Bârsana Monastery

Bârsana Monastery lies in the Iza valley, at the edge of the village of Bârsana towards the Slătioara bridge, where the valley narrows towards the village of Strâmtura, about 22 km south-east of Sighetu Marmației. The access road leaves county road DJ186 at kilometre 17. It is a convent of nuns under the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramureș and Sătmar, and celebrates its feast of the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles on 30 June. A monastery at Bârsana is mentioned in a document of 21 July 1390 concerning the estates of the Drăgoșești family, which also names the Monastery Valley and the Priest's Hill. Between 1735 and 1740 the old monastery was the seat of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramureș, led until 1740 by Bishop Gavril Ștefanca. On 12 July 1791 the monastery was dissolved and the monks fled to Neamț in Moldavia. Its wooden church, the only building left, was moved by the villagers into the village, where it still stands today as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The decision to revive the monastery was taken after 1989 by the Orthodox parish priest Gheorghe Urdă and the villagers. Timber collection began in 1991, and in 1993 Bishop Justinian Chira blessed the foundation stone of the new church; the first feast day was celebrated on 30 June 1993. The first abbess was the nun Filofteia Oltean, who came from Râmeț Monastery. The complex, designed by the architect Dorel Cordoș and built by local craftsmen of oak and river stone, comprises the entrance bell tower, the church, 57 m high, the summer altar, the holy water shrine, the abbess's residence, the Voivode's House, the Artist's House, the monks' cells, workshops and the refectory. Next to the bell tower is the "Gavril de Bârsana" Museum of Icons and Old Books, which also keeps the movable heritage of the old wooden church in the village. The new complex is not on the List of Historic Monuments.