Laslea

Laslea
Commune
Apafi manor in Mălâncrav
Location in Sibiu County
Laslea Location in Romania
Coordinates: 46°13′N 24°39′E / 46.217°N 24.650°E / 46.217; 24.650Coordinates: 46°13′N 24°39′E / 46.217°N 24.650°E / 46.217; 24.650
Country	Romania
County	Sibiu
Population  (2011)[1]	3,327
Time zone	EET/EEST (UTC+2/+3)
Vehicle reg.	SB

Laslea (German: Grosslasseln; Hungarian: Szászszentlászló) is a commune located in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of five villages: Florești, Laslea, Mălâncrav, Nou Săsesc and Roandola.

At the 2011 census, 61% of inhabitants were Romanians, 30% Roma, 7.5% Germans and 1% Hungarians. At the 2002 census, 76.2% were Romanian Orthodox, 7.2% Pentecostal, 5.7% Evangelical Lutheran, 5.2% Seventh-day Adventist, 2.6% Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession and 1.2% Baptist.

The apse of the Mălâncrav church

Villages[]

Florești[]

In Romanian, Florești was known as Felța until 1950.^[2]

Mălâncrav[]

Mălâncrav is a village in Laslea commune. An asphalt road of 13 km leads to the village. In the formerly majority Transylvanian Saxon village, there still is a small community of Saxons.

The Saxon Romanesque Lutheran church has early 14th-century Gothic murals in the apse, with 15th-century murals in the nave and a 15th-century late Gothic altar.^{[citation needed]} They constitute some of the most significant Gothic murals in Transylvania aside from those at Ghelința in Covasna County.^{[citation needed]} In later centuries the Apafi family (descending from a certain Saxon man named Apa;^[3] later a leading Hungarian noble family in Transylvania) buried their dead in the church, since they had overlordship in the village.^{[citation needed]} In 1902, the tomb chest of György Apafi, father of Mihaly Apafi, and his family was transferred to the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest.^[4]

The locality^{[clarification needed]} was not part of the autonomous Saxon territory, although it had a majority Saxon population until the 1970s^{[clarification needed]}.^{[citation needed]}

Prince of Wales and sustainable tourism[]

In 2006, the Prince of Wales bought and restored two 18th-century Saxon houses in the villages of Mălâncrav and Viscri to help protect the unique way of life that has existed for hundreds of years and promote sustainable tourism.

The buildings have been sensitively restored and converted into guesthouses for tourists. They remain in keeping with the surrounding architecture and feature a number of Transylvanian antiques but with modern facilities where possible.

The renovation of these buildings has helped provide a sustainable future for the people of rural Transylvania while also enabling residents to maintain their traditional way of life.^{[dubious – discuss]}

Cinema film[]

The film Malmkrog (2020) has been named after the village and was shot at the Apafi manor.

Mălâncrav church gallery[]

• 

  Exterior

• 

  The apse

• 

  15th-century altar

• 

  Apse ceiling

• 

  Jesus with the Cross on the Via Dolorosa (apse)

• 

  Hungarians saints: Bishop Gellert, King Ladislaus I, unknown, King Stephen I, his son Prince Emericus

• 

  Hanging of Judas

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  Ceiling. Around the keystone, from bottom left (cw): birth of Jesus, Annunciation, the four Evangelists, Presentation in the Temple, ?

• 

  Mark the Evangelist (ceiling)

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  The Last Supper and Christ washing the apostles' feet

See also[]

• Ghelința, St. Emeric Church: 13th-century murals
• Church on the Hill (Sighișoara), 14th-16th century murals
• Dârjiu, church murals from 1419

References[]