Slimnic, the village from the previous article, is part of a union of 5 villages (of which it is the administrative center), this union being called commune (comună) in Romanian. In this article I want to show you another village from this commune, called Ruși (“Russians”), the German name being Reußen (in the local Saxon dialect it’s Reissen) and the Hungarian one being Rüsz. Being built by the Germans and first mentioned in the year 1424, this village has nowadays around 700 inhabitants. As it is the case with most of Transylvania, the Germans have left for Deutschland, leaving the Romanians behind. While entering the village from Sibiu, you get the view below.

You might notice that something isn’t right and I assure you that the photo is well-balanced and respects a vertical alignment. Yes, the tower is tilted to one side! You see it correctly! The tower belongs to the Evanghelic Church, built in 1741. It has begun to lean in 1858 and it kept doing this until nowadays (and nobody tried to stop this process). It is seen locally as a veritable “Pisa Tower of Transylvania”, although I felt uneasy when I saw it. Below is a more detailed image with the leaning tower. Some would say that “there is beauty in decay” and others would say that “in each negative situation there is also positivity” and “in each ugliness there is beauty”. This village is a practical example of turning something (thing or situation) in its opposite, something very Romanian, where the separation between good and evil is vaguely defined and forever shifting…