The land of wooden churches

The apsis from Şişeşti, which was once the altar of the church dedicated to "Saints Peter and Paul", was built of oak wood in 1675. The base of the edifice is surrounded by a twisted embossed belt, while wide consoles start from the centre of the walls. Above the twisted belt there are several wooden crosses. The interior walls still show traces of the original painting.

Erected in the middle of the 19th century, the apsis belonged to the wooden church "The Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel" in Cufoaia, of which only the polygonal altar, the stone of the Holy Table and the entrance door are preserved. Around the apsis, located on a hill in the central part of the village, there is an old cemetery, surrounded by fragments of a stone wall.

The "Assumption of the Virgin Mary” church in Copalnic was erected in 1735, with a stone foundation, stone masonry and a wooden superstructure. The medium-sized place of worship has a specific layout, respectively narthex, nave and altar. Over time, the church has undergone several stages of restoration, the most recent taking place between 2011 and 2012. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș

The church "Pious Paraschiva" in Cetățele was erected in 1794, being built of stone, with a wooden frame and asbestos roof. Although it has undergone numerous repairs, the church has preserved its layout, namely a porch, narthex, nave and altar. The church shelters extremely valuable icons made in 1754 and 1785, one of them being attributed to the famous painter Ștefan Zugravul.  *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș

Made in 1672 from fir wood on a stone foundation, the church is a small one, with an open porch, a narthex over which rises the tower, nave and altar. From the original painting of the interior walls, but also from the one that replaced it, made in 1871, only fragments are preserved today. The uniqueness of the edifice is given by the shape of the altar, the church being the only one in our county that has a polygonal altar, with six outer sides.

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. 

Erected in 1757 as a modest building, the wooden church "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" was moved about 100 years later to its current location. Here, as the population of the village grew, it was necessary to expand the church by adding a porch, steel-lattice and a turret. Also, the nave was enlarged and the altar was rebuilt. The changes made turned the church layout into an atypical one, as it no longer had a detached apsis. 

The wooden church "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" from Lăpuş dates back from1697, being built of ash wood on a stone foundation. The edifice was erected on a ship-type layout, with a turret with a conical spire. On the outside, the church has decorations on the walls and on the entrance portal, the predominant motifs being the honeycomb and the cenotaph crosses. Some fragments from the original painting can still be seen on the walls of the narthex and the nave.

According to a local legend, the wooden church dedicated to the "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" in Săcălășeni dates from 1442, being rebuilt in the 17th century. However, dendrochronological studies revealed that it was erected on the current site between 1723 and 1725. The edifice surprises by its impressive proportions, but also by the thickness of the beams and the very high bell tower. Inside, visitors can admire murals made in 1865. However, they are in an advanced state of degradation. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Florin Pop

The wooden church dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary from Șieu dates from around 1717-1720, but it underwent several restoration stages in the middle of the 18th century, in the first half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th  century. Some elements from the original construction have been preserved: the structure of the walls at the bottom, the old altarpieces, the openings in the interior consoles, fragments of a shutter window, the entrance to the porch and narthex, but also some old royal icons.

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 

Erected in 1699 in Vişeul de Jos, the "Pious Paraschiva" wooden church was offered to the people living in Botiza in 1899. The building is a good example of a classic Maramureș church, the roof having a double skirt. Also, the door frame at the entrance is decorated similar to the Maramureș gates, while the rope carved in wood surrounds the church.

Erected in 1928 from beech beams, the church "Pious Paraschiva" from Izvoarele is part of the classic category of churches with porch, narthex, nave and pentagonal altar. The exterior walls are covered with horizontally arranged paneling, while the interior walls are covered with plywood icons. The iconostasis of the edifice was brought from an old wooden church in Făurești. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș

With uncertain chronological belonging, which places it either in the 17th or in the 18th century, the wooden church "Pious Paraschiva" was moved from Suciu de Jos to the village of Rogoz, in 1883. The place of worship surprises with the proportions of the shingled turret, its coif being placed on eight truncated cone pillars. Inside, the painting was preserved in the narthex and on the steel-lattice, but it has degraded in the altar. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș

Made of oak wood around 1639, the "Pios Paraschiva" wooden church from Sârbi Susani reveals through the shape of the roof and the passage to the sacred part, some of the most archaic features found in the Romanian sacred wooden architecture. The entrance portal, which is believed to evoke a Byzantine calendar, has survived, offering invaluable value to the church.  *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Rada Pavel

The "Pious Paraschiva" wooden church in the village of Șugatag was built of oak wood and dates from 1698-1699. The proportions of the ensemble, the double-skirted roof above the narthex and nave and with single eaves above the altar, the tower with the turret protruding from the basic profile and an elongated coif with eight sides are just a few elements that include this place of worship in the typology of Maramureș wooden churches. The exterior walls are decorated with the motif of the rope, while inside only fragments of the painting that adorns the walls can still be seen.

The wooden church "Pious Paraschiva" in Stejera was erected in 1700 and is a small place of worship with a 13 m high turret and a porch with a front arch, which rests on three of the four original pillars. Inside, the walls are decorated with paintings made in 1843, which were reconstructed in 1848. Today, only a few scenes from the composition of that time can still be admired. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș

Built of oak wood in the 17th century, the "Pious Paraschiva" wooden church from Valea Stejarului is, due to its proportions, a classic Maramureș church. Inside, the paintings specific to Byzantine iconography, made on canvas, are preserved only in a small part. However, inside the building there are several valuable objects, such as: icons, ritual books, the triptych or the medallions on the royal doors. Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Rada Pavel

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 oldest building that enriches the patrimony of the Maramureș Village Museum is the church, relocated here from Oncești, where it had been brought from the village of Criciova, on the right bank of the Tisza River. The archaic features of the building are highlighted by small windows, the joined two-level structure and the presence of a royal and a deacon's door. The 16th century wall paintings were restored in 1802.

