Alma Vii Fortified Church

The fortified church stands in the village of Alma Vii (German: Almen), Moșna commune, on a hill overlooking the village, with steep slopes to the south and west. The village is first documented in 1289, when it depended on the Chapter of Mediaș, and from 1356 it appears as a free community of the Mediaș Seat. The small hall church was built at the beginning of the 14th century without a bell tower; the early date rests mainly on the semicircular sandstone triumphal arch. At the beginning of the 16th century the chancel was raised by two defence levels, the upper one projecting on profiled stone corbels with murder holes between them. The fortified enclosure, dated to the 16th-17th centuries, has four towers facing the four cardinal points; the five-storey gate tower on the east side still shows the grooves of a portcullis. The curtain wall was restored in 1966 using the original material. From 2015 the Mihai Eminescu Trust and its partners restored the church, the outer walls and the four towers, and since 1 May 2023 the ensemble has been open to visitors again, who can climb the towers and the restored walls and also see the local history museum. Inside the enclosure the Trust is developing a Centre for the Interpretation of Traditional Culture. The church has a classicist altar of 1852, and in the south tower, which serves as the bell tower, the middle bell dates from the 15th century. The fortified church ensemble is a listed historic monument, LMI code SB-II-a-A-12309 (church SB-II-m-A-12309.01, fortified enclosure with gate tower, bell tower, two towers and annexes SB-II-m-A-12309.02). The Mihai Eminescu Trust has been active in the village since 2009 and is listed by the Fortified Churches Foundation as the contact for visits.