Maramureş

30 Aug 2025

Today was a full day in the Maramureş region. Lori started out with running the local gauntlet of the dogs. Our first visit was to the Bârsana Monastery, touted for being the oldest wooden monastery. Except that it was all rebuilt post 1989 (except for the Church of The Presentation of the Virgin 1720). Actually it’s a bit confusing. Another site says the wooden church (that’s actually UNESCO listed, not the monastery) is at Jbâr hill.

Anyways, it was still a spectacular and beautiful site.

Our local guide, Victor, demonstrated some of the artifacts. And was sure to emphasize multiple times that we not photograph the nuns.

We then moved on to the wooden Church of St Nicholas (definitely listed) in Budedti and arrived just as a memorial service was happening. Trying to be respectful we were not going to go up to and into the church but family members welcomed us up to the church and even offered us donuts, cabbage rolls and horincia. And were quite insistent.

We then travelled to Sighetu Marmatiei and the Memorial to Victims of Communism in the former prison where political prisoners were kept. Many were sent to then work as labourers on the Danube canal (didn’t know it even existed). The statue in the courtyard was a very moving portrayal of the various suffering of the inmates and the headless guard not aware of them. The chapel was also very thoughtful, the ceiling opening representing the fleeting view of the sky and the apple tree the prisoners had.

The next stop was the very quirky and unusual Merry Cemetery where the gravestones depicted, often with dark humour, the story of the demise of the person buried there. The man smoking while spraying trees for example. We won the prize of the son-in- law describing his mother-in-law’s death fridge magnet by spotting the memorial to the guy run over by the train.