Discover Stâna: Wooden Church and Musical History

Stâna preserves a building dating from the 18th century with the wooden church “Intrarea Maicii Domnului în Biserică”, built approximately around 1778.

Culture

The wooden church has a pronaos, a rectangular nave, a lower hexagonal apse, a tower set on the nave at the western end, and a shingle roof. The vestibule of the church was converted into a pronaos in 1820.

The sequence of the structural elements highlights the church’s distinctive construction: the rectangular nave is followed by the lower hexagonal apse and the tower set on the nave at the western end. The shingle roof is just as much part of the traditional appearance as the pronaos, which developed from the former vestibule.

The massive wooden beams are joined using dovetail joints, which serve both a structural and a decorative function. The church also has a projecting gallery with four elaborately carved columns, each with three decorative arms.

The dovetail joints show that the beam construction is designed not only to support the structural elements. The craftsmanship is particularly visible in the gallery: Four columns each support three decorative arms and form a projecting, carved section of the church.

The surviving painting is executed in a Western style and was created by an anonymous artist in the late 18th or early 19th century. The surviving paintings on the vault of the nave depict scenes from the Passion of Christ and the Last Supper. The wooden church is listed as a national monument.

Music and Remembrance

Izidor Șerban (1931–2008) was a representative Ceatarâș of the Codru region. The CD “Danțurile Codrenilor”, released in 2011, contains 17 pieces that he performed together with the taraf from the village of Stâna.

The CD thus documents a collaboration between Izidor Șerban and the taraf from Stâna in a total of 17 pieces. The time gap between his lifetime and the release makes the CD a document of this musical connection published at a later date.

Local Ceatarâși also performed at a memorial event for Izidor Șerban on June 13, 2022, in Stâna. On the same day, a memorial plaque for him was unveiled at the Stâna cultural center; the cultural center was to bear his name in the future.

The “Izidor Șerban” folklore festival took place in Stâna on April 30, 2023.

Further Insights

A virtual tour is available for the wooden church “Intrarea Maicii Domnului în Biserică”.

Landscape

The municipality of Socond lies at the foot of the Codru; around 80% of its territory is hilly.

The landscape description combines the location at the foot of the Codru with an approximate figure: Around 80% of the municipality’s territory is hilly. The percentage should be understood as an approximate value.

The direct unpaved road between Soconzel and Stâna is impassable. The route to Stâna is via the DN 19A and the DJ 196 through neighboring Beltiug.

The route to Stâna therefore involves two named roads: first the DN 19A and then the DJ 196 through neighboring Beltiug. The direct unpaved road between Soconzel and Stâna remains separate from this route and is impassable.

For the higher-level travel overview: Comuna Socond.