Archita / Arkeden - Transylvania
Romania
Romania
The village of Archita, founded in the 1290s.
Superb book on Transylvania's medieval fortified church towns and villages by famed 'from-the-air' photographer Georg Gerster - Wort und Welt, 1997.
The village is 8 miles from the main road but astride a main rail line. Once counting 11 'Saxon' residents until recently. There is now only one left. About 650 Romanians and Romas occupy the village. The photos above taken in the early 1990s show buildings still well maintained and gardens well tended. Today decay has set in, roofs are caving in, fields are not well tended, vacant lots are appearing. In the photo bottom left, the whitewalled school has has been torn town.