The cultural and tourist route of wooden churches in Romania

Officially launched at the end of October, the Cultural and Tourist Route of Wooden Churches in Romania is a new cultural and tourist product.

Daniel Onea, 12.11.2020, 14:00

Officially launched at the end of October, the Cultural and Tourist Route of Wooden Churches in Romania is a new cultural and tourist product. The program recommends more than 150 places of worship across Romania in a bid to promote the Romanian cultural heritage and especially the authentic local rural history.

Gabriel Bonaciu is the coordinator of the ‘Cultural and Tourist Route of Wooden Churches in Romania’ program ‘and works for the Management Agency of the Bihor Tourist Destination. He says the idea of the route emerged following studies and analyses that showed that rural communities need to also be involved for achieving sustainable development. Therefore, the people of these communities will be able to capitalize on the products grown their own gardens, on the local customs, crafts and traditions as well as on the other natural and heritage sites of the area.

Gabriel Bonaciu: “The wooden church practically re-becomes the core of these sustainable rural development processes. The cultural and tourist route of the wooden churches in Bihor includes 10 churches from 10 different local communities. At national level, the program includes more than 150 wooden churches. It’s very important to plan the visit to any of the wooden churches in the program. Visitors have two options. On the one hand, they can access the contact data of the 10 parish priests in the program on the website explorebihor.ro or discover Bihor. On the other hand, we recommend tourists to ask travel agencies to also include in their holiday packages this cultural experience, alongside other local ecotourism experiences.”

By accessing the two websites, the first in Romanian and Hungarian, the second in Romanian, English and Hungarian, visitors will get a complete image of the tourist objectives and activities in Bihor county.

Here is Gabriel Bonaciu with more: “In Bihor country, in Valea Crisului — Criș Valley, Bratca commune, the Craiului Forest eco-destination, tourists will find a billboard, an audio guide in Romanian, English and French and illustrated maps that show what other activities they can get involved in, once in Bihor. The billboard mounted in the yard of the wooden church in Valea Crișului has a QR code and a link to a website from where tourists can download or listen to audio guides by means of headphones or on their mobile phones, as the Internet signal is very good at all the wooden churches across Bihor county. The audio guide, which was made for the first time for an Orthodox wooden church, is user friendly, providing tourists with the opportunity to enter the atmosphere of a centuries-old Romanian rural community. Tourists will find out how the church was built by the locals, details about the paintings and the techniques used by the painters as well as the stories from the manuscripts preserved by the Orthodox parish priests, which bear witness to the continuity of Christianity in this area blessed by God. The audio guide is in Romanian, English, French and Hungarian.”

Gabriel Bonaciu, coordinator of the culture and tourist routes of wooden churches in Romania, with the Management Agency of the Bihor Tourist Destination, recommends that we stop at any wooden church on the national route.

However, tourists are especially impressed by the wooden church in the Valea Crisului Romanian Orthodox Parish, placed in an idyllic area: “In the churchyard, parish priest Nicolae Dulus Gaboras runs a guided tour of this place of worship. Then, the local community can organize on demand, for groups of up to 30 people, brunches with local products, cooked by eager locals, as well as trips in horse drawn carts. It is the only wooden church in Bihor that still preserves on its outside walls traces of painting. The Byzantine style iconography style, respect the canon and customs of the Orthodox Church, emphasizing the succession of religious scenes specific to each liturgical dimension: the nave, the bema, and altar. The church is built of oaken beams assembled by the Blockbau method. Both on the inside and the outside you have to admire the whittled decorations, a creation representative of Romanian peasant architecture. The richness of the ornamental motifs sculpted in the wood, and the authentic mural painting, raises the Valea Crisului wooden church to the value of some of the most accomplished European creations.”

In Bihor, for instance, along ten days, the tourists can enjoy a thematic vacation, with each day providing a different experience: “In the countryside, in the areas of Bratca-Șuncuiuș-Vadu Crișului-Roșia, there are lots of ecotourism activities: treks, bicycle tourism, cave exploring, via ferrata, rafting, climbing, horse drawn cart rides, etc. All these activities are organized professionally by expert guides. Tourists can get in contact with traditional craftsmen. In the village of Cihei they can see how they build there the famous Stroh violin, unique in Europe, at Vadu Crisului they can play with clay, they can paint on recycled wood in Bratca, or paint eggs in Dragoteni. In the Beius area they can admire the famous sheepskin coats, they can visit wine cellars and taste local wines in Valea Ierului, and they can taste local plum brandy everywhere they go. The B&Bs in the Padurea Craiului eco-destination are quite coquttish, they have menus typical of the area, and comfortable beds. The eco-tourism experience can be combined with the urban experience. In Oradea, they can visit the recently renovated heritage buildings, built in various styles, mostly art nouveau, the citadel of Oradea, the Cris Country Museum, and can relax in the thermal waters of the Nimpheea Aquapark, as well as in the treatment resorts of the Baile Felix and 1 Mai spas.”

Many tourists from Romania, the Czech Republic, Poland, the UK, or France can enjoy this tourist offer, right now even better structured by the new project of the wooden church culture route, so get in touch with your tourist agency right now for a personalized offer. (tr. L. Simion, C. Cotoiu)