The Church of Rogoz is one of the most beautiful expressions of art from the Maramureş area known as Lăpușului. It has as patrons the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel. This place of worship was erected in 1663 on the site of an older church, destroyed during the invasion of the Turks and Tatars in 1661 against the Prince of Transylvania, George II Rákóczi, after his unsuccessful attempt to become King of Poland. This church is very rare among wooden churches. The narthex has a polygonal shape, with access from the south nave which is rectangular, and the altar is also in the form of a polygon with seven sides.
In 1785, the municipality of Rogoz hired the painters Radu Munteanu and Nicolae Man to create a mural. This was partly rebuilt in 1834 by painter Gregory Bodea. He repainted the narthex and the nave vault ceiling. Also in that year a podium was built on the west side of the nave. The roof of the church is asymmetrical, with about 1.20 metres to protect “the ancestors table” on the north side of the church.Post-Byzantine tradition illustrates the painting of the interior of the church, while the outside of the church is richly decorated. The entrance door has the shapes of braces. It also used a profiled rope motif to decorate the exterior walls of the church and eaves supported by brackets, whose ends are carved in the shape of horse heads. Above the narthex stands the bell tower in a rectangular shape. The bell chamber is in an open console.
An important detail
The Church of Rogoz is a true exception among the wooden churches of Maramureş introduced to UNESCO. If most designs synthesised the culture of Greek-Catholic, this remained a Greek oriental confession now called Orthodox. It also retains certain motifs, such as the horse heads, characteristic of Lăpușului Country.
Travel info: Distance Bucharest - Rogoz is 560 kilometres. Between Cluj-Napoca and Rogoz it is 116 kilometres.
Photo: George Trandafir, [url=http://]www.touringromania.com[/url]
