The story of the Way of the Cross from the Straja resort, one of the most difficult pilgrimages in Romania
For almost three decades, the Straja mountain resort in the Vâlcan Mountains has been, on the Good Friday before Easter, a place of pilgrimage for believers. Here the “Way of the Cross” takes place, a religious procession of over 10 kilometers, attended by hundreds of people.
Way of the Cross from Straja. Photo: Daniel Guță. TRUTH
Located in the Vâlcan Mountains, at the foot of the Straja Peak (1,865 meters), which separates Hunedoara and Gorj counties, the Straja mountain resort has become a landmark of winter tourism in Romania.
From the Carpathian border, to wrestling, skiing and religious tourism
The Vulcan mountains have been an emblematic place for Romanians over time. Until 1918, they represented the natural borders between Transylvania and Muntenia, guarded, on one side, by Austro-Hungarian border guards, and on the other side, by Romanians.
In the First World War, they were the site of heavy battles between the Romanian and the Austro-Hungarian and German armies, in which more than 1,000 soldiers died. The trenches dug at the foot of Vârful Straja and the monuments erected in Straja, Pasul Vâlcan and in the Jiului Gorge, at the foot of the mountains, still remind us of the past confrontations.
Since the 1930s, the slopes of Straja, called the “Plateau of the Sun”, originally used as a ski training place for the gendarme regiment established here, have become increasingly popular for tourists. The old cantonments left, in the 50s, the site of the first tourist cabin, the former Straja cabin, used by hiking and skiing enthusiasts and, above all, by the miners of the enterprise from Lupeni, to which it belonged.
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Way of the Cross from Straja Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (24) JPG
In the last two decades, a holiday village has developed around the Straja cottage, in the middle of which the hermitage built in 1999 has become a tourist attraction and a place of pilgrimage on Good Friday, before Easter.
“This year, the “Way of the Cross” from Lupeni – Straja is covered for the 27th time. Because it began on Good Friday in 2000, at the initiative of the founder of the Straja Hermitage, Emil – Ilie Părău, on the occasion of the first Easter that the hermitage welcomed. On Friday, April 10, 2026, the “Way of the Cross” pilgrimage will begin at 12 o'clock, from the Church St. Nicholas from the center of Lupeni, and will continue to the Straja Hermitage in the mountain, at an altitude of 1,440 m. It will take about 4 hours to climb. After the Cross will reach the Straja Hermitage again and will be put back in its special place, in the wooden church of the hermitage, the Good Friday service will begin.” announced Dimitrie Ivașco, abbot of Straja Monastery, on his Facebook page.
Straja, the resort with a “tunnel of the saints”
The Straja pilgrimage gave a new purpose to the mountain resort appreciated by thousands of tourists during the winter and located among the historical places in Romania. Straja also became a place with a religious charge, of one of the most difficult pilgrimages organized in Romania. However, every year, hundreds of people participated in the procession that goes up from Lupeni, on the “Way of the Cross”. On the way to the hermitage, the procession stops in 14 places, where there are religious monuments, to listen to the services held by the priests. The Straja hermitage can also be reached by gondola.
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Way of the Cross from Straja Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (1) JPG
Above the wooden church in Straja, where the procession stops, in 1996 the Heroes' Cross was erected, in memory of the Romanian soldiers who fought in the First World War. 19 meters high and with a span of nine meters, the Cross of the Heroes of Straja watches over the resort and the towns in the west of the Jiului Valley from a peak at 1,480 meters.
The wooden church and some cells were built near the Cross of Heroes in Straja. The place became known for the over 50-meter tunnel, used as an access gate to the courtyard, decorated with the icons of the saints from the Orthodox Calendar.
“The heavy snows in the winter, the blizzard that blows with power and trojans the snow gave trouble to those who took care of the wooden church and who wanted people to be able to reach this place of prayer at any time. This is how the idea of building a 54-meter long tunnel, which would connect the main road from the Straja resort and the wooden church, was born. The construction work of the tunnel ended in year 2006, and what resulted from the hands of the craftsmen took the form of a special calendar, unique in Romania”, show the representatives of the resort.
365 saints were painted on the walls of the tunnel, in the order in which they are celebrated on one day of the year.
“A candle is eternally lit in this tunnel and is moved every day in front of the icon of the saint that marks the current date in the calendar. People appreciate this unique tunnel of saints. They enter the tunnel through a large wooden gate, look for their birthday and then see the face of the saint of that day, as it is written in the Orthodox calendar.” informed the administrators of the station.
The Way of the Cross in Straja remained the most popular religious event related to the history of the mountain resort.
