Tourism in Oas Land

Oas Land is one of Romanias most attractive tourist regions. Once you get there, youll find the region is unique and unmistakably beautiful

România Internațional, 12.01.2017, 14:52

This northern Romanian region is famous for its traditional costumes, music and dance. Also, customs and traditions have been preserved almost unaltered to the present day, being enacted mainly on such special occasions as weddings, parties and evening sittings.

The locality of Negresti Oas is the county seat of Oas Land as well as the region’s largest city. One of Transylvania’s most beautiful regions, Negresti Oas has compelled recognition due to its traditions, culture, and breathtakingly beautiful landscape. Tourists traveling to Oas Land always choose to make a stopover at the Oas Land Museum, founded in 1966. It displays over 200 year old houses, workshops and farming installations, which are still functional.

The museum’s outdoor section is a miniature replica of a typical Oas Land village, including original exhibits dating as far back as the 17th century, reminding us of the pastoral tranquility of yore. The wooden houses built on foundations made of massive stone, with roofs covered in straw or shingle, livestock outhouses, the smell of freshly mown hay make the delight of visitors.

The mayor of Negresti Oas city Aurelia Fedorca: ”The museum is located within walking distance from the city center, on the banks of River Tur, in a picturesque hilly area. There you can find a world boasting incredibly rich customs and traditions, handed down from generation to generation. It is the world where wonderful tales are brought to life and stand proof of the area’s unique characteristics. Representative monuments from the nearby villages have been brought over, as well as buildings which are emblematic for 17th to 20th century peasant architecture. A wooden church from the village of Lechinta, dating back to the 17th century holds pride of place in the museum. Other inetersting buildings are the houses of Cămârzana and Racşa, two unicellular houses, the hayloft of Gherta Mica, the fully-roofed sheep shelter and the storage room from Bixad. An authentic museum, it is however a lively one, because it is an open museum. Visitors can see the locals going to the flour mill to have their cereals ground, washing their clothes in the river, processing their woolen fabric at the fulling mill, shoeing their horses or having their tools mended at the blacksmith’s. The museum also has a ceramics workshop, a pottery workshop-school laid out in a splendid wooden house, dating from the early 20th century. The museum in Negresti is the only place where the famous Vama pottery is still manufactured. The workshop has six electric potter’s wheels, two clay- burning ovens, a special clay mixing machine and beautiful pieces of furniture. It is here that the last potter in Vama, employed by the Oas Land Museum, jointly with ethnographers, is training children, so that they continue the beautiful pottery-making tradition. “

Things have changed dramatically since the early 20th century, when the village had many potters.Religious buildings in Oas Land are the landmarks of an ecumenical journey standing proof of the locals’ spiritual life.

Aurelia Fedorca has more on the region’s religious objectives: ”We have two beautiful churches, in Negresti and Tur, which are historical monuments. We also invite tourists to visit the Orthodox Cathedral in the city of Negresti. It is a new building, an imposing edifice, being consecrated as the All Saints’ Sunday Church. It is a symbol of the Orthodox believers’ spiritual and cultural unity. The outstanding mural painting was made by fine artist Vasile Pop Negreşteanu. I also recommend that you visit the three monasteries of Oas Land. The first stopover I would advise you to make is at the Bixad Monastery, a monastery of monks consecrated as the Our Lady’s Assumption Monastery, built on a hill in the commune of Bixad, 10 kilometers from the city of Negresti. The Feast Day of Our Lady’s Assumption, celebrated on August 15 draws thousands of believers every year. It is the region’s most famous pilgrimage site. The attraction of the monastery is the wonder-working icon of the Virgin Mary. The church, made of stone and brick in 1771, was restored between 1978 and 1980. Also, some 10 kilometers from Negresti you can find the Holy Trinity Church of Moiseni, a monastery of nuns, the first and the only such monastery in Oas Land. It is a rather recent church, built in Moldavian style. Tourists can also visit the Portarita Monastery, 16 kilometers from Negresti.”

Another area worth visiting is the Luna Ses mountain resort. The mountain routes laid out in the region start from the city of Negresti Oas leading all the way up to the Pietrosu Peak, at an altitude of 1,201 meters. Trekking aficionados have thus the opportunity to see beautiful and unique monuments of nature, such as the Oas Sphinx, or old houses scattered through forest glades.

Aurelia Fedorca: ”The resort is situated in a mountainous area known as Luna Ses. On one side, the area is bordered by the Pietrosu Peak, which has a beautiful geological formation on top of it, and on the other side it is bordered by the Little Mountain, Muntele Mic. It is a tourist resort, currently under construction, scattered around a surface area of 250 hectares. At the foot of the Pietrosu Peak, in a glade bordered by the road, one can visit the hermitage of Saint Stephen’s monastery. It is a breathtakingly beautiful hermitage, situated in a wonderful scenery. We like to say about ourselves that we first built a church high up in the mountains, only to have a whole community revolving around it. There you have the opportunity to follow various trekking paths, along the 11 recently-marked tourist routes. In the region, a string of leisure compounds has already emerged, offering accommodation, restaurants, terraces, trout farms, and outdoor relaxation areas. The Valea Mariei is a tourist area where you can find the famous thermal water compounds, which have indoor swimming pools and other spa-treatment facilities. You can also visit the sulphurous thermal baths of Puturoasa, which treat several conditions. “

The ski slopes of Luna Ses will be opened in 2018.