Church on the Hill

The Church on the Hill (Bergkirche in German, Biserica din Deal in Romanian) is a 14th-century Gothic church at the top of the citadel, reached by the covered wooden staircase of 175 steps that climbs the hillside from the lower town. The church belongs to the German Lutheran community that built much of Sighisoara, and the interior is simple and austere in the Protestant manner — Gothic vaulting above, plain whitewashed walls, old wooden pews.

The surrounding cemetery is one of the most atmospheric in Transylvania. German, Hungarian, and Romanian inscriptions on stones of different ages record the complicated history of who lived here. The hilltop location gives wide views over the Târnava Mare valley. The staircase is covered by a wooden roof built in 1642 to protect the route in winter; in summer it is a cool, dim tunnel leading upward through the leaves.

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The church's frescoes, painted in the 15th century by Transylvanian Saxon craftsmen, were whitewashed during the Reformation when the congregation turned Lutheran. Some have been uncovered in restoration work, but large sections remain beneath layers of lime. The cemetery outside contains German inscriptions dating back to the 16th century — many of the same Saxon families appear generation after generation, right up until they were expelled or fled in the late 20th century.

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