Fortress Prejmer

Fortress Prejmer aimed to defend the church in Prejmer against the Tartars and Turks invasions, which entered in Transylvania through the Buzau pass. The fortress had circular walls of 12 meters high and 4 meters thick. The iron gates and bridges could rise.
Like any city built to ward and it walls were also equipped with loopholes through which were thrown pitch, boiling water or hot oil against the invaders. The fortress was endowed also the so-called "death organ" which was equipped with simultaneously activated firing weapons, scaring invaders and causing many casualties. The asymmetrical arrangement of those about 300 rooms on four floors and the installation in the honeycomb shape rooms of the captured people make this fortress to be unique.

As I already said a few lines above the Prejmer fortress surrounded the town church. It was not just a common church in fact it was the most important building of this kind in Transylvania, representative also for its special architecture. The presence of the Teutonic Knights is also felt in this region, because they are the ones completing the Burgundian gothic style church in 1240. We should proudly tell you that we have the most impressive and best preserved church in the eastern side of Europe. The Prejmer fortress has two chambers. The one with the circular shape and a diameter of about 80 meters, built in 1427, is the main. It has an impressive wall thickness of about 4 meters and at 12 meters over the wall is the way to watch. The space enclosed to the arched corridor of the entrance gate is slightly smaller than the main one. The 50 meters length of the corridor gives a precise function, namely to defence and it is multiplied by installing a wood grill equipped with sharp iron bands at the bottom. The operation of this grill is triggered when the enemy vanguard demolished the gate and entered inside the fortress. By lowering it very fast the grill separated the besiegers from the defenders, thus increasing the possibility of defence against enemy attacks. The main wall is „upholstered ” from inside with 275 pantries oriented on four levels, the connection between them being made by wooden stairs. It is said that every family in the village had its pantry here in the main chamber, where they could keep supplies. The horizontal layout of the walls makes it difficult for invaders to guess how the fortress defence system is organized. Furthermore, the main walls were protected also by a shield wall and water ditch and the flanking was produced by four artillery bastions. Hence, every time when you think of nostalgically old time, turn to places less bustling, toward those destinations where the history is not denied, and not even history apart the present and where the preserved peasant fortress in Transylvania stand to welcome you at Prejmer fortress.

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