Church of the Dormition, Strei

The Orthodox church in the village of Strei, part of the town of Călan, is one of the oldest and most representative medieval buildings in Transylvania. Once the court chapel of the local knez family, it blends Romanesque forms — the massive tower with its stone spire, the narrow windows — with early Gothic features such as the rib-vaulted sanctuary and the pointed west portal. Its dating is debated: the late 13th century or the second half of the 14th century.

Small and built of rough stone, the church has a bell tower on its west front, a short nave and a rectangular sanctuary. Two reused Roman funerary stelae can be seen at the base of the tower, and the surrounding graveyard partly overlies a Roman villa rustica.

Inside survives a valuable set of medieval murals — Christ in Glory and the procession of apostles in the sanctuary, the Annunciation and Saint Nicholas in the nave — linked to the master painter Grozie, named in an inscription in the sanctuary. The murals were restored in 1970–1972 by the painter Nicolae Sava.