Fortified Church Dedrad / Deutsch-Zepling

Dedrad / Deutsch-Zepling

The old church of Dedrad was demolished in 1873, but had already been closed before because of the danger of collapse. Michael Seyfried designed the hall church with bell tower and sacristy, built between 1876 and 1884. Its construction had to be interrupted in the meantime due to lack of money. The master builder was Johann Müller from Reghin. The church is illuminated by four large windows on the north and south walls. Under the windows are galleries, the organ gallery in the west is on two wooden pillars. A pointed triumphal arch separates the choir from the nave. Bishop Georg Daniel Teutsch consecrated the church in 1884. The neo-Gothic altar with rich decoration shows Jesus walking on the sea in the central picture. The organ made by the Wegenstein company in 1928 was destroyed during the Second World War.

Village

It is estimated that a total of 43,000 church bells were confiscated in the German Reich and Austria-Hungary during World War I to meet the enormous demand for non-ferrous metals for shells and ammunition. Like many Saxon parishes, Dedrad lost two of its three bells in this way. In 1923, the municipal council decided to purchase two new bells to restore the triad. The company Schilling & Lattermann from Apolda in Thuringia was commissioned. On July 20, 1924, the people of Dedrad were able to ceremoniously receive their two new bells, one weighing 400 kg, the other 1,600 kg, at the Reghin train station. The ecclesiastical bulletins record: “Dedrad, the largest, the best disciplined and most efficient, but also the most Saxon of the congregations in the Reghin church district, is also the first to hear again the solemnly raising, for years silenced bell triad, also a result of their efficiency. For to raise 200,000 lei in such a short time, in addition to the known other burdens, as in Dedrad, that is an achievement and a good proof of the spirit that prevails there…”

Keys are with:
Mr. Johann Göttfert
phone: +40/743/304 704