The Wooden Churches of Maramureș

Maramureș is on the northern edge of Romania, right next to Ukraine. Maramureș was part of the Catholic Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 17^th century into the 19^th century. The Catholic authorities prevented the Orthodox church from building stone churches, so the Orthodox church built wooden churches instead. There were hundreds of wooden churches, all in a very unique style. Today less than 100 remain, with eight joining the UNESCO World Heritage site list in 1999.

We visited four of the UNESCO churches, along with some other more recently built wooden churches that used the same design. All have a westward facing soaring bell tower, three sequential rooms with a balcony in the middle room. The interior walls an ceilings are painted with simple depictions of religious characters and scenes. This was a unique glimpse into the religious life in villages in the 17th century

Rogoz

Brightly painted chandalier
low doorway to prevent attacks from mounted soldiers
kings on judgement day

Desesti

ceiling
every surface decorated, including the woven flooring
damaged over time
balcony
Kind widow who showed us around
Traditional dress

Barsana

This is right off a main road and is a local tourist attraction.

Entrance to the Monastery complex
Traditional blouse
Newer building with shops
Nun residences
nun residences

Botiza Monastery

Small church (not pictured!) and beautiful Monastery building in the countryside well off the main roads.

The monastery at Botiza
Tight joint work on the corner of the wooden church
tractor heading out through the entrance to the Monastery

Peri-Sapanta Monastery

Located in Sapanta within a few kilometers of the Merry Cemetery. This is newer construction, and we were told it is the tallest wooden structure in Europe.