Photos

The Black Church

The Black Church is one of the most important and doubtlessly the most imposing monument built by the German people from Transylvania in their 850 years of history. The name "Black Church" was conferred to the main Evangelic - Lutheran Church of German language from Brasov after the catastrophic fire in 1689, when the whole city was actually burnt. The flames and the smoke blackened its walls, but the sumptuousness and the greatness of the church couldn't be destroyed.

The Black Church, having a length of 89m, is the biggest Gothic church between Vienna and Constantinople. Its building was begun in the Gothic style in 1383 on the place of a church from the first half of the 13th century; its first head being the priest Thomas Sander. Being finished to a great extent, the church was seriously damaged during the first Turkish invasion in 1421. The building was finished and the church was dedicated until 1477, its patron being the Holy Virgin.

Nowadays the church has only three from the six bells which existed at first. The big bell, having a 6300 kilos weight, is the biggest church bell in Romania. It has an extremely beautiful sound and it can be heard on the occasion of the great church holidays.

The Baroque Pulpit from 1696, which was donated by a butcher's patron , integrates itself well in the general image of the church. The coat of the city - a crown on a tree trunk - and the coat of arms of the King Matei Corvin can be noticed on the column from the central nave, opposite to the pulpit.

The Pews from the two lateral naves are adorned with beautiful wooden Baroque sculptures and with panels of the gilds, on which interesting folk motives are painted. The oldest dates from 1696, the others being from the first half of the 18th century.

The Choir's Pews were made in the second half of the 19th century. The wooden oak benches were donated to the church in 1937.

The funeral stones of some important citizens of the city, buried in the church from the 16th century to the 18th century, are displayed in the two rooms which frame the western entrance hall.

The Northern hall houses an exhibition about the life and activity of the reformer Johannes Honterus, and the Southern hall houses an exhibition about history, the history of the building and restoring of this worship place.

The Organ having a number of 4000 pipes, was created in 1838-1839 by the organ creator Buchholz from Berlin and it ranks among the biggest organs in the South-Eastern Europe. It is the only organ of the Buchholz's firm which was preserved in its original aspect. During the summer months organ recitals can be heard daily, being attended by many lovers of "musica sacra", from the country and from abroad.

A treasure of a special value belonging to the church is represented by the collection of Anatolian carpets, most of them from the 17th and 18th centuries. They come from Bursa, Usak and Gordes from Asia Minor. The Black Church has the richest collection of this kind in Europe.

Source: www.agrotour.ro

Photo info:

Taken from the Town Wall before nightfall. The small tower in the right is the tower of the Old Town Hall, located in the middle of the Council Square. The Black Church is surrounded by medieval houses, visible in the foreground. I hope you like it!

Here is the EXIF:

ExposureProgram - Manual control
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ShutterSpeedValue - 10 seconds
ApertureValue - F 7.10
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
Flash - Not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 40 mm
ExposureMode - Auto bracket
WhiteBalance - Auto

Post Processing:

- taken with multiple exposures and assembled in CS2;
- RAW to TIF to JPG;
- cropped, resized and applied signature in CS2;