Transylvania
« Previous EntriesTavan - Ceiling
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009Work is nearing to an end inside the house, as you can see with these pictures Laurian sent us last week. The restored ceiling in the upstairs landing area has been done very professionally, with the new and old placed very sympathetically together. You wouldn’t think the new cross planks were new. The chandelier looks […]
As we walked out one Spring morning - Biertan (Birthälm) to Dupuş (Tobsdorf)
Monday, May 26th, 2008Spring has kind of arrived in Biertan….
Whilst the cherries are red and starting to ripen down in Oltenia, things are only just hotting up in Siebenbürgen. House stuff, as ever, took up a lot of our time, but being there for two weeks meant we had some time to ourselves as well.
One day, in early May, we […]
Biertan is nearly finished
Sunday, March 16th, 2008A long-awaited visit to our house in Biertan in March 2008!
The best written renovation plans still need occasional tweaking and updating so, on March 8th, we flew back to Transylvania to ensure things were still on track. Laurian, our builder, had a number of questions that needed clearing up. The renovation is moving at a […]
Count who? Times article on Transylvania - 3rd February 2008
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008Story of a Transylvanian Saxon from Biertan
Thursday, December 27th, 2007The Transylvanian Saxons of Romania are nearly all but gone from the country, driven out by war, communism and finally the opportunity to leave Romania in 1990 for a new life in the old homeland of Germany. Their distinctive architecture is nearly all that remains of their unique cultural heritage. Here, the story of one […]
Fortress churches and walks in the hills around Biertan
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
Biertan is probably the most famous of all of the Saxon fortified churches in Transylvania, but it is by no means the only one. There are around 200 in the surrounding countryside of Saxon Transylvania, and even beyond into Hungarian/Szekely Transylvania.
This page announces walking opportunities between the fortified churches in the villages immediately surrounding Biertan.
Biertan […]
Architectural patterns of the Transylvanian Marginimea Sibiului
Sunday, November 25th, 2007The village of Galeş is situated in the heart of the Marginimea Sibiului. This is an area which comprises about 20 village and town communities that have a strong Romanian cultural and ethnic identity. The area sits on the northern arc of the Carpathians, close to the Valea Oltului, a river path leading directly south […]
Locks and keys
Thursday, September 13th, 2007We are going to have to put in new doors and windows in the Biertan house because they were all missing when we bought the house, but also because we are creating a few new window and door spaces. We found an excellent skilled wood craftsman in Gura Râului (jud. Sibiu), which is a village […]
Our kitchen with tiles
Thursday, September 13th, 2007We had been looking for some nice splash-back tiles for the cooker and the sink for some time now. We found a really nice hand-made tile firm in Sussex that makes Delft style tiles. These wouldn’t exactly fit with the Transylvanian style of the rest of the house, would need transporting to Romania, and because […]
Our house is finished!
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007Finally, our house in Galeş is finished!
At the beginning of September our builder, Laurian, proudly announced the completion of the limewash painting of the exterior facade of the Galeş house. The pictures you can see below show the colour applied around the facade.
They are strong when applied because the sun will make them fade to […]