Murighiol

Murighiol is the seat of Murighiol commune in Tulcea County, on the southern edge of the Danube Delta, close to the Sfântu Gheorghe branch. The commune, made up of the villages of Colina, Dunavățu de Jos, Dunavățu de Sus, Murighiol, Plopul, Sarinasuf and Uzlina, covers 804.49 km² and is the largest commune in Romania; most of its area lies in the Delta. The village had 1,211 inhabitants at the 2021 census. The name is of Turkish origin and means "violet lake", probably after the greyish colour of the lake next to the village. A Getic necropolis of the 4th century BC was found on the village territory. About 2 km south-east lies the Roman fortress of Halmyris (1st-7th centuries AD), where in 2001 the remains of the martyrs Epictetus and Astion, killed around 290, were found in the crypt of the basilica; Halmyris Monastery was built next to the ruins. In the early 19th century the village was inhabited by Turks and Tatars; after 1878 Ukrainian Cossacks came from Caraorman and Uzlina. The town hall and the church were built in 1883 and the school in 1884. Between 1983 and 1996 the village was named Independența. In 1973 it was declared, experimentally, a "tourist village". Today Murighiol is one of the main southern gateways into the Delta: it is reached by car from Tulcea on the county road via Mahmudia, and the official DDBRA water routes leave from its harbour: 5 (Murighiol → Dranov Canal → Gura Portiței → Dunavăț Canal → Murighiol), 6 (Murighiol → Dunavăț Canal → Cocoș Canal → Mustaca Canal → Belt Canal → Dranov Canal → Murighiol), 7 (Murighiol → Uzlina → Lake Uzlina → Lake Isac → Perivolovca channel → Murighiol) and 8 (Murighiol → Uzlina → Litcov Canal → Crișan Canal → Lake Puiu → Lake Erenciuc → Murighiol). On land there is DDBRA trail D3, Murighiol → Lake Sărături → Murighiol. Murighiol has a DDBRA point selling access permits. Any visit to the Biosphere Reserve requires the access permit issued by the DDBRA; it can be bought online (ddbra.ro), by SMS, at SelfPay terminals or at the DDBRA information centres in Crișan, Sulina and Murighiol. Children, pupils, students and pensioners receive it free of charge. Camping is allowed only at authorised sites. Next to the village is Sărături Murighiol (87 ha), one of the 20 strictly protected zones of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO site since 1991, Ramsar site). The lake is saline, and the reserve shelters birds such as the black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus), the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) and the common tern (Sterna hirundo). Entry into the strictly protected zone is forbidden; in 2022-2023 the DDBRA ran a conservation project here that provided for fencing the zone with a 5.36 km fence. The Halmyris fortress is a category A historic monument (TL-I-s-A-05844). Did you know that the relics of the oldest attested Christian martyrs in Dobruja were found at Halmyris? On 15 August 2001, in the crypt beneath the altar of the episcopal basilica, archaeologists uncovered the remains of the priest Epictetus and the monk Astion, martyred in 290; they are celebrated on 8 July, which has also become the commune's local feast day.