BOIU MARE stone and wooden church, Maramures County, Romania

by Turist prin Romania

The stone and wooden church, general view

The village was recorded in 1405. The church, named “The Holy Archangels”, is made of wood and stone and it was built in 18th century.

The structure is different from the others in this region as the sidewalls are made of stone. The church has a porch, a pronaos, a nave and a round apse narrower than the nave. The interior walls are covered with wooden boards; the scenes were painted directly on them.

The facade has two large niches on both sides of the entrance door, which are painted with the patron saints of the church. Above, on the gable, there is The Ornniscient Eye. This symbol was placed, surprisingly, in a triangle; it is well kmown that the triangle and the number three syrnbolize the icon of the three spheres of the world: nature, human and divine. It also represents the Trinity.

The flared pointed roof is covered, at present, with aluminiun sheets, and it has in the front part a half-spire with a hidden bell-tower. The windows are placed in the sides of the church and are protected by shutters. Over these there is a slender spire with a square base, which gives the whole assembly an impression of size an elegance.

The interior painting is well preserved on the sidewalls of the nave, where one can see

The stone and wooden church, exterior detailes

“The Last Supper” (on the southern wall) and ”St. Elijah’s Ascension” (on the northern wall). On the vault the Holy Trinity is surrounded by paintings of the Evangelists, in circular frames.

The Iconostasis is made of wood, which is carved in arches and chains of twisted ropes. The Iconostasis was placed over the original one, which was painted directly on the wall. Ithas two tiers: in the centre ”The Last Supper” and the “Holy Trinity”, and, on the top, a cross with Jesus Crucified. All these are painted in a Renaissance style, revealing an obvious interest for the human anatomy.

The church houses a wonderful chandelier, made up of metallic painted arches vertically dispose and framed by circles with candlesticks, reminding us of the elegant form of oil lamps – a pattern frequently seen in the Maramures churches.

PHOTO GALLERY