" “Saint Paraschiva” Church - Crivina de Sus, Timiș
Situated on a hill, in the midst of a garden-cemetery, the church of Crivina de Sus is the oldest wooden church in the Banat area. The oral tradition and also a cyrillic inscription above the south entry indicate 1676 as the year of construction. The date was confirmed through dendrochronology testing performed in the summer of 2016.
The church’s unique features justify its classification as a type A historical monument; one of these characteristics consists in its uncommon planimetry, with a 3 edged, polygonal narthex. The church displays a mixture of two construction systems: the “Blockbau” system, presenting dovetail joints, used in the construction of the sanctuary and the narthex, and the “Fachwerk” system, used in the construction of the nave.
The church has a long and rich history. Documents and inscriptions mention its first known location, in Ilia, on the Mures River Valley. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the church was relocated to the current location by raft, on the Mures River. The local tradition states that a rich widow donated the church to the community of Crivina. An inscription on the south-east side of the sanctuary, correlated with the history of the area and of the church itself, the connection to certain historical figures and also the absence of the murals on the interior walls, seem to suggest that, at some point in history, the church was used by Calvinists.
The wooden church of Crivina de Sus is currently at the center of a multidisciplinary project (Biserici Înlemnite din Banat). This project started in 2013 as an initiative of AsoP Vest, a NGO promoting landscape architecture in Romania. The project is designed as a sum of interdisciplinary workshops, in architecture and urbanism, landscaping, stone and paintings restoration, anthropology and cultural studies. As a highlight of this project, a membrane for the protection of the roof was mounted, thus facilitating the research and restoration activities. "
Anynomous
" “Saint Paraschiva” Church - Crivina de Sus, Timiș
20 September 2023Situated on a hill, in the midst of a garden-cemetery, the church of Crivina de Sus is the oldest wooden church in the Banat area. The oral tradition and also a cyrillic inscription above the south entry indicate 1676 as the year of construction. The date was confirmed through dendrochronology testing performed in the summer of 2016.
The church’s unique features justify its classification as a type A historical monument; one of these characteristics consists in its uncommon planimetry, with a 3 edged, polygonal narthex. The church displays a mixture of two construction systems: the “Blockbau” system, presenting dovetail joints, used in the construction of the sanctuary and the narthex, and the “Fachwerk” system, used in the construction of the nave.
The church has a long and rich history. Documents and inscriptions mention its first known location, in Ilia, on the Mures River Valley. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the church was relocated to the current location by raft, on the Mures River. The local tradition states that a rich widow donated the church to the community of Crivina. An inscription on the south-east side of the sanctuary, correlated with the history of the area and of the church itself, the connection to certain historical figures and also the absence of the murals on the interior walls, seem to suggest that, at some point in history, the church was used by Calvinists.
The wooden church of Crivina de Sus is currently at the center of a multidisciplinary project (Biserici Înlemnite din Banat). This project started in 2013 as an initiative of AsoP Vest, a NGO promoting landscape architecture in Romania. The project is designed as a sum of interdisciplinary workshops, in architecture and urbanism, landscaping, stone and paintings restoration, anthropology and cultural studies. As a highlight of this project, a membrane for the protection of the roof was mounted, thus facilitating the research and restoration activities. "