The region of Maramures means a peculiar universe, which most naturally blends the archaism of villages and of the people with the purity of nature, like in a magical ceremonial. It is a land of mysteries, with legends about women who come from a different realm and appear during the day in the glades of the woods, with carols that sound as if the earth was mounting towards the sky, with people clad in a many colored attire.

The attraction of this beautiful land is matchless and its secret moral support lies in the local people. Travelers are welcomed in their houses with both respect and dignity. They are keen to learn what happens in the large universe but they are also ready to tell what life in their village is like, how they live in a sort of paradise granted to them by God, but further embellished by the human hands and genius. The splendor of the land is lent by the ancient world of villages, where each settlement emerges like a small miracle.

At the beginning of this new millennium, when the latest technologies turned our life into a robot like existence, it is still possible to turn all these into a fairytale with sheep, cows and horses, with narrow gauge steam engines and wood carvers, or with as many faces, landscapes and experiences. Travelers that come from other meridians of the world may have the impression that time in Maramures has stopped for a while...

This land has been called, until quite recently, the "land of wood" or "the civilization of wood", the forests covering since the beginning of the last century about 90% of the entire Maramures region. Starting with the cross and the traps for the wild animals and ending with the spoons, furniture, gates, houses or churches, the cravers' art has resisted as one of the pieces of great virtuosity of this country. All of them are unequaled through their monumental character and the richness of the decorative motifs where the signs of the sun and the rope - the symbols which signify the thread of life - prevail. The wooden churches of Maramures (8 of them included among the World Heritage Sites) - some of them being more than half a millennium old - form a unique European show, delighting their visitors with the original technique of the construction, with the height of the spire. Beautiful villages such as Ieud, Bogdan-Voda, Rozavlea, Desesti, B�rsana, Botiza, Berbesti, Poienile Izei and many more follow each other on the banks of the picturesque rivers of Maramures: Iza, Mara, Viseu, Cosau and Tisa in the north.