The Church of the Holy Archangels () is one of eight

Wooden Churches of Maramureș The wooden churches of Maramureș in the Maramureș (historical region), Maramureș region of northern Transylvania are a group of almost one hundred Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox churches, and occasionally Romanian Church United with Rome, Gr ...

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 ...

listed as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in December 1999. The structure is in the village of Rogoz in the Lăpuș River valley, within the mountainous area of northern

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

History

The church was built in 1633, which is indirectly confirmed by the inscription at the entrance informing visitors about the

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

raid in 1661. The church survived the last Tatar invasion of 1717 which is referred to on a mural writing which mentions ''the terrifying year 1717 of the time of the Tatars''. In 1883 it was moved from

Suciu de Sus Suciu de Sus () is a commune in Maramureș County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Larga (''Tágfalva''), Suciu de Jos (''Alsószőcs''), and Suciu de Sus. Geography The commune lies on the banks of the river Suciu and i ...

to the centre of the village of Rogoz on the site of St. Paraskeva, an existing church built in 1701. In 1834 the size of the nave windows was increased. In 1960–1961 a major renovation of the structure was undertaken and the floors were renewed.UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites
Retrieved 21 February 2014 Florin Pop, Vasile Latiș
"Biserica 'Sf. Arhangheli' (Rogoz) - UNESCO"
, at the Maramureș County Cultural Office site. Retrieved 22 February 2014

Structure

The church is a timber structure built of slabs that are jointed together without the use of metal nails. The wooden walls rest on a base of stone blocks and pebbles. The timber is

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

and according to tradition all this wood came from two huge trees from the hill of Dealul Popii.Visit Maramureș
Retrieved 21 February 2014Holy-Archangels-Michael-and-Gabriel-from-Rogoz at romguide
Retrieved 21 February 2014
Retrieved 22 February 2014 The roof is of wooden shingles with very wide eaves that overhang the walls. There is a tower at the western end, the usual position in Maramureș wooden churches. The tower has a spire and four corner pinnacles, all hung with shingles and surrounded by the sweep of the main roof. The nave is narrow and rectangular, extending to a heptagonal chancel at the eastern end. There is also a polygonal porch. The design combines Orthodox traditions with Gothic influences. Both the interior and exterior have carved wooden architectural details including a twisted rope decoration. There are two windows in the nave and the altar has a small circular window through which the sun's rays penetrate for a period of 30 minutes from 1 to 15 August.

Interior decoration

All the interior walls are painted with murals in bright colours by Nicholas Mann and Radu Munteanu from the village of Ungureni who also produced wall paintings for the church in

Desești Desești (, or ''Desest'') is a commune in Maramureș County, Maramureș, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Desești, Hărnicești (''Hernécs''), and Mara (''Crăcești'' until 1956; ''Krácsfalva''). The commune belongs to the Baia ...

and others in the Lăpuș area.Desești at Romanian monasteries
Retrieved 24 February 2014 The murals date from 1785 as documented in inscriptions in

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

. The scenes represented are not coherent as some are missing and some are fragmented. In 1834 the ceiling and nave were repainted by an unidentified artist.

Exterior gallery

File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (12).JPG, The church is set in a graveyard File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (9).JPG, Detail showing the method of jointing with 'horses heads' File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (8).JPG, Detail showing polygonal

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

and stone base File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (23).JPG, The exterior is decorated with carved cables and crosses File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (22).JPG, An inscription on the door remembers the Tatar invasion of 1661 File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (17).JPG, An unusual round window at the apse of the church

Interior gallery

File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (42).JPG File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (99).JPG File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (90).JPG File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (82).JPG File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (63).JPG File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (146).JPG File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (145).JPG File:Biserica de lemn Sf.Arhangheli Rogoz (137).JPG

References