The best museums Sighetu Marmației

The illustrious American Jewish writer and philosopher Elie Wiesel, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, was born in Sighetu Marmației in 1928. At that time, almost half the town's population was Jewish, and there were numerous synagogues. World War II decimated the community, which was massively deported to concentration camps. The only survivor of his family, Elie Wiesel devoted his life to bearing witness to the horror of these camps, leaving an abundant body of work until his death in 2016. Today, you can visit his birthplace, transformed into the Museum of Jewish Culture in Maramureș. Documents, objects and testimonies tell of their ancient roots in the region. One room recounts the tragedy experienced by the Jews of Maramureș, after the region's incorporation into Horthist Hungary in 1940 (ghettos, massacres, deportations...). Another room is dedicated to Elie Wiesel, his work and his visits to his hometown.

Located in the city's old Jewish quarter, the house is close to the only surviving Sephardic synagogue (strada Basarabiei, 8). Built in 1904, its interiors are richly decorated. The town also boasts a number of memorials, such as the one on Gheorghe Doja Street, erected in memory of the 38,000 Jews from Maramureș arrested by the Hungarian police and deported in 1944. The Jewish cemetery is located south of Mihai Eminescu Street, not far from Grădina Morii Park.

Located at the southern exit of the city, about 3 km from the center, this open-air museum which spreads out on the hill of Dobăieș benefits from a very pretty wooded setting, which provides superb panoramas of the surroundings. It mainly presents different types of village buildings, farms, houses, carved doors, but also mills, oil presses, traditional washhouses ... The oldest pieces date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. You will also see a wooden church dating from 1621, brought back from the village of Oncești.

The building housing the Museum of History and Archaeology (as well as the Museum of Natural Sciences) dates from 1730, and features a collection of artifacts from the Maramureș region, from the Paleolithic to the 20th century. Its Bronze Age section is one of the most important in the country. There are also collections of weapons, stamps, coins and photographs, providing precious evidence of the history of Maramureș in the 20th century.

Housed in an ^18th-century mansion, it showcases the treasures of local folklore and craftsmanship: tools, carpets, sculptures, icons... The exhibition, though modestly presented, aptly reflects the diverse facets of Maramureş, a deeply rural region where traditions remain fully alive. One section is dedicated to the masks and costumes used for "Viflaim", a popular performance with a religious dimension, performed on the occasion of the end-of-year festivities in Maramureș. Definitely worth a look!