Csíkszentgyörgy (Ciucsângeorgiu) is a Hungarian village in Transylvania, in the Romanian county of Hargita. It lies 22 km southeast of Csíkszereda, in the Fiság Valley, in the Csík Basin. It was first mentioned in 1332 as de Sancto Georgio. Its first church burnt down in 1336 when the present Roman Catholic fortified church was built.
Location: https://tinyurl.com/3c9bjhy2
“Its church, which is beautifully situated on a high plateau, is a handsome Gothic building, of which only the sanctuary remains in its original form, its pointed-arched windows with their fish-bowl moldings are indicative of the late Gothic period; its pointed-arched triumphal arch and its vaulted ceiling resting on simple buttresses show an excellent and finished work. Its nave is rebuilt in the Renaissance style. Its former fortified fence was made in 1673…”
(Orbán Balázs: Description of Székelyföld)
The fortified church of Csíkszentgyörgy can be seen on the left bank of the Fiság at an altitude of 757 meters. It was built in 1336. The church was repaired and enlarged several times over the centuries, and in the 15th and 16th centuries, it was rebuilt in the late Gothic style. The loophole wall surrounding the church cemetery was probably built in the 17th century. The rest of the wall may have been built somewhat earlier, also in the 17th century.
The present south-eastern Gothic entrance to the cemetery surrounding the church, with its forms and ornaments, must have been built in the 19th century. The Baroque bell tower was built in the 18th century, but probably in the early 19th century. In 1821, a side wing was added to the south side of the nave, the stone frame of the south side entrance was built into the parish doorway, and the western pointed arch doorway of the nave was walled in. The sacristy of the church has been modified several times, with the addition of a steel-beam vault.
The old church was given a new form in the Gothic period. The sanctuary with its pointed-arched windows, pointed-arched triumphal arch, and simple vaulting on buttresses is still intact. The cross-ribs are set in squares and three triangular keystones. The keystones have circular carvings in the panels and the shields are painted with dates. It is probable that behind the paintings were coats of arms. The apse ends with three sides of an octagon.
The nave originally had a flat wooden ceiling. The old side wall overhanging the present Baroque vault shows traces of frescoes from the early 16th century. Its painted wood-paneled ceiling was destroyed in the Tatar invasion of 1661. The entrance under the tower, the sacristy door and one of the door frames of the crypt are in Gothic style with a lowered arch. It has three stone window frames of masterly carving.
The present church is a north-west oriented building with a polygonal sanctuary, reinforced by buttresses. A sacristy was added to the north wall. The west side of the nave has a ground floor of a lean-to tower without buttresses, with a doorway with an eyebrow-frame opening into the tower base. From here there was also a door to the nave, but this was later walled up.
The two stories of the tower, above the doorway, are pierced by a single loophole in three directions. This lower part is separated from the upper by a strong belt parapet. On three sides of the third and fourth stories, there is a narrow loophole. On the fifth floor of the tower, four gabled window openings with pointed arches are visible, albeit blurred.
The characteristic feature of the loopholes of the Csíkszentgyörgy tower is that they form a transition between the loopholes and the pitch troughs sunk into the wall, as their lower part slopes outwards in a sloping and slightly wider pattern. There are no similar loopholes on any church tower in Székelyland.
Today the tower is covered by a tin onion-shaped roof with a clock sills. The south-west and north-west corners of the nave are each supported by a diagonal buttress. On the south side is a later added side wing with the date 1821 on the façade. On the south, southeast, and east sides are windows with a peaked arched pilaster and a central divider.
There are three equally spaced pillars on the north side of the nave, with the same design as the north-west corner pillar, and with double aqueducts. The nave is covered by a cradle vault dome. The sanctuary has a Gothic vault with a polygonal arch and three rectangular sections. The church includes the Rosary Chapel. The bastion of the crypt was rebuilt in 1673. Two heroes of the Battle of Xántus Valley in 1694, Tompos István, a Chief Székely nobleman, and Szebeni István, a teacher, are buried here.
The church is notable for its mid-18th century pulpit and its high altar from 1796 with two beautiful wooden sculptures, but also for its Baroque cloisters. Its carved baptistery was built in 1731 and its organ in 1865, the 65th work of the organ builder Kolonits István.
There are two old crucifixes in the church. One is a small cross (pacificale) with the inscription 1603 BED BZG. The reliefs on the four corners depict St George, Christ on the cross, the Virgin Mary, and St John. The other crucifix dates from the 16th century. On this pedestal, which rises from the base of the cross, are statues of Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary, and on the back of the cross are the symbols of the Passion and the four Evangelists.
Its fortified wall was built in the 17th century (according to its inscription in 1673). In 1661 the Crimean Tatars burnt it down together with the village. The ancient settlements of Csécsény, Monyasd, Rakottyásd, and Tompád were destroyed by the Tatars, and their inhabitants moved near the Fiság.
The church is surrounded by an irregularly shaped 2-3 m high fortified stone wall with loopholes. Outside the eastern side of the defensive wall, in a rectangular recess, is the inscription 1673/VA: Ficz GK. To the north of this, within the walls, is a small semicircular chapel with a shrine enclosure. The Rosary Chapel is closely attached to the church.
On the southwest side of the defensive wall is a doorway with a segmental arched frame, leading to the priest’s lodge. The walls are externally reinforced by stout buttresses. The loopholes are spaced approximately evenly apart, with thick oak boards at the top of the niches.
In the north-western corner is the stone gate tower, which was built after the defensive walls were completed. Its gate is closed by a segmental arch, and the opening to the courtyard is lined with a semicircular carved stone frame with the letter M incised in the plinth. On three sides of the floor, there is a narrow slit window with a wooden frame. The window niches flare inwards in a recessed pattern. The fence wall is covered by a half-shingled potted roof sloping down to the courtyard.
The history of research on the castle church dates back to the 19th century. In his notes, Benkő Károly only mentions the clock tower and the inscription on the cloister wall. In 1929, Keöpeczi Sebestyén József wrote about the similarities between the castle churches of Csíkrákos and Csíkszentgyörgy. According to him, both churches were built by the same master, as indicated by the similar carvings and decorations.
In 1707 the village was overrun by the Imperial army of General Acton, and in 1719 a plague epidemic struck. In 1784, the settlement was granted the right to hold a weekly fair. In 1910 it had 2127 inhabitants, predominantly Hungarian. Until the Treaty of Trianon, it belonged to the Kászonalcsík district of Csík County. In 1992, 1,657 of its 1,960 inhabitants were Hungarians and 3 Romanians. The parish church, dedicated to St. George, celebrates its feast day on 25 April.
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Here are a few more pictures of the church:
