Transylvania Tours
Transylvania Tours
Transylvania Tours
Transylvania Tours
Transylvania Tours
Transylvania Tours
Transylvania Tours

Explore the land of Maramures

There is a strong tradition of building wooden churches across Eastern Europe, from Karelia and northern Russia all the way to the Adriatic, but in terms of both quality and quantity the richest examples are here, in Maramures. The Wooden Churches of Maramures are unique in shape and ornamentation and eight of them – Barsana, Budesti Josani, Desesti, Ieud, Plopis, Poienile Izei, Rogoz and Surdesti, have been recognized in 1979 by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. There were built using wood as a response to the Habsburg prohibition against stone Orthodox or Greek-Catholic churches.

The characteristic high roofs and tall, narrow, pointed steeples are often collectively described as the Gothic Style of Maramures. The primary wood material used by the artisans was local oak, which has survived the elements with sturdy elegance until today. The interior walls of the churches were painted by local artists, with biblical scenes often juxtaposed against the familiar landscape of the village. Most of these houses of worship have stood proudly since the 17th -18th centuries, some even older, although majority have been destroyed by the Tatar invasions (ended in 1717), then rebuilt after.

In Maramureş today 42 wooden churches remain, about one third of their total two centuries ago. Besides the extant wooden churches, a major source of knowledge is still saved by a number of practicing senior carpenters with relevant knowledge and skills in traditional carpentry.

The craftsmen from Maramureş who were able to reach such levels were not simple peasants but well specialized church carpenters who inherited and maintained this advanced knowledge to exclusively build houses of worship.

Day 1. Cluj-Napoca - Sighetu Marmatiei

Departure from Cluj-Napoca. We're heading North, going inside the Carpathians, to the land of Maramures.

Highlights:

- Surdesti church.

Built in 1766, Surdesti Church was the highest wooden church in entire Europe, with a 54 meters steeple and a total height of 72 meters until a few years ago when the new church of Peri Monastery from Sapanta, of 78 meters height, was built. The mention about the time of establishment is written in Cyrillic characters above the entrance door.

Due to the general profile, the shape is slim, and the roof has double eaves going all around the church. The assive oak beams of the walls are placed on a foundation of stone.
The tall tower is marked with a ledge about half-way up, having four small pinnacles at the corners of the roof, in the Lăpuş style, the region which is somehow out of Maramures, geographically.

The church is Greek-Catholic, being dedicated to the Holy Archangels

- Desesti church

The church from Desesti, dedicated to St. Parascheva, was built in 1770 of thick square-cut oak beams on a foundation of river stones. The upper beams are longer and form solid wing-like consoles that support the tall and heavy roof that is covered with shingles.  The interior is remarkably rich and vivid painted, one of main reasons of including in UNESCO. The painted was performed by local authors, Radu Muntean and Gheorghe Zugavu, in 1780 as is mentioned in the pronaos. The iconostas wall and some icons are the opera of the famous artist Alexandru Ponehalsci, in 1778-1780.  

The church of St. Parascheva is one of the few churches whose plan has not been modified by the addition of a porch, as we will see later, at other churches.

- Sapanta Merry Cemetery

The Cemetery, national and international tourist attraction is famous for its colorful tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people who are buried there as well as scenes from their lives. The cemetery's origins are linked with the name of Stan Ioan Pătraş, a local artist who sculpted the first tombstone crosses. In 1935, Pătraș carved the first epitaph and, then in time more than 850 of such oak wood crosses came into sight.

The unusual feature of this cemetery is that it diverges from the prevalent belief, culturally shared within European societies – a belief that views death as something indelibly solemn. Connections with the local Dacian culture have been made, a culture whose philosophical tenets presumably vouched for the immortality of the soul and the belief that death was a moment filled with joy and anticipation for a better life.

Accommodation in 3* hotel, Sighetu Marmatiei.

Day 2. Sighetu Marmatiei - Viseul de Sus.

Today we're exploring the heart of Maramures land, driving from W to E.

Highlights:

- The Memorial to Victims of Communism and Resistance, Sighetu Marmatiei.

It is the only Memorial located inside a prison. The initial prison was built by the Austria-Hungary authorities in 1897. During the First and Second World Wars, it was also used to incarcerate political prisoners: Polish revolutionaries, priests from the national churches, deserters from the Hungarian army (Romanians or other ethnic groups). After 1918 it functioned as a common law prison. After 1945, former prisoners and former deportees from the U.S.S.R. were repatriated through Sighet. In the period 1948-1950, pupils, students and peasants from the Maramures resistance were imprisoned here. Then, in the 1950’s during the communist dictatorship in Romania, many personalities of the political life of interwar Romania, including Bessarabia, met their death.

The Memorial from Sighet represents a monument dedicated to the fight against communism, a unique monument that praises the fight against power, the fight against oblivion. Deportations for life, the extermination of elites, the collectivization of villages and forced industrialization, the Russification of culture and public life, the alteration of mentalities.

The creation of the Sighet Museum was preceded and then supported by the activity of the International Center for Studies on Communism, in 1993. First oral history, but in parallel the collection of documents, photographs, objects and papers, which can be used in the creation of over 50 rooms in the former cells of the prison.

- The open-air Village Museum of Maramures, Sighetu Marmatiei.

It represent a wonderful guide into the rich cultural heritage of this region, famous for its wooden architecture and churches, unique for its complex display of the traditional local village and an important cultural attraction of the region.

Most of the households are made of wood, the traditional construction material in Maramures. The oldest edifices were built in the 16th-18th centuries. The museum has over 30 traditional households from the different corners of the region, including their annexes, like stables, looms, fountains, granaries, and mills.

- Barsana Monastery.

If it’s Sunday we may notice locals walking along the road dressed in their best, traditional clothing, going to the church to attend the mass; the monastery’s courtyard would be full of people. Barsana Monastery is really idyllic beyond description. The unique architecture and patiently carved traditional designs, together with flowering plants around creates a stunning and solemn image of the place.

The actual monastery was erected in 1990, and only 16 nuns comprise the convent. But the location of the monastery preserves the traces of worship far back to the 13th century. The original monastery and church was built in 1391, but was burned in 1717, then reconstructed in 1720. The UNESCO church from that time still exists, but it was moved closer to the village for a better preservation.

Afternoon drive to Viseul de Sus.  Accommodation at 3* hotel.

Day 3. Viseul de Sus - Ieud

In the morning we take the Mocăniță and go deep in the mountains, at only few km from the Northern border of Romania.

Mocăniță describes narrow-guage railways in Romania and comes from a word for a shepherd who lives in the mountains. There is a local railway company hat runs the narrow gauge railways for forestry in the Vaser valley. The line was constructed in 1933 and has been operating ever since. The trains are used daily for both tourism and for forestry workers and carrying logs. Several steam locomotives are still operating including Măriuta, built in 1910 by Orenstein & Koppel in Berlin, the oldest working narrow gauge steam locomotive in Romania. Five Romanian locomotives built in the 1950s and diesel engines of the 1960s and 1970s are also used.

Afternoon back on road towards another jewel of the UNESCO Maramures wooden churches, the Ieud Hill Church. Although the 16th century books found in the church reveal the first edifice from 1364, the actual construction was built in the second half of the 17th century.

The well-preserved architecture, repaired and slightly modified during the 18th century, together with the interior paintings that were made at the end of the same century (a beautiful example of post-Byzantine mural painting) represented the main reasons to include the church in UNESCO. In addition of that, one could notice the paintings were made on pieces of textile that were treated with a preparatory layer of lime wash and were then stuck to the wooden logs.

The iconographic pattern is particularly rich and impressive. The scenes are arranged in registers and each painting is related to the neighboring ones. Not one corner of the church has been left unpainted. The inscriptions are in Romanian written with Cyrillic letters.
Alexandru Ponehalschi, a famous church and icon painter who created an artistic school in Maramureş, painted the church in 1782. He was deeply rooted in the traditions of the Byzantine art, combining the spontaneity of folk art with elements of western baroque. Out of these seemingly conflicting influences Ponehalschi managed to create his own style, and the murals of Ieud Deal are generally considered the apex of his career.

