The name Agnita has always fascinated me, as I thought for a long time that it has some connection with Agni, the Indian God of Fire (the Sanskrit language being also an Indo-European language and ancient linguistic connections can still be seen by the very attentive eye). But no, Agnita comes from the German term Agnetheln, and further from Agnetental, where Agnete is a Scandinavian name and‎ Tal means “valley”. Agnete goes back to Agnes, an old Greek name meaning “pure”, and finally to agnus, meaning “lamb” (in Greek, Latin, Celtic, Slavic and Germanic languages). So, let’s meet Agnita and its fortified church, our focus in this article.

Here is the entrance to the fortified church complex. It’s winter and everything is covered in snow. As we advance, some words about the community might be necessary.

Agnita (Szentágota in Hungarian) is a town on the banks of the Hârtibaciu River. It feels like a village but yes, it is a town. It has around 7500 inhabitants according to the 2021 census and, despite being founded by the Transylvanian Saxons in year 1280 (mentioned as Sancta Agatha), it has now none of them; the majority is Romanian and the Hungarians are less than 2%. In 1376, Louis I of Hungary has granted the right to hold a market, and in 1466, Matthias Corvinus granted the right to carry trials and built a fortress to defend the Kingdom of Hungary from the Ottoman Empire.

The town is basically known for 3 things: it is close to the geographical center of the country, it has a fortified church and it also hosts the History & Ethnographic Museum of the Hârtibaciu Valley. For older Romanians, Agnita is also the birthplace of the one who was Ioan Gyuri Pascu, the beloved muzician and actor from the Divertis humoristic group.

For the German community in Romania, Agnita is the place where Georg Daniel Teutsch, bishop of the Transylvanian Saxons, spent a part of his life.

As you can see, the square in front of the church is named after this bishop. A statue of the same bishop can be found in Sibiu, in the Albert Huet Square, between the Saint Mary Evangelical Cathedral and the Samuel von Brukenthal National College.

I guess that, by know, the fact that the gates are locked and even chained with a chain, is no surprise. This is also a leitmotif in my own life, so it’s “business as usual”. The wisdom I got from so many walls and closed doors is that, if it’s not opening by itself, it is a waste of time to break it or seek a way to climb the fence. But it is always a good advice to have the courage to push the door (I will always push a door or gently “push” or challenge a person), as it might be shut but not locked. In this case however, the chain was obvious…

But you can always peep (or the child in you can always peep)… And then, when you arrive at home and you look again at the photos, you notice that there was an arrow there, on the gate, showing the path to Eingang (Entrance), which was probably just around the corner. A different wisdom would sound like this: when you are not allowed to enter (back then or never ever again), you might also be blinded by yourself… So yes, funny life!… I guess you understood by now that we are not having a trip so as to visit the ruined churches of Transylvania, but it is actually a spiritual (or psychological, if you wish) voyage that might tell you (and me) something insightful…

As usual, we can go through the fences and take photos. The church was built around the year 1250, in the Romanesque style. Then, in 1500, the church has received some extra Gothic elements, so what we see today is a blend of Romanesque and Gothic styles.

And this is my “teleporting” on the other side of the gate. I particularly enjoyed the rays of the sun and the silence of the place.

However, my critical eye has also seen this sight next to me: pruned trees, whose cut branches were left on the ground and snow fell on them. For the relentless obsessional in me, this was work half-done. For the ancient German inhabitants, this would have caused a stomach ulcer or, at least, high blood pressure…