Two of the eight wooden churches in Maramures County, which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, will be promoted by including the Autonord Rotary Rally in the route of the automotive orienteering and tourism competition, the organisers of the event announced on Thursday.

According to them, the event will offer participants not only the adrenaline involved in any competition, but also the privilege of admiring spectacular autumn landscapes in Maramures.

'The edition with the most tourist attractions scattered on the route. The participants in the contest will start from the parking lot of the Value Center Baia Mare, will go through the villages of the Fisculas and will end the route at the Limpedea Guesthouse in Baia Sprie. On this route, in addition to the 17 churches, including the UNESCO churches at Surdesti and Plopis, the participants will also have the opportunity to see the surprising group of volcanic stone statues between the mountains and Negreia, made by the local Gavril Cusco. (...) It is the competition with the most tourist attractions scattered on the route,' said the organisers.

The rally competitors will cross less known ethno-folkloric areas of Maramures.

'Together with the participants, with friends, with all those who wanted to experience thrills, to see rare images, to meet fabulous people and, we pass through the Chioar Land, the Peak of Prelucilor, the Forest Land, the lands of Lapus, Fisculas, ethno-folkloric areas . Every year, the contest offered the participants new challenges, joys and wonders over a distance of over 100 km,' the organisers said.

The route of the rally was designed to highlight a less appreciated tourist area.

'A space of very well-preserved traditions, places from which relevant personalities of national culture and spirituality have left for the world. To be 'from Fisculas' means to come from an area with proud people, with a rich subsoil, with a history that means privileges and personal rights granted by the masters of the medieval and modern eras to the citizens.'

The Autonord Rotary Rally is scheduled to take place on September 5 and is organised by the Rotary Club of Baia Mare.

Director of the Maramures Destination Management Organisation Diana Ilut told AGERPRES on Thursday that it is 'the first time that UNESCO heritage churches and a lesser-known area of the county will be promoted on the occasion of a rally in its tenth edition.' AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Leontin Cupar; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)