ABOUT PRINCE CHARLES’
BIT OF TRANSYLVANIA

-text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
design Florin Alexandru Stancu-

In 2015 July
I crossed Transylvania
and here are more pictures which I took from the speed of the bus.

























































































More precisely on 2015 July 25, going south,
I caught the sunset near the Rupea Citadel
(initially Rumi Dava under Geto-Dacians,
then Rupes Castrum under the Roman conquerors
and then Reps Burg under the German (Saxon) colonists,
who re-made it in the current form in the 13th century).



The Saxon colonists came to Transylvania in the 12th century
as Royal Guests of the Kings of Hungary
(who had conquered this large voivodeship in between
the 9th century and the 12th century)
to administrate some of the border territories
over the Romanian local population.

It is interesting that, during the pass of the centuries,
the Transylvanian Saxons gave exceptional personalities in Europe’s history,
such as Conrad Haas (the inventor of the three-stage rocket in the 16th century),
Johannes Honterus (author in the 16th century of Rudimenta Cosmographica,
the first handbook of astronomy in verses)
and Hermann Oberth (one of the founders of astronautics).



Their main region was Sieben Stuhle (Seven Chairs),
and the small town of Rupea (Reps), placed at the foot of the citadel,
was one of the Capitals of these chairs.



I returned to the Rupea Citadel in 2018-06-09,
this time going north.

































From here I went west for a few kilometers to a traditional Saxon village,
Viscri (Veishiric in the Transylvanian Saxon dialect),
where Prince Charles of Great Britain had bought a property in 1996.

Then he helped the development of the zone
(left by Saxons, who had emigrated to Germany)
and the restoration of the local fortified church.

















































































Obviously, I stopped a little
to see just Prince Charles’ “House”.

















And I visited the fortified church of Viscri,
which was included in the UNESCO Heritage
after the intervention of Prince Charles’ team.









































































































A forgotten treasure,
hidden among trees,
which was brought back to brightness.



Returning to Bucharest
I remembered that just before starting to that expedition
I had seen Mars, also among trees,
lonely and so isolated from the giant planets,
going to its great opposition.

This made me think again of Viscri,
so isolated from the main roads…

And I wrote:

Inspire yourself
From the cosmic seeds
And respect the people
Who make astral deeds.



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© 2019 SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)