Biertan is one of the most important Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania, having been on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1993.
It is documentary testified for the first time in 1283,along with other 7 villages, inhabited in that period by the Saxons of Transylvania,in a document about the taxes demanded to the Catholic priests from the Transylvanian - Saxon communities by the Catholic Capital from Alba Iulia.
The little town started to develop extensively during the reign of Hungarian kings Louis the Great (1342-1382) of the House of Anjou, and Sigismund (1387-1437) of the House of Luxemburgh. In 1572, Berethalom became the home of the Saxon Archdiocese.
The fortified church of Biertan was built in the beginning of the 16th century and was later surrounded by three separate walls. Standing on a hilltop, the fortified church overlooks the entire landscape and, with its seven bastions, gives a very impressive view.
Biertan is also famous for the Biertan Donarium - a fourth century Christian votive object found near the town of Biertan, in Transylvania, Romania.
Made out of bronze in the shape of a Labarum, it has the Latin text EGO ZENOVIUS VOTUM POSVI, which can be approximatively translated as "I, Zenovius, offered this gift", or "I, Zenovius have kept my promise".
The donarium is made of a rectangular plate with an ear which writes in Latin "Ego Zenovius votum posui" and a circular locket attached to it that has Jesus Christ's monogrammed cross inside it.
It was found in 1775 about 5 km south of Biertan and was used as an argument for the existence of a Latin-speaking Christian population in Dacia (the ancestors of Romanians) and the Christianization process in Dacia after the withdrawal of the Roman administration (271 A.D.) .