The wooden church in Șurdești, Maramures and its records

Among the most visited sights in Maramures there is the wooden church in Şurdeşti, also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The church is located in the village Șurdești, which can be found on the road leading from Baia Mare to Cavnic.

The church of Şurdeşti was the tallest wooden church in Europe with its tower of 54 m and a total height of 72 m until some years ago when the new 78 m tall church of the monastery of Peri in Săpânţa was built.

It is also the only church in the Land of Chioar that has double-eaved roof. The two superposed rows of arches above the porch are unique in the region, as well.

The Greek Catholic church of the Holy Archangels was built in 1721, from oak logs by a carpenter named Toma Macarie.

The church is rectangular, with a polygonal chancel apse. The roof has double eaves going all around the church, and the unitary roof covers also the chancel. There is another row of windows between the two eaves. The oak beams of the walls are placed on a foundation of stone.
The tall tower is marked with a ledge about half-way up. There are four small pinnacles at the corners of the roof, in the Lăpuş style.

Inside, the church boasts paintings of biblical scenes from the Old Testament and New Testament, and the iconostasis is recorded from 1783, during the reign of Emperor Joseph II.

Ştefan of Şişeşti is known to have painted the inside frescoes in 1783, which were applied on canvas strips which in turn fill the gaps between the wooden beams.

The history of Maramures region lives through the eyes of its wooden churches. Over the centuries, the foreign rulers of the region did not allow the locals to build long lasting stone churches, so, the carpenters living there erected exquisite wooden churches to find their way to God.

Wood proved to be the ideal solution after all, as the churches defied time and lasted through the ages, while still displaying their splendor to tens of thousands of tourists visiting the picturesque land of Maramures in northwestern country.