Bârsana ( or ''Barczanfalu'', ) is a commune in

Maramureș County Maramureș County () is a county (județ) in Romania, in the Maramureș region. The county seat is Baia Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian it is known as ''Máramaros megye'', in Ukrainian language, Ukrainian as Мараморо́щ ...

Maramureș ( ; ; ; ) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, along parts of the upper Tisza River drainage basin; it covers the Maramureș Depression and the ...

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 ...

. It is composed of two villages, Bârsana and Nănești (''Nánfalva'', ). It also included the village of Oncești until 2004, when it was split off to form a separate commune.

Geography

The commune is located in the northern part of Maramureș County, southeast of

Sighetu Marmației Sighetu Marmației (, also spelled ''Sighetul Marmației''; or ''Siget''; , ; ; ), until 1960 Sighet, is a city in Maramureș County near the Iza River, in northwestern Romania. Geography Sighetu Marmației is situated along the Tisa river o ...

and northeast of the county seat,

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; ; ; ) is a Municipiu, city along the Săsar, Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș, a subregion of Transylvania. It is situated about from Buchare ...

. It is situated at an altitude of and lies on the banks of the

Iza River The Iza is a left tributary of the river Tisa in northern Romania. Its source is in the Rodna Mountains. It flows into the Tisa near the city Sighetu Marmației. It passes through the communes Săcel, Săliștea de Sus, Dragomirești, Bogdan V ...

and its left tributaries, the rivers Valea Morii and Văleni.

Demographics

At the 2002 census, Bârsana had 6,352 inhabitants, all but ten of whom were 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, ...

; moreover, 86.7% were

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

, 7.8%

Greek-Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gr ...

, and 3.1%

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 ...

. At the 2011 census, the population had decreased to 4,474, of whom 96.7% were Romanians. At the 2021 census, the commune had a population of 4,122, of whom 90% were Romanians.

Churches

Bârsana's

Church of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple The Church of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple is part of the wooden churches of Maramureș World Heritage Site, and is located in Bârsana Commune, Maramureș County, Romania. The church was built in 1720 and it features some of the ...

is one of eight

Wooden churches of Maramureș The wooden churches of Maramureș in the Maramureș (historical region), Maramureș region of northern Transylvania are a group of almost one hundred Romanian Orthodox Church, Orthodox churches, and occasionally Romanian Church United with Rome, Gr ...

listed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. After the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...

of 1989, another wooden monastery was built in Bârsana. The French physicist Yvette Cauchois is buried at .

References

Communes in Maramureș County Localities in Romanian Maramureș {{Maramureş-geo-stub