SASCHIZ - KEISD (Germ.) – SZÁSZKÉZD (Hung.)
The community of Saschiz (Mureş County) is in the Scroafa Valley, approximately 12 miles from
Sighişoara notable for its fortified church and citadel, and also for its famous white-blue ceramics.
The fortified Evangelical church was built in the 15th century. The main tower resembles in almost all its details the
Clock Tower in Sighişoara (before it was destroyed in the fire of 1676), which was used as a model for its builders. The
roof, covered in richly colored enameled tiles, has the shape of a pyramid. The church itself holds an extremely valuable
Gothic chalice, created over 500 years ago by an unknown artist. The church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The ruins of the citadel, built about a century before the church, are on a nearby hill. It has six towers and is
surrounded by a 30-feet high wall. In the midst of the citadel lies a chapel and a 165-feet deep well, which is said to hide
a tunnel that leads to the heart of the village.
The potters’ guild in Saschiz became famous at the beginning of the 18th century though
the use of ‘sgrafito cobalt,’ a blue enameled ceramic, with metallic reflections, which the handicraftsmen
started manufacturing at the beginning of the 1700s.
