Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania The south-eastern Transylvania region in Romania currently has one of the highest numbers of existing fortified churches from the 13th to 16th centuries. It has more than 150 well preserved fortified churches of a great variety of architectural styles (out of an original 300 fortified churches). Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania are seven villages (six Saxon and one Székely) founded by the Transylvanian Saxons. They are dominated by fortified churches and characterized by a specific settlement pattern that has been preserved since the late Middle Ages.
Early German colonists in Transylvania devastated and remained depopulated after the Mongol invasion of 1241. During the following years he laid the foundations to "Villa Nympz" (Nimesch), a fortified peasant village in a side valley of the Great Kokel River near Medgyes.<ref> Despite of all future historical tribulations and misfortunes, Medardus and his descendants, later known as the Maiterth family, managed to cultivate the former wilderness and transform it into rich and fertile farmland (agriculture, viticulture, stockbreeding). Early German colonists in Transylvania Medardus de Nympz is the Latinized name of Medard zu Nimesch, an early medieval German colonist in Transylvania. Born around 1215 in the