Aces project

Romania – Transylvania – Szeklerland – Brasov

The city of Brasov lies in the South-Easter corner of Transylvania, at the foot of the Carpathian mountains. It is the second biggest city of Romania, after the capital city of Bucharest.

Its name first appears in a document in 1252.

Brasov used to be the most important city of the Transylvanian Saxon population. The Black Church and the high walls surrounding the city were built in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, Brasov became an important cultural centre with Romanian schools and cultural establishments as well.

At present the city has 323 thousand inhabitants, 10% of which are Hungarian. The number of Saxons has constantly decreased, now being below 1000.

The Black Church

It is the largest church in Transylvania and the Easternmost Gothic church in Europe. It was built between 1385 and 1477. It received its name when the Habsburgs set the city on fire and the walls were blackened by smoke and soot. The reason for setting the city on fire was that the Saxons were against the Habsburgs putting up guards in their city.

The Gothic windows and the tall pillars inside are also impressive. The most outstanding of its possessions is a collection of Turkish rugs, which were offered to the city by tradesmen.

Over the entrance to the side chapel opening from the right aisle there is a fresco dating back to 1476. It shows Mary and the infant Jesus, Saint Catherine and Saint Barbara above the coat-of-arms of King Mathias and his wife, Beatrice.

The neo-gothic altar dates to 1866. Facing the painted pulpit the King’s coat-of-arms can be seen.

Another famous possession of the church is the 4000-pipe Buchholz organ, dating back to the mid-19^th century.

Other sites

Next to the entrance to the Black Church, there is the statue of Johannes Honterus, one of the greatest cultural personalities of Transylvania, a renaissance scholar.

The old Council House stands in the middle of the central square, it is now a museum. Another famous site of the centre is the Hirscher House built in 1554, in Renaissance style. At present it is a restaurant.

Not far from the centre there is a 960 meter-high hill, called the Cenk (Hungarian) or Tampa (Romanian).

The story of Mathias and the Slovenians

The Hunyadi family is present in all Eastern European nations’ folklore, always in the context of the struggle against Turkish expansion. King Mathias is not only one nation’s hero but many others recognize him as such.

In Slovenia, Mathias’ figure is somewhat similar to that of Orpheus and Frederick Barbarossa. The folklore of Transdanubian, Slovene and Slavonic nations developed in parallel, making it possible to link historical events to fantasy, to folk legends and tales. In a way, folklore illustrates history.

Both Slovenian and Hungarian research has been conducted on legendary and historical figures. In 1991, a volume was published in two languages, Hungarian and Slovenian, dealing with the results of this research. This marked the beginning of a series of publications on a similar topic, namely, the common points in Slovene and Hungarian folklore regarding the figure of Mathias the redeemer.

The historical background of Mathias’ time does not make it easy for us to understand how he could become both nations’ hero. On the one hand, there is Celje, with its specific landscape and its counts, especially Ulrik of Celje, who is present in both nations’ tales, many times as an enemy of the Hunyadi’s (true, he is especially Laszlo Hunyadi’s opponent, also a claimer of the throne), and on the other hand, Mathias, growing into a hero in Slovene folklore, sleeping in a cave, his beard constantly growing, waiting for the time when Slovenia is in great danger, and he can save it from its enemies. (This image also brings his figure closer to German legends, which is yet another link between nations.)

According to Slovene ethnographer Ivan Grafenauer, as a result of historical similarities, King Mathias may have stepped into the place of another, Slovene mythical hero in folklore, which is why he became an important figure in Slovenia, too.

His presence in other nations’ folklore suggests the fact that Mathias was an open-minded politician in Central Europe, who was capable of holding together many nations. In spite of his strict rule – or perhaps especially because of it – his figure lived on in public awareness.

This is yet another evidence to the fact that the history and life of nations in Central Europe is so closely linked to one another that it is impossible to separate them.