We continue our journey and we cross back to Sibiu County, arriving in the commune of Merghindeal (Mergeln in German) and in its village of Șulumberg (the old Romanian name) or Dealu Frumos (Schönberg in German, Lesses in Hungarian). We are about to see how beautiful is the “mountain”, as “schön” translates to “beautiful” and “berg” to “mountain” in German.

First, one has to notice the quality of the road and its cleanliness. That mud should have been cleaned, as it’s obvious there are strata of it, but this involves having people around and… Schönberg has now only around 600 inhabitants according to the most recent census from 2021. One could argue that you need only a handful of people to keep the place clean, but what if they are all old or have left the country?

Then, the Merghindeal commune as a whole has only about 7% Germans and 1% Hungarians, and although the 2 nations are known to be clean and civilized, the number is not enough, so they apparently prioritized the trimmed bush (to the right) and the main buildings of the community, leaving the road for the Romanian administration, resulting in this vibe of neglect. Yes, I have high standards when I know that people stay on social media while they have dirt in their community… and there is no long enough whip for the Romanian population if I were prime minister (which I am not)…

So I stopped on the side of the road… Silence… The rays of the sun crossing the branches of the trees in a mysterious way…

The village is fast asleep in the winter… The Fagaras Mountains are hidden somewhere in the clouds and snow, far away in the distance… However, a watchful eyes can weight the decay of those old houses… Strong German houses, standing for tens or perhaps hundreds of years… Yet, nobody in sight. And nobody in sight for the entire length of my visit… So let’s turn to the entrance of the fortified church, the most important sight of Schönberg…

The church was first built around the year 1300 in the Romanesque style. Schönberg itself is mentioned in 1321 as Pulcromonte (in Latin, “pulchra” means “beautiful” and “monte” means “mountains”). So yes, it was beautiful here back then, in the 12th century. By 1500, the village belonged to the Cincu Saxon Seat and at that time the church got its fortifications. It has always been a German community and this can be seen everywhere. Obviously, the church is on the list of the national architectural monuments. So let’s get closer and look at the banners at the entrance.

To beautify means to add superficial details and color while essentially doing nothing. It means pretending you care but not caring. It means to put an expensive banner that gets covered by snow and listing several sponsors at the bottom, while leaving the building as it used to be. Here is the proof. It writes “tradiție și tehnologie“, meaning “tradition and technology”. Where is the technology? And where are the traditions if there isn’t anyone on the street? Traditions mean people – living people – not ruined buildings (see the building behind the banner)! Living people keep the traditions alive! See?!

I appreciate the fact that we are “well-informed” about what we’re about to see, we get maps and advertising, but the essence is what? I want that experience, so let’s move and enter!

It is closed. Again and again. The church’s door (which looks like a window and has no stairs) doesn’t even have a handle (doorknob), so where should I press to get in or at least see if the door opens or not? As I said, it’s only “image”, “advertising”, but nothing – how should I say? – substantial. It’s like seeing a girl’s photo online and finding out while meeting her that she has no teeth and is not available to do more than talking and taking one more photo of the expensive food you bought for her… I know that this hits home for many people from the younger generation, something that makes me happy to be older and to have been lived in a different epoch…

But it’s 10 lei (2 euros), the visit. Again, too cheap. On a second look however, it writes “donație recomandată“, translated by “recommended donation”, which means that the visit is actually free and it is optional to offer this small (rather fixed-amount) donation. I guess this is very, very, very low self-esteem… It’s like “free sex, but a donation is welcomed”. Then, visiting hours from 10 AM to 8 PM. In winter it gets dark at around 6 PM, so I pondered a bit on those visitors coming here to visit at 6 PM, knowing that Schönberg is remote, practically in the wilderness, at around 1 hour and a half from any significant town in all directions, following tricky roads with plenty of serpentines… Also, note that the upper wooden part of the door is missing, and a crack is visible on the ceiling inside; they don’t even have wood in these places?!?

So I turned back, not knowing what to do… Where to from here?!?

Uphill, I guess…