The abbey of Cârța dedicated to “Beatae Mariae virgin de Candelis” belonged to the ,omastic order of Cistercians. Regarding it’s construction, supposed are the years 1202-1209 when the abbey was settled as a daughter foundation of Igrish Abbey on the lower Mures valley. The first abbot known was magister Gocelinus, also mentioned with Cisnadioarana Church, and who perhaps had come from the Pontigny Cistercian Abbey.
In the 13-th and 14-th century this abbey, as the most eastern outpost of the order was an important and influent settlement. Unless tatar invasion in 1241 and following turkish raids 1421,1432,1438 the damages of devastation have been removed again and again.
In 1474 the settlement was supressed by the hungarian king Mathew, its’ possesions being transferred to the Sibiu fortress. In 1495 the buildings were restored by Sibiu city rulers, when the southern part was also transformed in the parohial house.
In 1846 the organ balcony and the wooden vaults above it completed the sacral space. In 1913/1914 the Budapest Academy repaired and restored the whole complex. The monastery buildings, as they can be restitued from the ruins, consist of a large dimensions church ( 54m long and 20m wide ) and a series of stories high monastic edifices, erected on the three sides of a square yard as a south side extension of the church.