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 Ukrainian wooden church "Ascension of the Lord" in Poienile de sub Munte dates from around 1788-1798. Its architecture combines two styles, that of Maramureș and one with Ruthenian influence: the bell-shaped roof, but also the wide row of eaves. At the same time, the church also surprises with its positioning, as it is located on a straight piece of land, in the middle of an open courtyard.

The small wooden church dedicated to the "Entrance to the Church" in Dobricu Lăpușului was erected in the 18th century, being built of oak wood on a stone foundation. The layout of the edifice includes a narthex, a nave and a polygonal altar. The exterior walls are decorated around the entrance door, while the interior painting has been largely preserved, which is in line with the artistic style of the painter Radu Munteanu. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Florin Pop

Erected at the beginning of the 18th century, as a place of worship for an important monastic community, the current UNESCO heritage church was the cathedral of Bishop Gavriil of Maramureş. Born in Bârsana, the bishop patronized a monastery school and a book distribution center there. The events that have taken place in the last three hundred years on the Iza Valley have left their mark on the beams of the church in Bârsana, more than on other monuments.  At the end of the 18th century, the imperial court in Transylvania and Maramureş would impropriate the monastic properties and the close down of the monastic communities. This campaign directly affected the monastic community, which was forced to withdraw to Moldova. Left unprotected, the church would be saved by villagers, who dismantled it piece by piece and, around 1800, would rebuilt it on its current site. For a proper reassembly, the beams bear signs that can be admired today. Standing on a pedestal, the beams carved from large oak trunks - from which the walls were built - were joined at the corners in a "swallow's tail" pattern. For two hundred years, the church has been guarding the peace of the people of Maramureş, buried in the cemetery on Jbârului Hill, to the left of the road that starts from Sighetu Marmaţiei, along the Iza River. The layout of the church is rectangular, composed of four rooms: porch, narthex, nave and altar. The apsis of the altar has five sides, being covered with a simple roof. Above the other rooms of the worship place, the roof has two ridges, housing a balcony to the west. The ornaments and the manner in which the western façade is made are identical to those of the porches of traditional houses. The carved wooden decoration uses motifs common in Maramureş, such as the twisted rope or the solar disk. The whole church seems to be surrounded by a twisted girdle, discontinued by a circle-shaped solar motif. After moving to the village, it was painted by Toader Hondor and Ioan Plohod, the iconography of the monument being considered to be the best expression of Baroque and Rococo in folk painting, in this part of the country. The scenes are depicted within stylized medallions binding the entire iconographic ensemble. The impressive wooden church from Bârsana is an example of perfect stylistic unity and an impeccable artistic sense.

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 from Dealul Corbului dates from 1801, having been relocated to its current location a century later. During the consolidation works carried out in 1987, the exterior walls of the place of worship were plastered, and the shingled roof was replaced and made of galvanized sheet metal. Inside, the edifice was decorated with paintings made during the years 1901-1902. Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș

A place of worship which was declared a historical monument, this wooden church dedicated to the birth of the Virgin Mary in Hărnicești was dendrochronologically dated around 1679, having a rectangular layout and a multi-storey roof on the sides. Its proportions make it unusual, given that the roof measures ten meters and the tower only nine. Outside, the church is surrounded by a carved belt, while only a few fragments of the interior painting survive. *Photo credit:  CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Rada Pavel

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

According to the archives, the wooden church "The birth of the Virgin Mary " from Ieud Vale dates from around 1710, while according to the folk tradition it dates back to 1717. The church is surprising in size, being one of the largest wooden constructions in Romania. Another interesting aspect is the legend surrounding its construction, to which it is said that the famous outlaw Pintea the Brave contributed with a bag full of gold. Unfortunately, the painting on the interior walls was largely destroyed. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Rada Pavel

The wooden church "The Birth of the Virgin Mary" in Lăschia was erected in 1861. It observes the particularities of the wooden churches built on a stone foundation, with a high turret, measuring 32 m from the base. The interior walls were decorated by the painter Paul Weisz from Baia Mare in 1870, while the author of the painting on the iconostasis remains unknown. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș

"The Birth of the Virgin Mary" wooden church from Rona de Jos is said to have been built between 1634 and 1644, a fact confirmed by the old church bell, dated 1637 and which was moved to the new church in the village. The edifice is also called the "church with eyes", due to the porch in which eye-shaped openings were cut. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Timur Chiș

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.

Although its tradition dates back to the late 1600s, the wooden church in Someș-Uileac was reconstructed for the third time in 1897, belonging to the Reformed religion. The settlement is small, with a modest bell tower, with a bulbous spire, covered with sheet metal. The walls of the church are whitewashed and have no decorations. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Gabriel Motica

The wooden church "St. Anne" from Coruia dates from 1794 and surprises by its proportions, the high turret, but also the carved ornaments that compliment the entire architecture. The place of worship is the only one in this area with  the turret framed by four other smaller turrets at the base of the coif. The walls are decorated on the outside with a twisted rope belt, while on the inside, the painting made in 1807 has been replaced by another in 1928. *Photo credit: CJCPCT „Liviu Borlan” Maramureș, Florin Pop

Dating from the 18th century, the wooden church "Saint Mary" in Fântânele is currently dedicated to "Saint Nicholas", being built of wooden beams on a stone foundation, with the usual floor layout consisting of porch, narthex, nave and polygonal altar. The bell tower has an octagonal coif and is covered with sheet metal, ending at the top with a bulb and a simple cross. Inside, the plastered walls are decorated with geometric and floral motifs.