The Museum of Maramureş - The Natural Sciences Department

The hero-poet, Ion Șugariu, was born in 1914 in Băița and has distinguished himself throughout his life by his important publishing activity, highlighted by his collaboration with well-known publications, at national level. His debut poem, "Hymn to youth", was published in 1934 in the "Observatorul" magazine. During his university studies at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, he was appointed President of the Refugee Students Association. During the Second World War, Ion Șugariu was forced to give up his career in order to serve his country, initially as a reserve officer of a training school, and later as a member of an Infantry Regiment. The poet passed away during the horrors of war in Czechoslovakia, where he had remained, after being sent to Hungary in 1944. He left behind an important wartime manuscript, a diary describing the emotional impact of the battlefield experience. The house that today bears his name was donated to the state in 1976 by Floarea Șugar and was in the patrimony of the Maramureș County Museum until 2008, when it entered into the administration of the Local Council of Tăuții-Măgherăuș. Those who visit the small parental home of the talented poet and journalist have the opportunity to discover, in one of the rooms, documents, letters and manuscripts describing the author's life, and in the second room, a decoration specific to the traditional homes of miners in this area.

Elie Wiesel Memorial House is a special place that honors the memory of one of the most famous personalities of Maramureș. The first attempts to evoke the culture of Maramureș Jews took place in the early 70's, when the Maramureș Village Museum wished to represent the Jewish culture, an initiative that materialized through the restoration and arrangement of two houses that belonged to Jewish families. After the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1986 to Professor Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the concentration camps that took the life of millions of Jews, efforts were made for many years to turn the house where he was born into a museum. The Elie Wiesel Memorial House, which opened its doors to the public only in 2002, is located right in the house where the famous novelist, playwright, essayist and memorialist lived until the age of 15, in one of the old Jewish neighborhoods in Sighetu-Marmației. After experiencing the horrors of Jews and other minority groups during World War II, Elie Wiesel published nearly 40 volumes describing the inhuman treatment of the victims of the Holocaust in Nazi extermination camps. In the rooms of the memorial house are exhibited pieces of furniture and decor that belonged to Jewish families, but also a reconstruction of Elie Wiesel's desk, along with documents and photographs on the life of the memorialist. Also, one of the rooms of the house evokes the consequences of the Vienna Dictate, which led to the deportation of Jews from Maramureș and one room presents the cultural relations that Elie Wiesel had with other personalities of the Jewish community in Sighetu Marmației. The courtyard of the house was arranged as a space for recreation and silence, a good place to contemplate the cruel truths revealed inside the museum.

Born in 1895, Ilie Lazăr distinguished himself as a lawyer and, above all, as a politician. He fought in the First World War, after which he was a member of the Romanian National Party in Hungary and Transylvania and then a deputy on behalf of the National Peasant Party. Dr. Ilie Lazăr is one of the historical personalities from these lands who contributed to the accomplishment of the Great Union, being delegated to the Great National Assembly in Alba Iulia. The memorial house from Giulești is also related to the historical period of the Great Union, here being summoned the members of the Maramureș delegation who then signed the union of Maramureș with Wallachia. The building, which is a monument of traditional architecture, was erected in 1826 and originally belonged to the Greek Catholic archpriest Vasile Mihalyi, and was later inherited by the Lazarus family. The house with oak soles and walls made of spruce beams combined in a "blockbau" system respects the traditional Maramures typology. Those who cross the threshold of the boyar house with six rooms will discover documents, photographs and manuscripts from the Union period, as well as an exhibition of local ethnography.

The church dedicated to "St. John the Baptist" dates from 1704, when it was erected on the old hearth of the village, being relocated about a century and a half later in its current location. The holy edifice, built of clay and brick, is plastered both inside and outside, having a structure that includes a narthex, nave and polygonal altar. The interior walls are painted with floral motifs and adorned with recently painted icons.

Although its construction began in 1800, the "St. Varvara" church was completed only in 1812. Its decoration was carried out almost a century later, the painting of the interior walls dating from 1909. The edifice stands out through the 34 m high turret, but also by the fact that the altar and the pulpit were carved in massive salt. The patron saint of this church was not chosen by chance, St. Varvara being the protector of the miners, but also of prisoners, geologists and architects. 

The Reformed Church in Berchez surprises by the antiquity of the foundation on which it was built, which is dated around the 15th century. Over time, the edifice has undergone several stages of rehabilitation, the current nave being erected in 1804. The church shelters an impressive pipe organ, built in 1904.

Erected in the 18th century, the wooden church from Remetea Chioarului originally had the name "St. Nicholas". Architecturally, the church has a rectangular layout, a detached, pentagonal altar apsis and a two-sided roof. The turret has a square layout, a mid-level and a console-type balcony. Visitors can admire the vegetal motifs painted on the interior walls, which still bear traces of the original painting.

Ridicată în anul 1720 pe un deal din partea de vest a satului, Biserica de lemn „Sfinții Arhangheli Mihail şi Gavril” din Culcea este constituită din pridvor, pronaos, naos și altar poligonal. Acoperișul este șindreluit, iar turnul cu turla conică este amplasat deasupra pronaosului. Din păcate pictura interioară se află într-o stare de degradare avansată, motiv pentru care nu poate fi restaurată.

The wooden church "Saint Nicholas" from Cornești dates from 1615, yet dendrochronological research has revealed that the altar was built a century later. It is a classic Maramureș church, first of all because of the two skirts of the roof. The interior is decorated with canvas paintings plastered on wooden walls.