Travelling along the valleys of Maramures all throughout its centuries old villages another staple of local wooden architecture impresses the visitor: the gates.
Maramures gates are unique in Romania and in the world. Gates were considered to have a cultural role providing the regional identity and also the social mark of the owner. A gate is meant to separate the intimate space of the house from the outside space of the village. On the gate pillars the tree of life prevailed as a symbol of life without death, also star and sun emblems, Christian marks but also the cock and the snake and anthropomorphic figures, all being the expression of deep encoded beliefs lost in immemorial times. Losing their initial significance the motifs carved were transferred from the magical and mythical level to the artistic level.