St. Elijah Church, Cupseni
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Year built: 1732
Location: Cupşeni, is situated 20 km north of the town of Târgu Lăpuş.
Summary: The church of St. Elijah sits by the main road of the village. It is an extremely small construction, without a porch, with the entrance on the south façade, a short unimposing tower, and a steep roof with only one set of eaves that covers the whole structure.
All these structural features include it in the group of churches that were built after the Tatar invasion of 1717, but before 1733. It was brought from another village and rebuilt in Cupşeni around 1848, by a few families.
The interior of the church is very dark, for the pronaos doesn’t have any windows, and even the naos gets light only from two small openings. The interior murals were painted in 1848 and are well preserved.
The iconography follows that of the nearby Cosău valley churches, but the style of painting brings to mind the Transylvanian icons painted on glass.
