Poienile Izei Church

In Poienile Izei village, Maramures County, there is a Romanian Orthodox church called Poienile Izei church (known as the Saint Parascheva Church).

It is one of the eight structures that make up the Maramures Wooden Churches UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it was built around 1632. The church's entrance gate acts as a time vortex that transports you back in time and shows you what life was like for the locals hundreds of years ago. At the end of the 18th century, local craftsmen painted the church. The front entrance was added in the first part of the 19th century, and the rectangular windows between the naves were built towards the end of the same century. The enormous representations of Hell, the astounding variety of offenders, and occasionally severe punishment handed out to the doomed, all serve to highlight the importance placed on the moralising and disciplinary obligations that distinguish the images of the Last Judgement in Maramures. This wooden church is beyond any doubt one of the most attractive and well-preserved wooden churches in the county of Maramures.