The wooden church "The Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel" from Orțîța

Erected in the 19th century, the wooden church "The birth of the Blessed Virgin" has undergone several restoration processes, being covered in shingles and renovated on the outside in 2001. The church turret is only 12 m high, being provided with a closed steeple, above which rises a pyramidal coif with a cross at the top. The interior painting was made in 1862 by the painter Paul Weisz from Baia Mare, being preserved in good condition.

The wooden church "The birth of the Virgin Mary" from Călinești Căieni was made in 1663 from oak wood and later on, in the 19th century, was extended using fir wood. The interior of the church stands out through the set of murals made by Alexandru Ponehalschi.

The church dedicated to the "Ascension of the Lord" was built of wood, in 1992, according to the architectural specifics of the Maramureș churches. The cross-shaped place of worship has a narthex, nave and altar, being covered with shingles and having a tower with a long coif on top. Inside, the magnificent edifice houses an iconostasis carved in oak and adorned with Byzantine icons.

The wooden church "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" from Călinești Susani was erected in 1758, unusual among the wooden churches of Maramureș, its forms rather revealing Moldavian influences. The interior still preserves some fragments of the murals made in 1788. 

The wooden church "The Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel" in Răzoare dates from 1731, the painting of the interior walls, which can be attributed to Petre Diacul from Preluca, being made in 1759. The place of worship has a classical layout, consisting of porch, narthex, nave and a polygonal altar, with a bell tower with a steeple, over which rises a coif with a square base, rounded at the top. The exterior decoration, with geometric motifs, more highlighted at the level of the porch.

Dintr-un muzeu care redă viața satului maramureșean, nu putea lipsi simbolul credinței strămoșești. Așadar, vizitatorii se pot reculege într-o biserică de lemn, ridicată în anul 1630 și adusă aici din satul Chechiș, în 1939. Fiind o biserică "în cult", aici se săvârșesc slujbe religioase în fiecare duminică și în zilele de sărbătoare. Biserica poartă hramul Sfântului Mare Mucenic Gheorghe Purtător de Biruință și adăpostește icoane pe lemn din secolul 18, precum și icoane pe sticlă din secolul 19. Odată cu prăznuirea acestui sfânt, Muzeul Satului Baia Mare își deschide porțile pentru vizitatori. Această biserică a fost inclusă de către Centrul Județean pentru Conservarea și Promovarea Culturii Tradiționale "Liviu Borlan" Maramureș în proiectul său Biserici din Țara Chioarului.TururiVirtuale. Troița de lângă biserică a fost sfințită în 2019 și este decorată cu motive tradiționale specifice Maramureșului: funia, copacul vieții, simboluri astrale.

The village of Plopiş located in the Cavnic Valley is truly amazing in terms of how man's creativity intertwines with the beauty of the nature. Harmony, elegance and suppleness make the whole area a true temple, whose central point is the wooden church dedicated to the "Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel". The church cemetery can be entered through a gate which opens the path crossing through the tombs of the founders of this monument. In 1789, forty-nine families from the Cavnic Valley (in the current township of Şişeşti) began the construction of a new place of worship, which was consecrated in November 1811. The church in Plopiş, 47 meters high, 17 meters long and 7 meters wide, still stands on the plateau of the village cemetery, giving the feeling that, without it, nature would be incomplete. The edifice, erected on a stone foundation, consists of a porch, narthex, nave and altar. Included in the Maramureș style of construction, the church has, however, some characteristic elements: the upper beams of the walls do not extend into the console, the very narrow eaves confer suppleness to the monument. The ornaments of the porch arches, created with great accuracy, are made of several stepped or round-shaped wooden segments, so joining those using wooden nails solves the technical problems, as well as the artistic aspirations. All of this gives us another testimony of the mastery of the craftsmen from the Cavnic Valley. The iconography is impressive due to the theme chosen by the painter Ştefan, the author of this painting, as well as from Şurdeşti church. The Baroque style of the iconographic ensemble offers the painter the opportunity to develop metaphorical images that plastically illustrate complicated events from the Revelations according to St. John. The entire semi-cylindrical vault of the nave depicts the second coming of Christ, announced by the trumpets of angels. Archangel Michael, patron of the church in Plopiş, appears victorious above the balcony. On the western wall of the nave, Jesus Christ appears in the form of the sun, offering John the Evangelist the text of the Revelations. This whole iconographic ensemble, which speaks of the end of the world, is surrounded by the council of the twenty-four elders in John's vision, painted in the lateral lobes of the only three-lobed vault in Maramureş.   Although small in size, the stunning church in Plopiş shows a great sense of proportion, reason why some researchers consider it to be the most unitary and well-balanced wooden church in Maramureş.

