Fortress church

The fortress church is typically surrounded by defensive walls equipped with wall towers and wall walks. It is a development of the fortified churches, whose defensive walls were also the actual walls of the church. Although the terms are often used interchangeably without clear distinction, a fortified church properly refers to a single building whereas a fortress church is a building complex. Construction of defensible churches evolved over time. Earlier constructions included a church surrounded by barns in which a siege of several days could be endured. Then fortified cemeteries (Wehrfriedhof) arose and simple fortified churches, to finally the fortress church. The fortress churches surviving today date from the 15th century.

Unlike the populations of towns and cities, villagers could not afford to build defences around an entire settlement. The fortress churches were often the only stone building in such places and so were the population's only refuge from the violence of the military conflicts, the local raiding and plundering that often accompanied military campaigns, as well as providing defence against nomadic bands of marauders.

In the Early Middle Ages, especially in recently Christianised regions like Saxony, former bishop's seats were designed as fortress churches. In Saxony they were referred to as a Domburg or "cathedral castle". Fortress churches are especially common in Franconia, South France and Transylvania (Romania). Particularly in Transylvania, a historically German settlement area, there are well over a hundred fortress churches of which seven have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Birthälm/Biertan in 1993, Kelling/Calnic, Wurmloch/Valea Viilor, Dersch/Darjiu, Deutsch-Weißkirch/Viscri, Keisd/Saschiz and Tartlau/Prejmer in 1999). These were established in order to defend against successive Turkish invasions.

Fortress churches have not survived in North Germany, most likely due to the re-use of their stone for other building purposes during period of scarcity of such materials. The only well-known fortress church in the coastal region of North Germany is the Church of St. Dionysius in Bremerhaven-Wulsdorf, which is recorded as having a field stone curtain wall up to 3.60 metres high.

• Fortified church
• Fortress synagogue
• Ostheim Fortress Church

• Karl Kolb: Wehrkirchen in Europa: eine Bild-Dokumentation. Echter, Würzburg, 1983, ISBN 3-429-00818-2
• Wolfram Freiherr von Erfa: Wehrkirchen in Oberfranken. Kulmbach, 1956
• Dirk Höhne: Bemerkungen zur sogenannten Wehrhaftigkeit mittelalterlicher Landkirchen. In: Burgen und Schlösser in Sachsen-Anhalt 12 (2003), pp. 119-149 - kritisch u.a. zu H. Müller
• Dirk Höhne/Christine Kratzke (eds.): Die mittelalterliche Dorfkirche in den Neuen Bundesländern II. Funktion, Form, Bedeutung (= Hallesche Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte 8), Halle, 2006 (elf Aufsätze zum Thema "Wehrhaftigkeit von Dorfkirchen").
• Norbert Klaus Fuchs: Das Heldburger Land–ein historischer Reiseführer; Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86777-349-2
• Hans u. Berta Luschin: Kärntens schönste Wehrkirchen. Carinthia, Klagenfurt, 1985, ISBN 3-85378-237-X
• Karl Kolb: Wehrkirchen und Kirchenburgen in Franken. 2nd edition. Echter, Würzburg, 1981, ISBN 3-921056-16-0.
• Heinz Müller: Wehrhafte Kirchen in Sachsen und Thüringen. Oberlausitzer Verlag, Waltersdorf, 1992, ISBN 3-928492-26-8
• Ursula Pfistermeister: Wehrhaftes Franken : Burgen, Kirchenburgen, Stadtmauern. Carl, Nuremberg, 2000, ISBN 3-418-00387-7
• Gerhard Seib: Wehrhafte Kirchen in Nordhessen. In: Beiträge zur hessischen Geschichte 14. Trautvetter & Fischer, Marburg an der Lahn, 1999. ISBN 3-87822-111-8
• Reinhard Schmitt: „Wehrhafte Kirchen" und der „befestigte Kirchhof“ von Walldorf, Kreis Schmalkalden-Meiningen. In: Burgen und Schlösser in Sachsen-Anhalt 9 2000, pp. 127-149 - kritisch u.a. zu G. Seib
• Michael Weithmann: Wehrkirchen in Oberbayern. Eine typologische Übersicht, in: Schönere Heimat ISSN 0177-4492. 1992, Issue 4, pp. 211-222.
• Joachim Zeune: Neue Forschungen an fränkischen Kirchenburgen. In: Burgenforschung aus Sachsen 5/6 1995, pp. 226-239 - kritisch hierzu, insbesondere zu den Publikationen von Kolb
• Hermann und Alida Fabini: Kirchenburgen in Siebenbürgen : Abbild und Selbstdarstellung siebenbürgisch-sächsischer Dorfgemeinschaften 2nd edn. Koehler und Amelang, Leipzig, 1991, ISBN 3-7338-0073-7
• Hermann Fabini: Atlas der siebenbürgisch-sächsischen Kirchenburgen und Dorfkirchen. Monumenta-Verlag, Hermannstadt, ISBN 3-929848-15-5; AKSL, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 973-98825-0-1. – 527 fortress churches, all well known, are represented with floor plans and descriptions of their architectural history
• Heinrich Lamping: Kirchenburgen in Siebenbürgen. Geographische Analysen, Kurzbeschreibungen, Bilddokumentation. In: Frankfurter wirtschafts- und sozialgeographische Schriften 57. Selbstverlag des Instituts für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeographie, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, 1991.
• Arne Franke: Das wehrhafte Sachsenland. Kirchenburgen im südlichen Siebenbürgen. Deutsches Kulturforum östliches Europa, Potsdam, 2007, ISBN 3-936168-27-X; Kurzbeschreibung Das wehrhafte Sachsenland. Available online Archived 2013-09-08 at the Wayback Machine

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fortified churches.

• Fortress churches and Saxon villages (Engl.)
• Photo documentation of German fortress churches in HeidICON (photo data bank of the University Library of Heidelberg)
• History of churches in Transylvania
• Fortified Churches Foundation Expert institution for the preservation and maintenance of the religious and cultural heritage of the Evangelical Church A.C. in Romania
• Project for the preservation of fortress churches in Transylvania
• What is a fortress church