For travelers who may be interested in well-preserved medieval vestiges, Transylvania is no doubt a priority among cultural tourist destinations. The Saxon settlers, craftsmen and merchants (who came invited by the Hungarian kings starting with the mid XII century) have been living mainly in southern and south-eastern Transylvania and left us an indelible mark.

Beautiful romantic medieval towns and citadels, precinct walls, towers, ramparts, bastions, bridges, staircases, narrow streets, vaults, squares, civilian and public houses and many fortified churches were raised in order to protect their town's inhabitants from the frequent raids of the Mongols or Turks during the Middle Ages.

The most impressive Saxon heritages among all are the fortified churches built by the village communities for defense, an architectural formula which is considered today unique in whole Europe. For though the Saxons used construction techniques similar to those found in medieval towns throughout Europe, the peasant fortified churches which have withstood the lapse of time and can be visited today in Transylvania look quite different from each other. Their rich diversity is due to the specific ground on which they were raised; it also has to do with the skill and talent of their craftsmen and builders, alongside the economic potential of the local community and defense requirements of the area.

Moreover, travelers will be delighted to discover that many of these churches still provide religious services for the Saxon villagers. A few of the most representative fortified churches of the kind can be found in Prejmer (Tartlau), Harman (Honigberg), Biertan (Birth�lm), Viscri (Deutschwei�kirch) or Mosna (Meschen).