Reformed Church of Dalnic

The stone church of the settlement is believed to have been built in the second half of the 13th century. At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century it was completely demolished and replaced by a larger, wider church built in the late Gothic style. In the 15th century the church was already surrounded by a wall. Between 1791-1797 the tower situated in the castle wall was rebuilt, but unfortunately it collapsed just a year after it was finished. In 1806 the sanctuary was demolished, including the arch, and rebuilt with an extension to the east. In 1818 the south door was walled in, and the south portico with an entrance was built, as well as the external staircase on the east side. In 1864, they completely replaced the roof. In 1912, the wall was demolished and a new portico was attached to the south portico, between 1914-1922. In 1977 the church was damaged again by an earthquake. After the earthquake debris was removed, an inscription in Szekler script (runic script) was found on the inside of the west wall, together with a Latin inscription in Gothic script running along the west and north sides, dating from the 15th to 16th centuries. The inscription contained many so-called ligatures, which have led to several possible interpretations over time. There were those who thought to find the word “Dánok” in it, Bálint Mike and Ferenc Kósa read: “István Kádár kneels before his lord, his God” and Márta Zomorainé Cseh’s: “Give your sweet woman face to God in the morning”. In terms of technique, the characters were scratched, scratched and painted, as well as just painted on the wall. The Latin inscription in Gothic letters translates as “in the year of our Lord 1526, the roof and vaulting of the church of St. Catherine was begun, built and finished by…chief manson omehl, on the 29th of September”.
Among the furnishings of the interior of the church, the 1765 communion table, made in the Gregorius Rösler joinery in Bodendorf, as a donation of Péter Miklós of Dalnic, and the pulpit crown, the oldest inscription of which dates back to 1779 are also worth mentioning. The painted pew and pulpit pews are the work of Katalin Hervai and József Mike.
The parish owns three bells. The first one was cast in 1530, and was re-cast in 1799 in Brasov in the workshop of master Andrásofszki. The inscription reads: “IN ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE, I WAS NEW AND RARE, UNTIL ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT…IN Dalnic I COLLAPSED TOGETHER WITHTHE TOWER, AND I WAS RENEWED IN BRASOV IN ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY-NINE.” The second bell was cast in 1926 in the Schilling and Latterman factory in Thuringia. The inscription reads: “MY PREDECESSOR WAS TAKEN TO BATTLE, I PREACH PEACE, I CALL THE LIVING TO LIVE, AND I WEEP FOR THE DEAD. CAST FROM A DONATION OF THE PARISHIONERS OF THE Dalnic REF. CHURCH IN 1926”. Our youngest bell was cast in 1995 in Târgu Mures. The inscription reads:
“If God is with us, who is against us…” Rom. 8,31 Dalnic 1995, Cast by Sándor Rácz and sons, M.VÁSÁRHELY.

By prior arrangement the church can be visited by groups outside visiting hours!