The name of Burgberg (Hill of the citadel) associated with the Fox appears first mentioned in an act from 1248, but it is only from 1296 that the documents mentioning the graves of this settlement multiply. Vurpăr village, located in the middle of Sibiu county, hides one of the oldest Romanesque basilicas in Transylvania. From the eardrum of the northern portal two strange beings guard the entrance: one brings a lion, and the other has a cat's head, a fish's body and feline limbs. Both flank a plant, which has been interpreted as a lily or the Tree of Life. The lily is a sign of the veneration of the Virgin Mary, while the Tree of Life appears in Christianity as the middle of paradise and often represents the symbol of the Savior. In mythology this tree is located in the center of the world as axis mundi. Its branches rise to the sky, and its roots descend deep into the dust, thus becoming a bridge between heaven, earth and the underworld. The basilica built in the first half of the 13th century, before the Mongol invasion, is reduced in size, being part of a group of short buildings. It has a square choir with polygonal apse that replaced it in the dry. 15th on the semicircular one. It is flanked by the absidioles built in the eastern part of the collateral. The sacristy on the southern side dates from the same period. The baroque altar dates from 1776. + Contact: The keys are to Mr. Daniel Lederer tel .: +40/269/544 325 Fox, no. 677. + "More details": The side-vaulted naves are connected to the main nave, now paved, through square pillars with semicircular arches. The ship is illuminated by windows with a typical Romanesque profile. The two initial entry portals with simple framing belong to the same initial construction phase. The similarity of the two flat reliefs made during the northern entrance of the church pleads for the same period of construction of the basilica from Vurpăr and that of Ocna Sibiului. On one side and on the other of the tree of life are placed a lion and a legendary being with head and members of a feline and a fish body. In 1750 the bell tower was erected. the nineteenth still kept the road on watch. He replaced the one who collapsed at the 1620 earthquake. Oval curtain with thick stone walls up to two meters has a single gate tower. Its simplicity as well as its configuration is an argument for its dating in the sec. XIII, with the erection of the basilica.