1. The Circuit: Tebea - Brad - Criscior - Tebea (28 km) )
Access: AR
The town of Brad: economic and cultural centre of the area. Between Brad and Criscior, on a 14km distance (two-way trip) you can take a small train with carriages dating from the beginning of the last century. The train runs only at the request of groups of minimum 10 persons and the fees to be paid are as follows: 200 EURO/group - foreign tourists; 15,000 ROL/person for Romanian tourists. The train belongs to "Atelierele Centrale Criscior" - tel.: 0254-616-211.- tel: 0254-616-211.
Sites to visit:
- the Museum of Gold unique in Europe, with a rich collection of metaliferous
exhibits from Romania and other countries.
- the "A. Iancu" High-school founded in 1869, one of the six
Romanian high-schools in Transylvania at that time.
Criscior: the Orthodox Church in Criscior from the XVth century
boasts very old paintings and the most beautiful inside mural painting
in Transylvania
2. The Circuit: Tebea - Mesteacan - Ribita - Crisan
- Baia-de-Cris - Tebea (15 km)
Access: AR
Tebea:
- the Church with the national (tricolor) flag - the only church in Transylvania
that had the Romanian flag painted on its vault during the foreign domination;
- Horea's ever green oak (the leader of the Uprising in 1784)
- Avram Iancu's Tomb (the soul of the Revolution in 1848 in Transylvania)
Mesteacan: the Roadside Crucifix built in the memory of Horea's Uprising in 1784 on the place of a church, later burned, where the peasants swore to go to Alba Iulia to get free from serfdom by enrolling into the army. The roadside crucifix was built in 1934 on the occasion of commemorating 150 years since Horea's uprising was defeated.
Ribita: the church with the most valuable Byzantine fresco in Transylvania - dating back to the XIVth century.
Crisan: Crisan's Memorial House - the native place of the most brave of Horea's captains during the Uprising in 1784; the Crisan Monastery, built after 1990 on the place of an older monastery.
Baia-de-Cris: the former capital of the
Romanian County called the "Zarandului Country" between 1862
and 1868, one of the few rights obtained by the Romanians from Transylvania
after the Revolution in 1848.
Sites:
- the building that sheltered the Administrative
Centre of the "Zarandului Country"; Avram Iancu's bust - the
leader of the Revolution in 1848 in Transylvania; Avram Iancu's Memorial
House - the place where he died in 1872;
- the Franciscan Monastery built in the XVth century, the most imposing
gothic monument in the area, 500 years old, declared architectural monument.
Returning to Tebea at the end of the circuit you can stop at the place called "at Pitchforks", marked by three stone roadside crucifixes built in the memory of the participants to the Uprising in 1784, who were hanged here (in pitchforks). The three roadside crucifixes are architectural monuments, too.
3. The "Prayers*" of Tebea - history, culture
and art
*"Prayers" = crosses that do not have funeral signification
In Tebea there are 80 stone "prayers", the oldest of which being over 200 years old.
Freed from their usual meaning, the crosses
become "prayers" and can be found in places such as where water
had been found and wells were built, at crossroads as if encouraging the
travelers or by the village limits marking the settlement boundaries.
Others bear on their hard rock the names of those who perished in an uprising,
a revolution and during the two world wars.
Carved by peasant artists, the "prayers" of Tebea are simple, the words cut on them being very rarely accompanied by "shy" decorations such as flowers. Full of meanings, they are testimonials for passing from the Slav alphabet (used for writing church books in the past) to the Latin alphabet used nowadays.
(Pictures from Țebea, Ribița, Criscior and Crișan courtesy to church from Țebea and Crișan)