Page 30 - Transylvania : The Wooden Church Reghin 1725

The little wooden church was built on a hill in an area
town of Reghin is located on the river
The Muresul in the foothills of the Calimanului
mountain range at a place where the Calimani hills border
on the open plains of the Transylvania region.
Reghin was incorporated as a town in 1228 A.D., as
stipulated by Augustin Theiner in his publication Vetera
Monumenta Hungariae, 1859-1860. It is composed of two
main populations: the ‘Saxon Reghin’ people, living in a
small subsection situated on the river, and those living in
‘Reghin Village’or ‘Magyarrégen’ (Hungarian-Reghin),
the much larger surrounding areas inhabited by people of
Hungarian and Romanian decent.
On the periphery of the Magyarrégen suburb there is a
little wooden church that was built in A.D. 1725. It was
created in the Macedonian style. Petru Maior, a theology
student in his youth, who studied in both Rome and Vienna
and who was a member of the Uniat community of churches,
an Eastern Christian faith that accepts the authority of the
Pope but retains it’s own liturgy and discipline, served in
this church for twenty-four years, 1785-1809. He had been
appointed Rector and Archbishop of the Gurghiului region
of Romania by the Ecclesiastical Council of Solovastru, a
neighborhood of Reghin, in 1785. The little wooden church
came to be known as ‘Petru Maior’s Church.’
30
Reghin
The
Wooden
ChuRCh
where the Romanian population of Reghin had consolidated
at that time. It was built as a Greek Orthodox Church;
ecclesiastical union with Rome would take place at a much
later date in this region. Architecturally, the plan of the
church is in the shape of a cross, indicative of Macedonian
influence. The foundation is sixty centimeters wide and was
made using solid, and therefore very durable, oak wood.
The upper structure is built out of un-plastered wooden
beams cut from fir trees. The complete edifice is fifteen
metres long, six metres wide, and about fourteen metres
in height. The nave of the church is spherically vaulted
and it is not known whether the vault was painted or not
upon construction. There is a four metre square polygonal
altar, featuring seven faces, erected inside the building, an
extreme rarity in a wooden church.
A well-known artist, Toader Zugravul, created the original
church paintings on the altar and in the sanctuary. At the
back of the sanctuary there are fourteen little icons and
Toader’s name, as well as the date 1761, are clearly inscribed
on the icon representing Saint Nicholas. His paintings are
well preserved to this day.
In 1791 Petru Maior redesigned several aspects of the
building, creating a refurbished architectural form that is
still admired to this day. There is one long roof that presents
three surfaces at the altar area and extends out over a square