Siriu is a commune in

Buzău County Buzău County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Buzău. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 432,054 and the population density was 70.7/km ...

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the rarely used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in Ro ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, in the valley of the river

Buzău Buzău (; formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu'') is a city in the historical region of Muntenia, Romania, and the county seat of Buzău County. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...

. It is composed of five villages: Cașoca, Colțu Pietrii, Gura Siriului, Lunca Jariștei (the commune centre), and Mușcelușa.

Geography

Location

Siriu is located in the north-western part of the county, in the

Buzău Mountains The Buzău Mountains are a set of six mountains ranges in Romania which are part of the Curvature Carpathians region of the Outer Eastern Carpathians. These six mountain ranges are as follows: * * * * * *. The Penteleu and Ivănețu Massifs are ...

, at the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

' curvature, on both sides of the river Buzău. The maximum altitude of the Siriu commune exceeds . The commune is crossed by

national road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

DN10 DN10 () is a national road in Romania that runs from Buzău to Brașov, crossing the Carpathian Mountains through the Buzău Pass. The road follows the Buzău River valley and is an important connection between Transylvania and the cities of s ...

, which starts in the county capital,

, goes over the

Buzău Pass Buzău Pass () is a mountain pass that follows the Buzău River and connects Brașov with Buzău over the Buzău Mountains, in the Eastern Carpathians in Romania. Geography The pass is traversed by National Road DN10, from Crasna, in Covasn ...

, and ends in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

. The Siriu Dam, constructed between 1982 and 1994 and its artificial lake are located in the commune.

Lacul Vulturilor Lacul Vulturilor (Romanian for ''Eagles' Lake'', also known as Lacul Fără Fund, ''The Bottomless Lake'') is a periglacial lake located in the Buzău Mountains, at the Carpathian Mountains south-eastern curvature, at an altitude of 1420 m. The ne ...

is a periglacial lake also located in Siriu.

Flora and fauna

In 1972, 10

chamois The chamois (; ) (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope native to the mountains in Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Dinarides, the Tatra Mountains, Tatra to the Carpa ...

were brought to Siriu and released in the wilderness of the mountain ranges. As of 2007, their number has risen to around 60. One of the largest

fir Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

s in Romania, measuring 62 meters in height and 2.5 meters in diameter, grows in a forest in Siriu.Siriu website
A protected plant,

Drosera rotundifolia ''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribut ...

, can also be found in the Siriu forests.

History

The oldest attestation of Siriu dates back to the mid-sixteenth century. A document issued by the voivod of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

granted ownership of some land in Siriu to ''Petru'' and ''Lupu''.

Economy

Many of the locals work at the Nehoiaşu hydroelectric power plant. Another branch of industry active in Siriu is

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wo ...

. Other locals grow animals (mostly sheep or bovine), and

fruit tree A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans. All trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, the te ...

Notes

External links

The Buzău Mountains - SIRIU locality
{{Authority control

Siriu Siriu is a commune in Buzău County, Muntenia, Romania, in the valley of the river Buzău. It is composed of five villages: Cașoca, Colțu Pietrii, Gura Siriului, Lunca Jariștei (the commune centre), and Mușcelușa. Geography Location Siriu ...

Localities in Muntenia