The Salaj County

The numberless settlements situated in the Silvania depression show that the Dacians lived here. Till now the ruines of the most important military-strategical, economic and cultural centre situated in the North-Western part of Roman Dacia, the municipality of Porolissum can be seen. It is a Prove of the Dacian Roman continuity on Romania's land which is preserved partly and put into the tourist routes.

The spiritual life of the Romanians who lived here developed concordance with the essential features of Transylvania in the Middle Age. The main establishment was the church with its three parts: religious, cultural, and national binder. The 77 wooden churches (the XVI-XIXth century) place this county among the first ones, with the Maramures county, as a such valuable historic and folk architectural monuments.

The municipality of Zalau, the capital city with a population of about 51,000 inhabitants, situated in the Northern part of the Meses Mountains, mentioned as Ziloc, by Anonymus' Chronicle, is the oldest certified localities in Transylvania. Now it is the industrial town of this county with an intense cultural and spiritual life.

Here there is the History and Art Museum with its over 90,000 exhibits as: currency hoard, Dacian-Roman statues and monuments, documents from the Middle Age, modern and contemporary epoches, pieces of Salaj folk art Romanian contemporany paintings and sculptures.

Other towns are: pimleu Silvaniei, situated on the Crasna Valley, 30 km far from Zalau, Cehu Silvaniei situated on the Salaj Valley, and Jibou.

In the locality of Guraslau, there is the monument dedicated to Mihai Viteazu's victory which is an important page of Romanian people's fight for independence.

For rest and cure, in the Salaj county, there are two spas: Baile Boghis, situated on the Barcau Valley and appreciated for the therapeutical effects of its thermal, sulphurous, sodium waters good to cure locomotory diseases, diseases of the peripherical nervous system, vertebral lumbar sciatics, arthrosis, poly-arthrosis, arthritis, chronic polyarthritis, ginaecological diseases, as well as Baile Bizusa, with its mineral waters good to cure lumbar sciatics, ginaecological diseases, chronic cholecystis, colitis, biliary and renal lithiasis.