the church which were noteworthy.

Carved Stone Details Inside Mosna Church

Here is a wooden carving atop.

Painted Wooden Carving Mosna Church

The baptismal font was particularly beautiful.

Baptismal Font Mosna Church 

Baptismal Font

Here are the chandeliers.

Candle Holders Mosna Church

The choir seats were painted wood, but not as colorful as the balcony.

Choir Seats Mosna Church

You could tell they had recently redone the pews. The cushions on them are covered in traditional Romanian embroidery which appeared to be old.

Pews with Embroidered Cushions Mosna Church

I thought the crowning glory of the entire inside was the carved and painted wooden altarpiece.

Painted Altarpiece Inside Mosna Church

The statues adorning the altarpiece are carved wood that has been painted.

One thing that tends to distinguish Protestant Churches from Catholic ones is the openness, the light, the brightness. Not in all cases, but in many. This church definitely embodied that feeling of openness and light. The sunshine was streaming in and it felt very spacious and free inside the sanctuary.

Here is a shot of the tiny doorway and steps leading up to the church tower.

Stairs to Church Tower Mosna

Finally, here is an old wooden sign for the church.

Sign for Mosna Church and Museum

And last but not least, a shot of the exit from inside the church, and the buttresses on the outside of the church.

Exit

Mosna Church Buttresses

You don't have to be in Hungary or Romania long to realize that the Turks were a constant threat for centuries. When the Turks attacked these little towns, the people gathered inside these churches where the people and the wealth of their towns were protected and in many cases they successfully withstood the attacks.

Next time I go to Romania I plan to stay in another town and hopefully I can see the Saxon churches in some other small towns. I would love to backpack across this region and wander through every little town taking pictures and seeing the sights. I would also like to have a car so I could speed through the Transylvanian countryside like my taxi driver, stopping every time I saw a cool roadside Crucifix or painted wooden wagon. 

Ciao!