
In Biertan, the locals raised three rows of walls, reinforced with 6 towers and 3 bastions, which turned the church-fortress into one of the strongest fortifications in southern Transylvania. The settlement prospered, and as a sign of their wealth, the Biertan Saxons decided to rebuild the church in the centre, and dedicate it to Saint Mary. The construction was carried out between 1486 and 1524, following a late Gothic style. The three naves church in Biertan is the last of its kind built in Transylvania. The Saxons had hoped that they would acquire their own ecclesiastical hierarchy, given the almost permanent state of conflict between the Saxon clergy and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Alba Iulia. The failure to receive a proper bishop from the Catholic Church only encouraged the Saxons to adopt the religious reform. Biertan took full advantage of this phenomenon.