CHURCHES FROM CIZER AND PETRINDU REOPENED FOR VISITORS OF THE NATIONAL ETHNOGRAPHIC PARK “ROMULUS VUIA”
Restored within the project CONSERVATION – RESTORATION AND VALORIZATION OF THE WOODEN CHURCHES PETRINDU AND CIZER, financed by the Financial Mechanism SEE 2009-2014, the churches with inner painting in the National Ethnographical Park “Romulus Vuia”, the open-air section of the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography, were reopened for visitors.
The works of conservation and restoration of the two monuments were ended at the end of June and consisted of the replacement of damaged structural elements, restoration of degraded parts of the roof structure, complete restoration of the roofs, extremely laborious work of conservation and restoration of the inside paint layers, treatments against the biological attack. In addition, there were made perimeter sidewalks around the monuments in order to eliminate the rainwater.
The church from Cizer is, in terms of planimetry, elevation and artistic qualities, one of the most important monuments of wooden architecture in Romania. Built of oak beams, it has the most evolved form of the plans for the Transylvanian wooden churches with narthex and polygonal alter and rectangular nave. The church has a veranda on the narthex and nave sides with pillars and 20 semi-circular archways decorated by notching and carving. The tower has an octagonal helmet having at the base a gallery with opened semi-circular archways. The decorative elements specific to the wood art – rope, rosettes, belts with wolf teeth – are in this case admirably proportioned. Acquired in 1968, the church was built by the Commission of Historical Monuments, Transylvania Site, between 1968 and 1972. The building dates from 1773 being made by Vasile Nicula Ursu, famous under the name Horea, one of the greatest personalities of the Romanians’ history.
The church from Petrindu Mare was transferred in the Ethnographical Park in 1966. According to the local history, the church would have been built in 1612, being located in the cemetery on a hill above the hill where it remained till 1835, when it was moved in the middle of the village. It is made of oak beams having rectangular narthex and nave, and polygonal altar. The tower is very high having an octagonal helmet flanked by 4 small towers. The inner painting of the church was made in 1835 by one of the masters of the Romanian sacred art in Transylvania: Dimitrie Ispas from Gilau. There are nowadays 14 churches whose painting was made by Dimitrie Ispas. The church from Petrindu Mare was the last great work of the artist from Gilau, who died in 1836.