Fületelke

Fületelke (Filitelnic, Felldorf) is a village in Transylvania in Maros County, Romania. It is famous for its fortified church which was mentioned first in 1342 as Fyleteluke and built by the local Saxon people.

These churches gave shelter against the intruding raids of the Ottomans and the Tatars to the villagers, you can find the largest number of fortified churches in Europe in Transylvania, most of them are Saxon built but there are many Hungarian Székely fortified churches as well.

We don`t know the exact date of the building of the Lutheran church but it was already there in 1500. The Protestant church, a Gothic hall church with pointed arched windows and belfry, built around 1500 with a ring wall and towers, rebuilt in the 18th century, and the rectory built in the 17th century, are in poor condition. The tower roof was changed in 1787, and the church, the walls, and the bastion with the entrance portal were extensively renovated in 1580 and 1655.

The last remedial measures took place in 1972. Since then, the fortified church fell more and more, so that from 1980 the service could take place because of the great damage only in the rectory. In 2012, the roof of the church was renewed to save it from decay. 

Here is a heart-breaking video of the church but it is in the German language which I do not understand, unfortunately: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR1LAoOHgPg

but there is another one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiEsRVByVs8&t=61s

The place had 512 inhabitants in 1910, 521 of them were German Saxons, 44 were Romanians and 17 were Hungarians. In the year 2002, there were 270 people living there, 207 of them Romanians, 53 Hungarians, and 10 Germans.

Dear Readers, I can only make this content available through small donations or by selling my books or T-shirts. 

If you like my writings, please  feel free to support me with a coffee here:

Here are a few pictures of Fületelke: