Reformed Fortified Church – Sepsiszentgyörgy

Reformed Fortified Church – Sepsiszentgyörgy

The church probably acquired its present late Gothic form in 1547, when its patron Pál Daczó had it rebuilt at his own expense. Repeated earthquakes damaged the church several times. The church was originally surrounded by two walls – a fortress ring – and had two defensive towers. The parish had the outer wall demolished in 1786, and its stones were used, by decree of Joseph II, to build the house intended as a German school, which stands next to the bell tower and today serves as the cantor's residence. In the churchyard of the fortified church lie many notable figures associated with Sepsiszentgyörgy, among them mayors Bálint Császár and Ferenc Gödri and József Málik, founding editor of the daily Székely Nemzet. The obelisk of the 1848 martyrs József Váradi and Ferenc Bartalis was re-erected here. The arc of the fortifications facing the cemetery is lined with numerous carved wooden grave posts (kopjafa). The first was erected in 1983 by former students of the Mikó College who graduated in 1943; since then their number has grown to more than seventy, preserving the memory of deceased teachers and students of the Székely Mikó College.