Heltau is an industrious little place. Here is manufactured the peculiar
white frieze so much worn by the Wallacks. Nearly every house has its
loom, but I was told the trade is less flourishing than formerly. The
woollen-cloth manufacturers of Transylvania have suffered very much from
the introduction of foreign goods; but, on the other hand, if they would
bestir themselves they might enormously increase their exports. Heltau
is a market-place, and reserves many old privileges very jealously. Its
inhabitants were often in dispute with the burghers of Herrmannstadt,
and on one occasion they had the audacity, in rebuilding their
church-tower, to place four turrets upon it. Their neighbours regarded
this with great indignation, for are not four turrets the sign and
symbol of _civic_ authority? The burghers of Herrmannstadt hereupon
obliged the men of Heltau to sign a bond, saying that "they were but
humble villagers," and promising to treat their haughty neighbours with
all due "honour, fear, and friendship."
From Heltau I went on to Michaelsburg, an extremely curious place. In
the centre of a lovely valley rises a conical rock of gneiss, protruding
to the height of 200 feet or more. This is crowned by the ruins of a
Romanesque church. There are, I believe, only two other specimens of
this kind of architecture in the country. The time of the building of
Michaelsburg is stated to be between 1173 and 1223.
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