Roșia () is a large
commune in
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 ...
,
Crișana
Crișana (, , ) is a geographical and historical region of Romania named after the Criș (Körös) River and its three tributaries: the Crișul Alb, Crișul Negru, and Crișul Repede. In Romania, the term is sometimes extended to include areas ...
,
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 (Nagyvárad).
Toponymy
...
, around north from the town of
BeiuÈ™
Beiuș (; ) is a municipiu, 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 centu ...
. 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 (, "Western Mountains"; , "Transylvanian Mountains") are a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Romanian Carpathians. The highest peak is the Bihor Peak at . The Apuseni Mountains have ab ...
, in the foothills of the
Pădurea Craiului Mountains. It lies on the banks of the
Valea Roșie River, a tributary of the
Crișul Negru; 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 highway department. Route numbering can ...
DJ764, which joins BeiuÈ™ to the town of
Aleșd; the county seat,
Oradea
Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...
, 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
Cro-Magnons or European early modern humans (EEMH) 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 in ...
and even
Neanderthal
Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...
characteristics in these footprints.
Population
According to the 2011 census, the commune has 2,384 inhabitants, 98.87% of whom are ethnic
Romanians
Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...
; 85.3% are
Romanian Orthodox and 13.6%
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...
.
Natives
*
Gheorghe Ciuhandu (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