The Black Church

The Black Church is the largest Gothic-style place of worship in Romania and south-eastern Europe, located in the historic centre of Brașov, in Curtea Johannes Honterus. Construction began around 1383, on the site of an older Romanesque church destroyed in the Tatar invasion of 1241, and was completed around 1477. Originally Roman Catholic and dedicated to Saint Mary, the church became the main centre of the Protestant Reformation in Transylvania in the mid-16th century, under the influence of the humanist Johannes Honterus. The building was partly damaged in the great fire of 21 April 1689, which broke out during the Austro-Turkish War and is attributed by many historians to Habsburg troops. Tradition links the name "Black Church" to the walls blackened by that fire; recent research suggests, however, that the darkening is more likely due to industrial pollution in the 19th century, the name itself being documented only towards the end of that century. The interior reconstruction, carried out with masons brought from Danzig, added Baroque elements. The interior's most visited highlight is the mechanical organ built by Carl August Buchholz between 1836 and 1839, with 3,993 pipes, four manuals and 76 stops — the largest organ of its kind in Romania, which can be heard during the organ concerts held regularly. The church also holds one of the largest collections of oriental carpets in Europe, with over 110 Anatolian pieces from the 15th–17th centuries, displayed directly on the walls and pews, alongside a bronze baptismal font from 1472. The church is worth visiting for its impressive scale, the sound of the Buchholz organ and a carpet collection unique in a European ecclesiastical setting. It still functions as an Evangelical Lutheran church and hosts a museum.