Southern Maramureş County - Cerneşti and Rogoz, Romania: May 1, 2018

From Deseşti we drove south and back over the Gutai Mountains into the Lăpuş River area to Florean Museum. Florean is an open air museum of stone sculptures. Sometimes the organizers have summer sculpture programs. The sculptures are left behind and nature reclaims the space. We wandered....

It was a nice walk, about 2 kilometers in from the national highway.

From the Florean Museum we drove to the town of Rogoz which is the site of another one of the eight wooden churches that make up the UNESCO Heritage Site of Wooden Churches of Maramureş.

The Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel Church in Rogoz was built by the village community in 1663. The interior paintings date to 1785 and were painted by Radu Munteanu (the same painter who did the frescos in Deseşti). As is common for Romanian Orthodox churches, a cemetery surrounds the structure.

The priest of this church said the exterior door is small so that marauding Turks couldn't ride their horses into the church. The size and shape is repeated in the entrance between the narthex and nave.

The priest said that several years ago a bolt of lightning struck the top of the church and traveled down to the narthex stopping only at the small table below the cross. The burn scars to the right of the narthex doorway and on the table top remain.

On the left side of the narthex entrance to the nave there is a painting of angels as escorts for the souls headed to heaven. The person's soul, wearing white, is a more ephemeral being when compared to the angel.

The narthex formerly was the place for women while men were allowed passage into the nave. As customs changed, windows were cut into the walls between the narthex and nave so that all could observe the services. Now, the only requirement is that a woman's head be covered and a man's head should be bare.

One painting in the narthex shows three priests holding a cloth that is filled with the souls of those that are going to heaven.

Painting of Last Supper in Nave

The nave and iconostasis are covered with scenes from the bible.

The interior of the church is small which meant that part of the congregation would be stuck outside. According to the priest, small holes were drilled in some of the walls so that the sermon could be heard outside.

Particulars:

Pensiunea Mara in Deseşti is a peaceful guesthouse with delicious food from which to base a trip to Maramureş.

Diana Condrea owner of Uncover-Romania-Tours is well informed about Romania's history, she's a photographer, she is an excellent traveling companion, and her tour itineraries are flexible and interesting.