Năsăud – Museums, Churches and Landscapes

The sites and collections offer different ways to explore the region’s history; the protected area adds a broader perspective through its continuous river landscape.

Museums and commemorative culture

The building of the Muzeul Grăniceresc Năsăudean (“Şvarda”) is the former barracks of the 2nd Romanian Border Regiment. It was built in 1770 and is considered a historic monument. The building’s history and former use come together here in a single structure.

The museum also includes an ethnographic open-air section in the back courtyard, completed in 2010. It features a farmhouse from Ilva Mare, a draw well and a large press for must and oil. The exhibition also includes carts, sledges, a courtyard gate and a boundary stone. The objects thus range from home and work to transport and the region’s border heritage.

The Muzeul Memorial „Liviu Rebreanu“ opened on June 2, 1957, in a house built to the floor plan of the former house in Prislop, where the writer’s parents lived. The museum stands on the edge of the village, on the side facing Năsăud. Personal belongings and photographs on display document Rebreanu’s life from his youth through his final year, 1944. A permanent book exhibition features his complete works and numerous translations into more than twenty foreign languages. Biographical records and literary works offer two different ways to explore Rebreanu’s life and creative work.

Historic churches in the town centre

The Orthodox Church of “Sf. Nicolae” stands in the town centre, on the eastern side of the central market square. It dates from 1880 to 1884 and is listed as a historic monument under code BN-II-m-B-21123.

Another religious monument in Năsăud is the Roman Catholic Church of “Sf. loan Nepomuk”, which dates from the second half of the 18th century. The different construction dates reveal two building phases: the Church of “Sf. loan Nepomuk” from the late 18th century and the Orthodox Church of “Sf. Nicolae” from 1880 to 1884. The “Someşana” folklore ensemble is also part of the town’s cultural history; it was founded in 1963.

The Someșul Mare river corridor

The R0SCI0232 Someșul Mare Superior Site of Community Importance also includes territory within the town of Năsăud. In Bistrița-Năsăud County, in the northeastern part of the Transylvanian Depression, it extends as a continuous area along the Someșul Mare between Năsăud and Ilva Mică.

The protected area includes sections of both the low-water and flood channels, as well as floodplain and slopes. The river corridor therefore encompasses different aquatic and landscape areas. This perspective on the region differs from that offered by the museum collections and churches in the town centre: the focus here is on the spatial interplay of riverbed, floodplain and slope.

Discover more destinations: Crainimăt, Romuli, Sângeorz-Băi, Ragla, Zagra, Sebiş, Uriu, Poiana Ilvei

For the regional travel overview: Bistrita-Nasaud.