Die Maramureş

Maramures- land of the wooden churches

Geography and History

At the border to Ukraine, in the north of Romania, there´s the administrative district Maramures. It is part of the historical swathe of land of the same name, whose bigger part belongs to present day Ukraine. With approximately 60 kilometres of north-south elongation and about 160 kilometres from east to west it has a size of circa 6300 square miles. Even during the later Stone Age and before, this region was populated, which has been proofed by archaeological findings. Deposits of natural resources as silver, iron, copper and zinc made it possible that later on thracian tribes (Dacians) could develop to become prospering cultures. Different than the Banat region or Transylvania, which were part of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century, the inhabitants of Maramures were fairly free of roman invasions. Nevertheless trade and cultural exchange with the Romans caused their strong influence on the area. From the 10th century this swathe of land was especially formed by the Romanian and Hungarian settlers and had to fight constantly against the armed raids of the Tartars.