The ancient hearth of human habitation, Iza Valley, is home to several villages whose history is lost in the mists of time. The village of Ieud was part of the domain of Bogdan from Cuhea, the legendary Maramureș voivode who, by conquering the lands east of the Carpathians and declaring independence from the Kingdom of Hungary, later became the founding Prince of Moldavia. According to legend, the Church of Ieud Deal, dedicated to the Birth of the Virgin Mary, was erected in the second half of the 14th century, but recent research dates it to the beginning of the 17th century. Built of fir wood, the monument is a testament, centuries later, of the mastery of carpenters in this region. The layout of the church was adapted to the needs of the Orthodox Christian cult, being composed of three rooms: narthex, nave and altar. The access inside the place of worship is made from the west, through a portal without decoration, recurrent at the entrance to the nave. Natural light penetrates the monument through small pentagonal windows. With only four pentagonal openings, the narthex is dark. The nave, however, enjoys more sunlight, coming from its twelve windows, six placed on each side: three at the lower level and three at the upper one. Above the narthex rises the famous Maramureș bell tower. Unique architectural solution for wooden constructions, the steeple supports a turret covered by a square-shaped coif with a square base, which points to the sky, defying the law of gravity, reminiscent of the audacious forms of European Gothic. The mural painting and the icons dating back to the 18th century give a special value to this monument. The church was painted in 1782 by Alexandru Ponehalschi, one of the most important representatives of the post-Byzantine current in Maramureş at that time. An original element of the Maramureș iconography is represented by the scenes in the nave of this place of worship, which capture the themes of conversion and baptism. It is about the baptism by Deacon Philip of a great Ethiopian ruler and the conversion of the Holy Apostle Paul. A true temple of the ancestral faith and culture, the church in Ieud preserved among its beams one of the oldest manuscripts in Romanian, also known as the "Codex of Ieud". The manuscript currently enriches the collection of the library of the Romanian Academy with its pages, full of spirituality and history. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Rada Pavel

Along the Iza Valley, the road that accompanies the Botiza and Poieni streams leads to the village of Poienile Izei, where the impressive wooden church "Pious Parascheva" is located. Built in the first half of the 17th century - a period when the Moldavian voivode Vasile Lupu brought the relics of the Pious Parascheva to Iaşi - the church is a testament, over the years, of the cultural and religious ties between the Romanians from Maramureş region and the Moldavians. The accurate shapes of the monument, along with the decorative elements obtained through the artistic direction of the wooden structure, impress and create harmony with the surrounding nature. The building observes the traditional configuration, with a narthex, nave and altar, to which a porch was later added. Unlike other preserved monuments, the shape of the altar is reminiscent of the ancient square-altared churches, an architectural solution rarely found today. The double-guttered roof is laid over the two-tiered walls. The altar has its own roof, laid slightly lower than that of other buildings. The bell tower is provided with the customary turret protruding from the console, covered with the specific coif. Sharp and very flared, it rests on the eight short pillars, connected at the top by carved wooden arches, and at the bottom - by the shingle-covered battlement. The iconography of the place of worship in Poienile Izei immortalizes the folk art of the Maramureș villages from the end of the 18th century. Traditional reminiscences, post-Byzantine themes and a baroque approach merge here in what has been called an "eclectic style". Painted in 1794 by the painter Gheorghe from Dragomireşti, the church stands out with some special thematic features. In addition to the dramatic scenes depicting the torments of sinners in Hell, a unique symbolic representation of Christ's sacrifice is painted in the nave. It is a pelican that tears its breast to feed its young with its own flesh; a tragic metaphor that speaks of the sacrifice of Christ and of the sacrifices of the natives of these places. These elements make this place of worship in Poienile Izei unique, but at the same time they do not exclude it from the style of the other wooden churches in Maramureş which are UNESCO monuments, therefore it certainly deserves its place among them. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Rada Pavel