In 1921 an important discovery was made in the attic of the church, The Codex of Ieud, a document dating of 13th century and which is generally considered to be the oldest example of written Romanian.

Accommodation at 3* local B&B, dinner included (traditional food).

Day 4. Ieud - Cluj-Napoca

Not far from Ieud we discover another UNESCO wooden church, the one from Poienile Izei. The church was built with fir beams, and from constructional details it has been deducted that the original church was much lower, but made it higher in the 18th century.

A local artist, Gheorghe from Dragomireşti painted the church in the post-Byzantine tradition in 1794. The paintings are very well preserved, including big scenes in simple frames. The color frame is more important for the unity of the paintings than the actual composition of the scenes. The painted inscriptions are full of information on the period when the Habsburg Emperor Francis ruled. The main theme of the pronaos is The Last Judgment, one of the most complex renderings of this theme in Maramures.

To South, over the volcanic range that shelter important reserves of gold, silver and other important resources lays down the Lapus land, having many similarities in traditions and beliefs with Maramures. The churches have followed the same construction style, in this matter. Hence, Rogoz wooden church represent a good example, its authenticity and mastery of building made UNESCO to include it on the World Heritage List.

It has been built in 1701 and transferred on the actual site in 1883. The church is famous for its intricate “horse head” consoles that support the roof, and for the woodcarvings on the façades. The visitors would noticed as well the twisted rope motif that goes around the church, with a circle forming a cross on the façades.

The tower roof is tall and conical, and there are four miniature pinnacles at the corners of the tower, a kind of Lăpuş land trade mark.

The mural paintings are only partly preserved. Two local painters, Radu Munteanu and Nicolae Man, made them in 1785, as documented in an inscription. Another such mural writing mentions “the terrifying year 1717 of the time of the Tatars”.

We’re leaving then to Cluj-Napoca, arriving in the city around the afternoon.

End of tour.

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Description

There is a strong tradition of building wooden churches across Eastern Europe, from Karelia and northern Russia all the way to the Adriatic, but in terms of both quality and quantity the richest examples are here, in Maramures. The Wooden Churches of Maramures are unique in shape and ornamentation and eight of them – Barsana, Budesti Josani, Desesti, Ieud, Plopis, Poienile Izei, Rogoz and Surdesti, have been recognized in 1979 by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. There were built using wood as a response to the Habsburg prohibition against stone Orthodox or Greek-Catholic churches.

The characteristic high roofs and tall, narrow, pointed steeples are often collectively described as the Gothic Style of Maramures. The primary wood material used by the artisans was local oak, which has survived the elements with sturdy elegance until today. The interior walls of the churches were painted by local artists, with biblical scenes often juxtaposed against the familiar landscape of the village. Most of these houses of worship have stood proudly since the 17th -18th centuries, some even older, although majority have been destroyed by the Tatar invasions (ended in 1717), then rebuilt after.

In Maramureş today 42 wooden churches remain, about one third of their total two centuries ago. Besides the extant wooden churches, a major source of knowledge is still saved by a number of practicing senior carpenters with relevant knowledge and skills in traditional carpentry.

The craftsmen from Maramureş who were able to reach such levels were not simple peasants but well specialized church carpenters who inherited and maintained this advanced knowledge to exclusively build houses of worship.

Day 1. Cluj-Napoca - Sighetu Marmatiei

Departure from Cluj-Napoca. We're heading North, going inside the Carpathians, to the land of Maramures.

Highlights:

- Surdesti church.

Built in 1766, Surdesti Church was the highest wooden church in entire Europe, with a 54 meters steeple and a total height of 72 meters until a few years ago when the new church of Peri Monastery from Sapanta, of 78 meters height, was built. The mention about the time of establishment is written in Cyrillic characters above the entrance door.

Due to the general profile, the shape is slim, and the roof has double eaves going all around the church. The assive oak beams of the walls are placed on a foundation of stone.
The tall tower is marked with a ledge about half-way up, having four small pinnacles at the corners of the roof, in the Lăpuş style, the region which is somehow out of Maramures, geographically.

