Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Offline map
(Str Bessarabia 10)
Sighet's only remaining synagogue is found near Piaţa Libertăţii. You
can look around for free, but it's customary to leave a donation (10 lei). Before WWII the
Jewish community was estimated at 50,000 - more than half of Sighet's prewar popula-
tion. Sadly, today the local Jewish community numbers around 200.
Most of the Jews perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau after being shipped there in 1944,
when Hungary (which ruled over the area at the time) agreed to surrender its Jews to Nazi
Germany. Some 38,000 eventually perished and the majority of the survivors chose to
emigrate.
Jewish Community Centre
Offline map
( 0262-311 652; Str Bessarabia 8; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun)
Next door is the Jewish
Community Centre, where you can also arrange to visit the town's
Jewish Cemetery
(Str
Szilagyi Istvan)
, a couple of blocks south of the centre (follow Str Izei then turn right into
Str Szilagyi Istvan and look for a long stone wall).
JEWISH
Elie Wiesel's House
Offline map
The Jewish writer and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel was born in (and later
deported from) Sighet. His house, on the corner of Str Dragoş Vodă and Str Tudor Vladi-
mirescu, is open to visitors. Along Str Gheorghe Doja there is a
monument
Offline map
(Str Mureşan)
to the victims of the Holocaust.
HISTORIC BUILDING
Maramureş Museum
Offline map
(Piaţa Libertăţii 15; adult/student 4/2 lei; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun)
The Maramureş Mu-
seum displays colourful folk costumes, rugs and carnival masks.
MUSEUM
Village Museum
(Muzeul Satului; 0262-314 229; Str Dobăieş 40; adult/child/photo 4/2/4 lei)
Allow
two to three hours to wander through the incredible constructions at the open-air Village
Museum, southeast of Sighet's centre. Children love the wooden dwellings, cobbled path-
ways and 'mini villages'. You can even stay overnight in tiny wooden cabins (20 lei) or
pitch a tent (5 lei per person).
MUSEUM
