The story of the church in Romania…. in the middle of nowhere

There is a church in Romania with many legends behind located somewhere near Carei, Satu-Mare county….in the middle of nowhere.

The church is located on a tongue of land, in the middle of the field, between the town of Carei and the commune of Petrești, Satu-Mare: 615 km from Bucharest, 171 km from Cluj, 278 km from Timișoara. It is a simple church, in front of which there are still 2 vines and a cross.

The church belonged to a former village, which would have disappeared without a trace and which is believed to open on its own once a year, without the need for keys or any human intervention, according to calatorinbascheti.ro.

There is little historical information, but the legend around the church is known by many people in the area, being one of the places of pilgrimage of thousands of people.

Every year, on the feast of St. Mary, people came here on pilgrimage. They left their prayer notes here. It was considered a miracle-working church, because, every year, on St. Mary’s Day, at midnight, the church door would have opened on its own, without keys or anyone’s intervention. After 24 hours, she would have closed on her own. And the miracle was for people even greater as the church is in the middle of a field and not in an inhabited village.

For years, people came to pray here, but in the 1980s, pilgrimages stopped, most likely because of the oppression of the communist regime, known for its atheistic position. Now it seems that only one person would take care of the maintenance of the church.

Many years ago, here was a village. The locals call it “Chighie” or “Kigye”, but the town doesn’t even exist on the map anymore. It is said that, a few hundred years ago, two locals went with carts to the fair, in Carei, and on their return, they did not find much. The village would have been swallowed up, along with people and houses. Officially, the village was devastated after the Turkish-Tatar-Austro-Hungarian wars and after Rakoczi’s revolution. People moved to Carei, where they became the outlaws of the city, a kind of local police, at the beginning of the 18th century.

All that would have remained standing is the church, a cross and two vines. What is interesting is that the area is a plain, without hills, and the church is on a slightly elevated tongue of land, compared to the surrounding ground level. According to legend, the dam would be reminiscent of the movement of the earth, when the village disappeared without a trace, the bloggers recount.

The closest town to this peculiar church is Carei, also dubbed as Romania’s small Vienna, due to its Viennese aristocratic charm.

While in Carei, you can also visit the Karolyi Castle.