Valea Viilor Fortified Church: UNESCO near Mediaș

The Saxons' «Snake Forest»

The village of Valea Viilor (German: Wurmloch, Hungarian: Nagybaromlaka) lies in a valley of vineyards a few kilometres from the town of Mediaș, in a region settled for centuries by the Transylvanian Saxons. Its German name comes from a Middle German dialect: «Wurm» means snake and «Loh» forest — «the Snake Forest». Nobody knows for sure where the name came from, but one thing is certain: the village's fortified church is one of the mightiest and best preserved in Transylvania.

Remains of an older Romanesque church, less than half the length of today's, were once visible beneath the sacristy floor. The Gothic church of St Peter was begun in the 14th century and rebuilt in the 15th. Around 1500, as the threat of Ottoman raids grew, the community turned the church into a fortress: the chancel was raised as a three-storey brick tower with walls 1.5 m thick, a defence storey was built over the nave, towers were added by the entrances, and the church was surrounded by an oval wall with bastions and a gate tower closed by a portcullis. After the Reformation the church became Lutheran. In 1999 Valea Viilor was added to the already listed village of Biertan, and together with other villages they formed the UNESCO World Heritage site «Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania».

Why go

If Biertan impresses with its scale, Valea Viilor impresses with its completeness: the defence system has survived almost intact, and the church itself reads as a real fighting building with loopholes, machicolations and a timber gallery on the tower. The village is small and quiet, with far fewer visitors than the best-known sites, so you can explore the walls at leisure. The art historian George Oprescu wrote that these monuments were built not by kings or noblemen but by «simple» peasants — and you feel exactly that standing by the heavy gate.

What to see

• The chancel keep — three brick storeys plus a fourth projecting on arches between the buttresses, topped by a timber-framed fighting gallery.
• The bell tower with its many and varied defensive devices.
• The oval curtain wall of around 1500, 6–7 m high, with a wall-walk on brick arches, three bastions and a gate tower that still shows the slot for the portcullis.
• The net vault of the nave resting on seven pairs of pilasters, and the chancel with the same type of vault.
• The pulpit of 1528 — an example of the transition from Gothic to Renaissance — and the altar painting of 1779 by a master from Sighișoara.

Practical information

Address: Strada Principală nr. 341, 557290 Valea Viilor, Sibiu County. The church stands right on the village's main street. It is about 12 km from Mediaș, about 55 km from Sibiu and about 40 km from Biertan. The easiest way is by car or by taxi from Mediaș, which has train and bus connections. From Ukraine the nearest route is via the Solotvyno — Sighetu Marmației crossing, about 330 km away. There is no official 2026 timetable online: the church is opened for visitors during the day, mainly in the warm season. Admission is charged; according to the Fortified Churches Foundation (March 2026), tickets to the fortified churches cost 10–20 lei. Contacts given by the Foundation: the Mediaș District Consistory, +40 269 843 228 or +40 269 841 962. Check before you go. This is a working Lutheran church, so keep quiet and do not disturb services. A visit takes about an hour.

Nearby

• Biertan fortified church — the former seat of the Saxon bishops and the first UNESCO village on this list.
• Mălâncrav church with 14th-century Gothic frescoes.
• The town of Mediaș with its own fortified church of St Margaret and an old centre.
• The historic centre of Sibiu — about an hour's drive.

Official website: kirchenburgen.org

Photos: Neighbor's goat, CC BY-SA 3.0 ro, Wikimedia Commons; Hlihor Bogdan, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Zsolt deak, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Antony Stanley from Gloucester, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons; Robert Treufeldt, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; VykRO, CC BY-SA 3.0 ro, Wikimedia Commons.