FortiVacation - Your Medieval Getaway in Transylvania

The mission of the FortiVacation project is to bring new life to heritage buildings and try to imagine new uses which go beyond the original function of the fortified churches as places of worship. Therefore we aim to: 

• target heritage sites which have been neglected in the past by their local communities,

• empower the people from the villages and the rural authorities to build up a new relationship with the cultural heritage site, 

• ensure a proper further use of the cultural heritage site, in accordance with its architectural, esthetical, historical and heritage value,

• target newly formed „heritage communities“ and help them in strengthening their efforts in the maintenance of the cultural heritage sites, 

• enhance the fortified churches as places of common use

The region of Southern Transylvania has become a popular and safe travel destination for foreign and domestic tourists, thereby increasing the demand for high-standard accommodation in the region, but also for ways to explore the cultural heritage sites of the fortified churches in a new way.

For now, the project includes the fortified church of Curciu, in Sibiu county. In terms of the actual adaptive-reuse concept, we are focusing on transforming spaces in the tower of the defense systems that are built around the the church buildings itself, as well as other annex buildings like key keeper’s houses, into accommodation rooms, venues for events and exhibitions, apartments for artist in residence or spaces for work-away from home. We aim to offer the chance to discover the entire fortification, absorb the atmosphere of the place, as well as understands the history and architectural value of the medieval monument.

In an attempt to keep these cultural heritage sites relevant in the design of contemporary societies, we envisage the project as a way to combine the intervention at the construction level with an artistically and socially driven component as well, which can tackle the aim mentioned above: of establishing a new relationship between the local communities and the monument itself.  These can take the form of artist in residence programmes, ad-hoc cultural and artistic events or workshops, focusing on the community life and the importance of the cultural heritage site in their life. 

This way, we hope to encourage new, common collaborative living and working, as a form of community life that stood at the basis of the Saxon way of living and working, engaging local people, especially young generations, in the design of the new use of each fortified church.