Almakerék

Almakerék (Mălâncrav, Malmkrog, Malemkref) is not an ordinary fortified church in Transylvania (Romania). The sanctuary is fortified, but the surrounding walls are (already) missing. The interior of the church is also unusual for an Evangelical church, as the sanctuary from the late 14th century is almost completely preserved, with the winged altar of the Virgin Mary from the 15th century. Although the paintings were repaired and in places repainted in the 18th century, they still give a good picture of the colorful Gothic church interiors. It was built in the 14th century by the Hungarian Becse-Gergely Apafi family and later used as a family burial place. The location on the map is: https://tinyurl.com/2t2ynmtu

The history of the settlement

Its Hungarian name is derived from the combination of the words for ‘apple’ and ‘forest’. It was first mentioned as Almakereke in 1305, and then as Almakerek in 1309. It is located 32 km south-west of Segesvár and 12 km south of Szászszentlászló.

When it was mentioned for the first time in 1305, it was already part of the share of Apa’s son Gegös (Gegus) and his brothers, and after that it was the center of the Apafi family for 470 years. The property of the Apafi family in Almakerék was recognized by the Assembly of the Seven Saxon Sees in 1340, and the village became the family burial place. Prince Apafi Mihály I and II, Bornemissza Anna and Bethlen Kata were buried here – their ashes were transferred to the Reformed Church in Farkas Street in Kolozsvár in 1916.

It belonged to the counties of Fehér and Upper-Fehér. In 1766 there were 168 men and 170 women in the Lutheran-Saxon church, and in 1753 there were also Catholics. In 1759 it was granted the privilege of holding a national fair. In 1775, after a long legal battle, it was acquired by the Bethlen family.

In 1820, the 143 serfs and 27 peasant families working for Bethlen Ádám, Dániel and György were mostly Saxons, 50 of them had Romanian surnames. In 1848 the buildings of the manor were destroyed by the rebelling peasants. At that time, apart from the church and the manor house, there was only one stone building left. After the emancipation of the serfs the inhabitants built stone houses and in 1900 76% of the houses were made of stone. In 1876 the village became a part of Nagy-Küküllő county.

In 1896 it was transformed from a small village into a large one. Around 1900 the Haller and Ugron families had large estates there. The Haller estate was bought by the village in 1918. In 1948-49, 112 Romanian families moved there from Márpod, and in the second half of the century, several Romanian families arrived from Révkolostor.

The description of the fortified church

Its Evangelical church was originally built as a three-nave Romanesque basilica. Its western portal and probably the bell tower on the western side date from the second half of the 14th century. The closest parallel to the entrance is the north portal of the Church of St. Charlemagne in Prague, built in 1360.

Its sanctuary was rebuilt before 1404 in the International Gothic style and decorated with stone carvings, sculptures and paintings. (It had two niches, each with a sculpture, but neither has survived.) In 1424, Apafi Miklós was granted a license to build a chapel of the Holy Blood in Almakerék, which probably refers to the current sanctuary of the church (the church itself was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.)

Its renovation began between 1914 and 1916 under the direction of Möller István, and was followed by further changes in 1924-25. Möller replaced the ceilings of the side aisles with new ones, made new window frames and built new doorways on the south and north sides using the original stones. Of the three bells in the church, one was cast in the 13th-14th centuries, the second in the late 14th century, and the third in 1440. Its fortified wall was once protected by three square towers, which have not survived.

Its winged altar is the earliest Transylvanian winged altar still standing in its place. It dates from the mid-15th century and is stylistically associated with the Nuremberg workshop of Michael Wolgemut. In the central image of the open altar, the probable donors, Apafi Mihály and his wife Klára, kneel at the feet of the Virgin Mary, accompanied by their patron saints. Surrounding the central image are the four Virgines Capitales, St Catherine of Alexandria, St Borbala, St Margaret and St Agnes.

On the inner and outer sides of the panels, which can be opened, are scenes from the life of Mary: the birth of Christ, the adoration of the wise men of the sunrise, the death and resurrection of Mary, the angelic greeting, the circumcision of Jesus, the visitation and the presentation of Jesus in the temple. The two margins of the ordinary page are flanked by a very characteristic depiction of St Michael and St George. Above the apparently later Vir dolorum depiction of the predella, probably of 16th century origin, on the left, is the coat of arms of the Apafi family.

The al secco painting on the north wall of the nave was excavated and cleaned in 1914. This series of paintings dates from the mid-14th century, and similar narrative paintings can be found in the churches of Homoród, Bögöz and Homoróddaróc in Transylvania. The upper bands were painted larger by the artist than the lower ones. The top of the upper band was destroyed when a new, lower ceiling was built in 1792.

The scenes depicted:

Top row, from left to right: the four chapters of the creation of the world, the creation of Eve, Adam and Eve in Paradise, the Fall, the expulsion from Paradise, Adam and Eve tilling the earth, the sacrifice of Abel, Cain killing Abel.

In the second row, from right to left: the Holy Trinity (in a circular frame), the Salutation of the Angels, the Worship of the Magi, Herod’s command, the slaughter of the little saints, the flight into Egypt, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.

Third row, from left to right: The arrest of Jesus, Jesus before Annas, Jesus before Caiaphas, The scourging of Jesus, Jesus before the Council, The crowning with thorns, Ecce homo, The Way of the Cross, The Cross, Jesus on the Cross, The Spear of Longinus.

In the fourth row, from right to left: the Deposition, the Lamentation, the Burial, the Resurrection, the Noli me tangere, the disbelieving Thomas, the Ascension, an angel and a saint, the martyrdom of the saint. In the middle, the Death of Mary and the Assumption of Mary.

In the fifth row, from left to right: St. John the Baptist and St. Catherine of Alexandria, with St. Catherine’s Pastor (?) and St. Anthony’s Temptation (?). The vault and the frescoes on the walls of the sanctuary are in the International Gothic style, before 1404. The vault is divided into two sections. The northeastern part has five sections with the ten martyred virgins enthroned against a sky-blue background, while the southwestern part depicts scenes from Jesus’ childhood: the greeting of the angels, the birth of Jesus, the adoration of the Magi of the Magi, and the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.

On the cross-vault of the choir are painted the four great teachers of the Church and the four Evangelists, the inside of the triumphal arch is decorated with the Madonna in the mantle, with the Apostles Peter and Paul on either side, and the lunettes are decorated with Jonah (with the whale), St. George (with the dragon), the Archangel Michael and St. Lawrence.

On the south wall of the sanctuary there are female and male saints, and on the north wall there are chapters of the Passion: the Washing of the Feet, the Last Supper, Jesus on the Mount of Olives, the Arrest of Jesus, Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas, the Crowning with Thorns, the Flagellation, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Betrayal of Judas, the Death of Judas and the Vir dolorum.

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Here are many more pictures of Almakerék and its murals: