Berzasca ( hu, Berszászka, german: Bersaska, sr, Берзаска ''Berzaska'') is a commune in

Caraș-Severin County Caraș-Severin () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia. The majority of its territory lies within the historical region of Banat, with a few northeastern villages considered part of Transylvania. The county seat is Reșița ...

, in the

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

region of western

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

with a population of 3,123 people. It is composed of five villages: Berzasca, Bigăr, Cozla, Drencova and Liubcova. At the 2002 census, 70.5% of the commune's inhabitants were

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Culture of Romania, Romanian culture and Cultural heritage, ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they l ...

, 14.2%

Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...

, 10.8%

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

and 3.5%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. 82.8% were Romanian Orthodox and 15.6%

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Villages

Bigăr

Bigăr is a remote Czech-inhabited village established around 1826 in the

South Carpathians The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the Pr ...

, in the middle of the

Iron Gates Natural Park The Iron Gates Natural Park ( ro, Parcul Natural Porțile de Fier ) is a natural park located in southwestern Romania. It includes the Romanian part of the Iron Gate of the Danube River, and stretches along the left bank of the river in the coun ...

and of the Almăj Mountains. It is one of six Czech villages in the area. The village name should not be mistaken with the Bigăr spring, occurring north of the Almăj Mountains. The village occurs north of the Sirinia Valley, a tributary of the Danube, this valley representing a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) for botanical reasons. The Sirinia Valley crosses the southern flank of the Almăj Mountains, a massif belonging to the

. The villagers of Bigăr earn their living through farming and logging, while up to the early 1990s their main occupation was mining for the Jurassic coal which occurs abundantly in the Almăj Mountains. The natives of Bigăr represent a special community in which the Czech language is permanently used, including a dominant background of the old Czech language. Today, the village includes mainly older people, while the youth work in the Czech Republic, most of them without immigrating, only to return home for summer holidays or for Christmas. The popular clothes, rural architecture, traditions and language are all well-preserved. Bigăr occurs in the upper-middle part of the Sirinia sedimentary basin, also known as the Svinița - Svinecea Mare sedimentary zone, a basin including

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

and

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

deposits, in the Danubian Units.Codarcea , A., 1940. Vues nouvelles sur la tectonique du Banat meridional et du Plateau de Mehedinți. D. S. Inst. Geol. Rom., 20: 1-74. The Lower Jurassic continental formation includes well developed bituminous coal seams, extracted until 1995 at Bigär (Palașca) mines, Buschmann, Stanca, Pietrele Albe, Camenița, Cozla and many other former sites, together with a rich fossil flora.

Liubcova

Liubcova village was first attested in 1689 and bears a Slavic name. It was settled following the Ottoman defeat in the

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War (german: Großer Türkenkrieg), also called the Wars of the Holy League ( tr, Kutsal İttifak Savaşları), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Pola ...

, with

brought in from a sheltered zone as well as

. A 1789 document refers to ''Gornia Liupcova'' ("Upper Liubcova", today's Gornea) and ''Dolnia Liupcova'' ("Lower Liubcova", present-day Liubcova). Following the Turkish attacks of 1738, part of the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739, when

Moldova Veche Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistria ...

was completely destroyed, Liubcova suffered the same fate. In 1788, during the Austro-Turkish War of 1787-1791, after the Turks crossed the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, they stationed three companies of soldiers on the territory of both villages. Archaeological excavations in the area have unearthed a Roman fortress of 60 m². One can see Liborajdea and Drencova from the fortress, and the Austrian and Turkish border posts were built on almost the same locations as their Roman predecessors."Liubcova"
at the Berzasca town hall site; accessed August 25, 2011 Liubcova's Romanian inhabitants are descended from people who lived in a former village on ''Veliki Breg'' (Serbian for "Great Hill"), which lies above today's village, 2 km to the east. During the Middle Ages, these individuals maintained the citadels at Dranco (today's Drencova) and Cozla, taking refuge together with the villagers of

Sichevița Sichevița ( hu, Szikesfalu) is a commune in Caraș-Severin County, western Romania with a population of 2732 people. It is composed of nineteen villages: Brestelnic, Camenița, Cârșie, Cracu Almăj, Crușovița, Curmătura, Frăsiniș, Gornea ( ...

and Gornea during raids. Today, the Romanians of all three villages, in spite of those from Liubcova having lived alongside Serbs for over two centuries, have the same rituals surrounding death, birth and marriage. At the 2002 census, the village had 1258 inhabitants. Romanians formed the majority; 26% were Serbs, 8.6% were

and 4.4%

.Plan Urbanistic General, comuna Berzasca, jud. Caraş-Severin
at the Berzasca town hall site; accessed August 25, 2011 File:Bigar village houses.jpg, Houses in Bigăr File:Bigar village.jpg, Bigăr village File:Berzasca, view of the village.jpg, A view of the Bigăr village from a hill

References

{{Caraş-Severin County Communes in Caraș-Severin County Localities in Romanian Banat Place names of Slavic origin in Romania Mining communities in Romania