Craftsmen and crafts

Our county welcomes culture lovers with a consistent potential, revealing to them a rich museum heritage. From open-air museums, which restore the image of the village of Maramureș from the old days, to those  speaking of history, art, astronomy, natural sciences and mineralogy or the memorial houses, carrying on the memory of local great personalities, Maramureș represent a true paradise for the amateurs of this type of tourism. The Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art of Maramureș, the Museum of Mineralogy "Victor Gorduza" Baia Mare, the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance or the Elie Wiesel Memorial House are just a few such institutions, proof of the  rich heritage of these lands. "Maramureș Museum Heritage Trail" has been recognized as a cultural tourist route in 2020, including 34 museums and memorial houses from the entire County of Maramureș, namely: 1. Maramureș County  Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art 2. Maramureș County  Museum of History and Archaeology 3. The County  Museum of Art << Baia Mare Artistic Center>> 4. Butchers' Bastion 5. Stephen's Tower 6. County Museum of Mineralogy "Victor Gorduza" Baia Mare 7. Museum of Astronomic Sciences Baia Mare 8. Village Museum "Home" (Acasă) 9. Totfalusi Kis Miklós Museum 10. "Ion Şugariu" Memorial House 11. "George Pop de Băseşti" Memorial Museum 12. Teleki Castle - Petofi Sándor Museum 13. Florean Museum 14. The museum collection of the Rohia Monastery 15. Ethnographic and Folk Art Museum "Casa Lăpușeană" 16. Lăpuş Village Museum Collection - Ruoaia Monastery 17. Museum and Monumental Complex "Dr. Vasile Lucaciu" 18. Born and Papp Museum 19. "Dr. Ilie Lazar" Memorial House 20. Maramureș Village Museum 21. Maramureș Ethnographic Museum  22. Maramureș Museum - Department of History - Archaeology 23. Maramureș Museum - Department of Natural Sciences 24. Memorial to the Victims of Communism and the Resistance 25. "Elie Wiesel" Memorial House 26. Department of History of Culture - Memoirs - Art - House Museum Dr. Ioan Mihalyi de Apşa 27. "Stan Ioan Pătraș" Memorial House 28. Museum of icons and old book "Bishop Gavril of Bârsana" 29. Pleş Peasant Museum 30. Museum of the Romanian Peasant Woman 31. The Collection of the Hutsuls of Maramureş 32. Museum of History and Ethnography, Vișeu de Sus 33. The Memorial Ensemble of the Martyrs from Moisei 34. Roots Museum

Wooden churches are a defining reality for the spiritual geography of the Romanian people everywhere. Collective work, often anonymous, the wooden churches of Maramureș are a reflection of socio-economic and historical conditions, a convincing demonstration of the continuity of an ancient spiritual life. They are documents of certain authenticity not only by the elements of their appearance, reflecting the unity of the Romanian people, but also by the role they have fulfilled in the life of Transylvanian Romanians: national tribune, school, settlement of culture and art, realities whose meaning is harmoniously intertwined with their attribute of the history of the public. In other words, wooden churches are a defining reality for the spiritual geography of the Romanian people everywhere. It is necessary and appropriate to value this inestimable heritage. Therefore, the overall objective of the project is to make sustainable use of the tourist potential of wooden churches recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Values and Cultural Heritage Values of national and universal importance, by creating and improving the related infrastructures respectively by including them in a cultural-religious tourist circuit, which will lead to a qualitative increase in all the conditions for the practice of this form of tourism, with a direct impact both on the increase of tourist attractiveness of Maramureș County and on its consecration as a European tourist destination. The wooden churches of the Maramureș area are distinguished by planimetry, the technique of wooden joints and the realization of shingle coverings, being a definite proof of the ingenuity of the constructive solutions performed at the highest level of artistic expression. They were raised on heights where verticality imposed specific visible constructive solutions in the making of the serpents and spires provided with a gazebo in which the bell tower was usually covered with a prolonged dome provocatively to the sky, at the top of which is fixed a wrought iron cross of elaborate shape. The architectural ensemble of Maramures has evolved over time according to the skill, experience and fantasy of local builders, they manage to impose a certain style in the plastic rendering of ornamental shapes and motifs. There are, however, some differences between churches built in the different areas of Maramures: • wooden churches that impose themselves by monumentality performing in some cases the role of real cathedrals by their dimensions, but also by the boldness of lines and proportions; • wooden churches that stand out for the spectacular spires and the beauty of the serpents; • smaller but perfectly proportioned wooden churches with high-accuracy interior and porch ornaments; • wooden churches that stand out for the beauty of functional porches. However, these differences, which are only modality ones do not affect the style or the overall architectural line and consist of certain accents and shapes specific to each area.