The church is Greek-Catholic, being dedicated to the Holy Archangels

- Desesti church

The church from Desesti, dedicated to St. Parascheva, was built in 1770 of thick square-cut oak beams on a foundation of river stones. The upper beams are longer and form solid wing-like consoles that support the tall and heavy roof that is covered with shingles.  The interior is remarkably rich and vivid painted, one of main reasons of including in UNESCO. The painted was performed by local authors, Radu Muntean and Gheorghe Zugavu, in 1780 as is mentioned in the pronaos. The iconostas wall and some icons are the opera of the famous artist Alexandru Ponehalsci, in 1778-1780.  

The church of St. Parascheva is one of the few churches whose plan has not been modified by the addition of a porch, as we will see later, at other churches.

- Sapanta Merry Cemetery

The Cemetery, national and international tourist attraction is famous for its colorful tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people who are buried there as well as scenes from their lives. The cemetery's origins are linked with the name of Stan Ioan Pătraş, a local artist who sculpted the first tombstone crosses. In 1935, Pătraș carved the first epitaph and, then in time more than 850 of such oak wood crosses came into sight.

The unusual feature of this cemetery is that it diverges from the prevalent belief, culturally shared within European societies – a belief that views death as something indelibly solemn. Connections with the local Dacian culture have been made, a culture whose philosophical tenets presumably vouched for the immortality of the soul and the belief that death was a moment filled with joy and anticipation for a better life.

Accommodation in 3* hotel, Sighetu Marmatiei.

Day 2. Sighetu Marmatiei - Viseul de Sus.

Today we're exploring the heart of Maramures land, driving from W to E.

Highlights:

- The Memorial to Victims of Communism and Resistance, Sighetu Marmatiei.

It is the only Memorial located inside a prison. The initial prison was built by the Austria-Hungary authorities in 1897. During the First and Second World Wars, it was also used to incarcerate political prisoners: Polish revolutionaries, priests from the national churches, deserters from the Hungarian army (Romanians or other ethnic groups). After 1918 it functioned as a common law prison. After 1945, former prisoners and former deportees from the U.S.S.R. were repatriated through Sighet. In the period 1948-1950, pupils, students and peasants from the Maramures resistance were imprisoned here. Then, in the 1950’s during the communist dictatorship in Romania, many personalities of the political life of interwar Romania, including Bessarabia, met their death.

The Memorial from Sighet represents a monument dedicated to the fight against communism, a unique monument that praises the fight against power, the fight against oblivion. Deportations for life, the extermination of elites, the collectivization of villages and forced industrialization, the Russification of culture and public life, the alteration of mentalities.

The creation of the Sighet Museum was preceded and then supported by the activity of the International Center for Studies on Communism, in 1993. First oral history, but in parallel the collection of documents, photographs, objects and papers, which can be used in the creation of over 50 rooms in the former cells of the prison.

- The open-air Village Museum of Maramures, Sighetu Marmatiei.

It represent a wonderful guide into the rich cultural heritage of this region, famous for its wooden architecture and churches, unique for its complex display of the traditional local village and an important cultural attraction of the region.

Most of the households are made of wood, the traditional construction material in Maramures. The oldest edifices were built in the 16th-18th centuries. The museum has over 30 traditional households from the different corners of the region, including their annexes, like stables, looms, fountains, granaries, and mills.

- Barsana Monastery.

If it’s Sunday we may notice locals walking along the road dressed in their best, traditional clothing, going to the church to attend the mass; the monastery’s courtyard would be full of people. Barsana Monastery is really idyllic beyond description. The unique architecture and patiently carved traditional designs, together with flowering plants around creates a stunning and solemn image of the place.

The actual monastery was erected in 1990, and only 16 nuns comprise the convent. But the location of the monastery preserves the traces of worship far back to the 13th century. The original monastery and church was built in 1391, but was burned in 1717, then reconstructed in 1720. The UNESCO church from that time still exists, but it was moved closer to the village for a better preservation.

Afternoon drive to Viseul de Sus.  Accommodation at 3* hotel.

Day 3. Viseul de Sus - Ieud

In the morning we take the Mocăniță and go deep in the mountains, at only few km from the Northern border of Romania.

