Church of the Union of All Romanians in Șișești

The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, known as the Church of the Union of All Romanians, stands in the village of Șișești, seat of Șișești commune, in the north-east of the Baia Mare Depression, at the southern foot of the Gutâi Mountains. It was built under the direction of Vasile Lucaciu (1852-1922), Greek Catholic parish priest of Șișești from 1885 and a campaigner for the rights of the Romanians of Transylvania, with donations from many parts of Transylvania. Work began in 1886, and the church was consecrated in August 1890. The church has a cross-shaped plan, entered from the west through a portico of six columns carrying a triangular pediment. Above the doorway, a marble plaque bears the Latin inscription "Pro S[ancta] Unione Omnium Romanorum". The nave is crowned by a dome on an octagonal drum. Vasile Lucaciu's grave, covered by a black marble slab, lies in the north apse. The church replaced the village's old wooden church, dated by an inscription to 1672 and altered in 1763, which was demolished after 1890. Its altar apse survives, dated by the LMI to 1675, with two carved wooden doorways, and is used as an altar for open-air services. The listed complex also includes the Pavilion of the Union of All Romanians (nineteenth century) and the "Izvorul Românilor" gazebo (late nineteenth century). The village also has, as separate monuments, Vasile Lucaciu's wooden house (1837) and the Vasile Lucaciu school (1905). The church passed to the Orthodox parish in 1948 and was returned to the Romanian Church United with Rome by a 2007 ruling of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the Greek Catholic parish regaining possession on 9 August 2012. The church complex is a historic monument under code MM-II-a-A-04757, the church under MM-II-m-A-04757.01 and the apse of the wooden church under MM-II-m-A-04757.02.