The Mara Valley

The Mara is a left tributary of the Iza, 38 km long, with a basin of 410 km². Its upper course, above the village of Mara, is also known as Valea Brazilor. The river flows through the villages of Mara, Desești, Hărnicești, Sat-Șugatag, Giulești and Berbești and joins the Iza at Vadu Izei. Its main tributary is the Cosău, and from the mountains it receives, among others, the Runcu and Râușor streams. Some researchers believe the name Maramureș derives from this river. In the fourteenth century the villages of the valley formed the valley knezate of the Mara. Sat-Șugatag is first recorded in March 1360, when the Hungarian royal authority confirmed Dragoș of Giulești in the ownership of several Romanian villages. The village of Mara, recorded in 1415 as Karachfalva and later known as Crăcești, received its present name in 1964. The valley has several wooden churches listed as historic monuments. The church of St Paraschiva in Desești, dated to the second half of the eighteenth century and painted in 1780, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 (LMI code MM-II-m-A-04566). The church of St Paraschiva in Sat-Șugatag was built of oak in 1642 (MM-II-m-A-04627), and the church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Hărnicești is also a listed monument (MM-II-m-A-04584). Traditional water-powered installations survive in Hărnicești. The DN18 national road from Baia Mare to Sighetu Marmației descends from the Gutâi Pass into the Mara valley and passes through the communes of Desești, Ocna Șugatag, Giulești and Vadu Izei. The territory of Mara village includes the Creasta Cocoșului and Cheile Tătarului nature reserves, and the area is part of the Mara-Cosău-Creasta ecotourism destination.