Sighetu Marmației
The base for northern Maramureș, on the Ukrainian border — and the site of a former political prison that is now one of the most serious museums in the country.
- Best for
- The wooden churches, the Merry Cemetery, and the Memorial
- Suggested time
- One or two nights
- Getting there
- The northern end of Maramureș, on the border with Ukraine
Start here
What there is to see
In and around Sighetu Marmației. Filter by what you are interested in.
The Merry Cemetery
A graveyard at Săpânța where every cross is painted blue and carries a rhyme about the person under it — often funny, sometimes brutally frank.
The Wooden Churches of Maramureș
Eight churches built entirely of timber, with shingle roofs and spires tall out of all proportion to the villages under them. Inscribed by UNESCO in 1999.
The Mocăniță, Vaser Valley
A narrow-gauge steam railway up a forest valley from Vișeu de Sus — and still a working logging line, not a preserved one.
The background
Sighet is where you sleep to see Maramureș. Săpânța is a short run west, the wooden churches are scattered through the valleys south and east, and the Vaser railway starts at Vișeu de Sus along the road.
The Memorial
The town also holds something that has nothing to do with folk architecture and should not be skipped for it.
The prison built here in 1897 was used by the communist regime to hold and kill members of Romania’s political, clerical and intellectual class. Since 1993 it has been the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and to the Resistance, established on the initiative of the writers Ana Blandiana and Romulus Rusan and taken under the aegis of the Council of Europe; the first rooms opened in 1997. The cells are now the exhibition, one theme to a cell. It was named European Museum of the Year in 2001.
It is not a light visit and it is not designed to be. Allow proper time, and do not put it at the end of a day of painted crosses and shingle roofs.
Practical
Maramureș is a driving region. The distances look small and are not, the roads wind, and the villages are the point rather than the gaps between the sights.
Prefer to have the route organised for you?
Guided private trips and custom itineraries are arranged externally, with a local driver-guide.
View private tours