I guess that almost nobody living today knows who was Ioan Axente Sever, the man whose name was given to the ancient village of Frâua in 1931, known as Frauendorf in German and Asszonyfalva in Hungarian. I myself had to search for the name and it appears that Axente Sever was a Romanian revolutionary, born in this village, who participated in the Transylvanian Revolution of 1848. Anyway, we shall visit the fortified church from here, easily accessible from the national road between Sibiu and Mediaș.

Frauendorf is an old inhabited place, as archeological remains from the Neolithic, early Bronze Age, early Iron Age and Roman period have all been found in the area around the village. The Germans settled in the area in the 12th century and managed the place until the Second World War, when they were forcibly deported. Nowadays, according to the 2021 census, there are around 1800 inhabitants in the village, the majority being Romanians. The Germans have vanished completely.

The fortified church was first mentioned in 1322. It is built in the Gothic style and was put on the list of historical monuments. The village and the surrounding areas used to belong to the Apafi family, a Hungarian nobility that gave to the history of Transylvania 2 important figures: Michael I Apafi (Prince of Transylvania between 1661 and 1690) and his son, Michael II Apafi (also Prince of Transylvania between 1690 and 1699).

So… let’s visit the fortified church!

This time the entrance is obvious and, as usual, it is closed.

There are closed things and then there are the “very closed things“. Axente Sever is a very closed thing, as it has 2 padlocks instead of just one, both put on the same ring, although only one closes the door (as you can see in the image). That is a strong message for any tourist who happen to venture in the area: DON’T!

More worrisome is the notice above the entrance, which writes in Romanian: “Vizitarea obiectivului se face pe propria răspundere“, which translates in English to “Visiting the tourist attraction (objective) is at your own risk (on your own responsibility)”, a warning followed by 3 exclamation marks (!!!). So, if the padlocks weren’t enough, it is also written: you do this at your own risk, think again, maybe don’t come here at all! How on earth is tourism done in this country?! I guess it’s “high-risk tourism” so… here it is… those who venture here can find the danger they sought for… Leaving the joke aside, the warning has probably something to do with bricks falling and elements of the building wounding you, as I didn’t have the nerve to read an entire page in small font. The photo was taken with the zoom of my camera; it would have been impossible to be read by someone standing in front of the gate, as it was simply too high above. Now, as I read it for the first time, I find interesting pieces of advice, such as “don’t commit suicide by flying from the height of the walls”, “don’t hit your head against the low ceilings”, “don’t hit the other visitors with the doors while opening them”, “watch out for roofs falling (what else can you do?!)”, “don’t eat and don’t drink alcohol in the church”, “don’t smoke”, “don’t bring pets inside (not pet friendly therefore!)”, “watch your under-12 years old child” and “don’t run or climb on the walls”. These are indeed useful pieces of advice and it tells something about the expectations of the administration of the church… as well as about the degree of civilization of the population visiting the place…

How much for the experience (when it’s open)? It’s 10 lei (=2 euros) per person. Instead of making a simple banner, they painted the price on the old one, in the most unaesthetic way. There is a Romanian saying that states something like this: “it goes like this too” or “it works in this way as well” (“se poate și așa“). This is the quintessence of not having standards! Of course things can work in an acceptable fashion and in many ways, but not having the inner impulse to do things (or live one’s own life) in the best possible way tells a story of mediocrity and complacency. This is a principle, an attitude, a way of being in the world… And this is why, in Romania, things were, are and will never be more than the bare minimum…