Mocăniță describes narrow-guage railways in Romania and comes from a word for a shepherd who lives in the mountains. There is a local railway company hat runs the narrow gauge railways for forestry in the Vaser valley. The line was constructed in 1933 and has been operating ever since. The trains are used daily for both tourism and for forestry workers and carrying logs. Several steam locomotives are still operating including Măriuta, built in 1910 by Orenstein & Koppel in Berlin, the oldest working narrow gauge steam locomotive in Romania. Five Romanian locomotives built in the 1950s and diesel engines of the 1960s and 1970s are also used.

Afternoon back on road towards another jewel of the UNESCO Maramures wooden churches, the Ieud Hill Church. Although the 16th century books found in the church reveal the first edifice from 1364, the actual construction was built in the second half of the 17th century.

The well-preserved architecture, repaired and slightly modified during the 18th century, together with the interior paintings that were made at the end of the same century (a beautiful example of post-Byzantine mural painting) represented the main reasons to include the church in UNESCO. In addition of that, one could notice the paintings were made on pieces of textile that were treated with a preparatory layer of lime wash and were then stuck to the wooden logs.

The iconographic pattern is particularly rich and impressive. The scenes are arranged in registers and each painting is related to the neighboring ones. Not one corner of the church has been left unpainted. The inscriptions are in Romanian written with Cyrillic letters.
Alexandru Ponehalschi, a famous church and icon painter who created an artistic school in Maramureş, painted the church in 1782. He was deeply rooted in the traditions of the Byzantine art, combining the spontaneity of folk art with elements of western baroque. Out of these seemingly conflicting influences Ponehalschi managed to create his own style, and the murals of Ieud Deal are generally considered the apex of his career.

In 1921 an important discovery was made in the attic of the church, The Codex of Ieud, a document dating of 13th century and which is generally considered to be the oldest example of written Romanian.

Accommodation at 3* local B&B, dinner included (traditional food).

Day 4. Ieud - Cluj-Napoca

Not far from Ieud we discover another UNESCO wooden church, the one from Poienile Izei. The church was built with fir beams, and from constructional details it has been deducted that the original church was much lower, but made it higher in the 18th century.

A local artist, Gheorghe from Dragomireşti painted the church in the post-Byzantine tradition in 1794. The paintings are very well preserved, including big scenes in simple frames. The color frame is more important for the unity of the paintings than the actual composition of the scenes. The painted inscriptions are full of information on the period when the Habsburg Emperor Francis ruled. The main theme of the pronaos is The Last Judgment, one of the most complex renderings of this theme in Maramures.

To South, over the volcanic range that shelter important reserves of gold, silver and other important resources lays down the Lapus land, having many similarities in traditions and beliefs with Maramures. The churches have followed the same construction style, in this matter. Hence, Rogoz wooden church represent a good example, its authenticity and mastery of building made UNESCO to include it on the World Heritage List.

It has been built in 1701 and transferred on the actual site in 1883. The church is famous for its intricate “horse head” consoles that support the roof, and for the woodcarvings on the façades. The visitors would noticed as well the twisted rope motif that goes around the church, with a circle forming a cross on the façades.

The tower roof is tall and conical, and there are four miniature pinnacles at the corners of the tower, a kind of Lăpuş land trade mark.

The mural paintings are only partly preserved. Two local painters, Radu Munteanu and Nicolae Man, made them in 1785, as documented in an inscription. Another such mural writing mentions “the terrifying year 1717 of the time of the Tatars”.

We’re leaving then to Cluj-Napoca, arriving in the city around the afternoon.

End of tour.

Price

Price:

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Included:

  • 3 nights’ accommodation at 3* B&B or hotel
  • Round-trip transport by air-conditioned car or minivan   
  • Professional and friendly English speaking driver-guide for the entire tour – escorted tour

 

Not Included:

  • entrance fees to the attractions 
  • meals, except breakfast and others which are mentions as "included" in the program description

 

Private and fully refundable tour. 

The tour is fully refundable in case of cancelling up to 30 days before the scheduled trip

Special prices for groups! Contact us to get a quotation.

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