Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania red bricks, with a red clay tiled roof, a typical feature of the area. Close to the church there is the main square of the village or "Tanzplaz" (Dance Square) to which social life gravitated. The only buildings situated next to the fortifications are those of communal use: the school or the village hall. The parish house, along with the houses of the most wealthy villagers, were situated around this square. Also in most sites, barns for grain storage are situated close to the centre of the village. Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania The south-eastern Transylvania region in Romania
Transylvania For most of this period, Transylvania, maintaining its internal autonomy, was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. The Habsburgs acquired the territory shortly after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. In 1687, the rulers of Transylvania recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I, and the region was officially attached to the Habsburg Empire. The Habsburgs acknowledged Principality of Transylvania as one of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, but the territory of principality was administratively separated from Habsburg Hungary and subjected to the direct rule of the emperor's governors. In 1699 the Turks legally acknowledged