Sârbi Susani church

The Sârbi Susani church stands in the village of Sârbi, Budești communte, in the Cosău valley of Maramureş County, in the historical region of Maramureş, now in Romania. This church is a surviving representative of the oldest wooden churches of Maramureş: those with only one level of eaves.

The wooden church from Sârbi Susani, was dendrochronologically dated from the winter 1638-39, i.e. the moment the timbers were felled; thus the construction might have taken place during 1639 or very soon after that. This church appears to have been built by the same master carpenter as those from Slătioara (before 1639) and Budeşti Josani (1643).

This church is quite modest in sizes, still really charming. Around its sanctuary the master carpenter played with the consoles under the eaves purlins like nowhere else. His devotion for this sacred building can be further read in the warm way he softened the plain timber walls with the rope moulding all around, with the small cuts in the frame of the southern window and even of the precinct gate, which, although fragmentary, is probably the oldest one surviving in Maramureş. The noble founders of this modest house of worship might have been either poor or conservative, if they couldn’t afford or did not wanted bells for a tower, iron for the hinges of the doors, carved stones for the altar table or glasses for the windows. Whatever the situation was, the carpenter had to solve the shortage of resources in a very traditional way, replacing the missing materials with pieces of wood. These could have been the reasons why the church from Sârbi Susani retains the most ancient features in the local architecture.

The best preserved portal in Maramureș which entirely displays the high professional grade of a church carpenter is in Sârbi Susani. Among the various designs recorded on the portals around Maramureș this is without any doubt the most intricate and rich in details known. Due to its rich symbolism it needs three levels of reading: descriptive, mythological and Christian.

The distinctive features that immediately attract attention are the moulding rope inclosing an elaborate composition of triple crosses and rosettes of various patterns and sizes. The triple crosses occupy the middle field of the three pieces of the portal, whereas the largest rosettes appear on both sides of each cross. The upper corners are covered by large sun rosettes while at the sill the straight mouldings turn round inwards closing the work. The entire composition has a symmetrical scheme, yet with many different details. Finally, a multitude of small triangles breaks up the background in shifting spots of light and shadow. At this descriptive level we should remark the inimitable artistic sensibility of this church carpenter. He worked not only with the wood but also with the light that touched it to create a unique aura around this passage into a sacred room.

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Wikipedia