Long Valley, New Jersey, July 8, 2021
Photo: YouTube
“In only a short scenic drive from the New York Metropolitan area, the heart and soul of Romania waits.”
In Long Valley, New Jersey, in a field next to the existing Life-Giving Fountain Romanian Orthodox Church, a beautiful wooden Romanian church is under construction. The project is dedicated to the centenary of Romania’s union into a modern national state (1918-2018).
The church is being built in the form of a cross, in the style of the famous wooden churches from the Maramureş region in northern Romania, reports the project website.
The architectural plan has the church at 90 feet high, 42 feet wide, and 95 feet long. “The church steeple will be the most awe-inspiring feature of the church, sitting right above the pronaos as a beacon.”
“We know this wooden church, like those born before us in the homeland, will stand for all time, throughout the centuries, representing a Romanian ethnic symbol of faith here on American soil,” the church site states.
The existing church building will be converted into a Romanian cultural center, with a Romanian library and an ethnographic museum, to help connect generations to come with their Romanian faith and heritage.
The video below shows the progress on the church as of April this year:
The parish community, the first for Romanians in New Jersey, was born in 2011, originally meeting in a nearby Ukrainian church. A priest was assigned to the community in 2013, and in May 2016, they were able to purchase a church building in Long Valley. The plan to build a wooden church was approved in January 2017.
Those interested in helping the Romanian parish realize their dream can donate via credit/debit card or PayPal on the church website, or via check to:
The Life-Giving Fountain Romanian Orthodox Church
132 Califon Rd. Long Valley, NJ, 07853
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