Roșia ( hu, Biharrósa) is a large

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

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 ...

Crișana Crișana ( hu, Körösvidék, german: Kreischgebiet) is a geographical and historical region in north-western Romania, named after the Criș (Körös) River and its three tributaries: the Crișul Alb, Crișul Negru, and Crișul Repede. In Roma ...

Bihor County Bihor County () is a county ( județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea. Toponymy The origin of ...

, around north from the town of

Beiuș Beiuș (; hu, Belényes) is a city in Bihor County, Romania near the Apuseni Mountains. The river Crișul Negru flows through Beiuș, and the city administers a single village, Delani (''Gyalány''). Between the late 18th and very early 20th ...

. It is composed of two villages, Lazuri (''Lázurihegy'') and Roșia.

Geography

Roșia covers a surface area of . It is located in the eastern part of the county, at the edge of the

Apuseni Mountains The Apuseni Mountains ( ro, Munții Apuseni, hu, Erdélyi-középhegység) is a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Romanian Carpathians, also called ''Occidentali'' in Romanian. Their name translates from Rom ...

, in the foothills of the

Pădurea Craiului Mountains The Pădurea Craiului Mountains are in the northwestern part of the Apuseni Mountains of the Carpathian Mountain range, located between the and the Beiuș Depression. The Dealurile Vestice (Western Hills) are located to the west of these mou ...

. It lies on the banks of the Valea Roșie River, a tributary of the

Crișul Negru The Crișul Negru (Black Criș) (Romanian), ( hu, Fekete-Körös) is a river in western Romania (Transylvania) and south-eastern Hungary (Békés County). The river has its source in the western Apuseni Mountains. It flows through the towns Ștei ...

; the Șoimuș River flows into the Valea Roșie near Roșia. The commune is crossed by

county road A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the County (United States), county highway departme ...

DJ764, which joins Beiuș to the town of

Aleșd Aleșd (; , sk, Alešď) is a town in Bihor County, western Romania. It administers three villages: Pădurea Neagră (''Feketeerdő''), Peștiș (''Sólyomkőpestes''), and Tinăud (''Tinód''). Geography The town is located in the east of the c ...

; the county seat,

Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The county seat, seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the ...

, is some to the northwest. Roșia has beautiful landscapes, mountain rivers, caves, and large forests. In the Ciurul Mare Cave, speleologists have discovered some distinctively male, female, and child footprints; an anthropological analysis has identified

Cro-Magnon Early European modern humans (EEMH), or Cro-Magnons, were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from Western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They ...

and even

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

characteristics in these footprints.

Population

According to the 2011 census, the commune has 2,384 inhabitants, 98.87% of whom are ethnic

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 ...

; 85.3% are

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...

and 13.6%

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Natives

Gheorghe Ciuhandu Gheorghe Coriolan Ciuhandu (; born 15 June 1947) is a Romanian politician. A building engineer by profession, he graduated from the Traian Vuia Polytechnic Institute in 1970, earning a doctorate in 1986 and joining the faculty in 1993. He was ...

(1875–1947), priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church, theologian, and historian

References

Communes in Bihor County Localities in Crișana Early European modern humans Neanderthal sites {{Bihor-geo-stub