Berzasca 4.51

Berzasca is a commune in Caraș-Severin County, in the Banat region of western Romania with a population of 3,123 people. It is composed of five villages: Berzasca, Bigăr, Cozla, Drencova and Liubcova. At the 2002 census, 70.5% of the commune's inhabitants were Romanians, 14.2% Czechs, 10.8% Serbs and 3.5% Roma. 82.8% were Romanian Orthodox and 15.6% Roman Catholic.VillagesBigărBigăr is a remote Czech-inhabited village established around 1826 in the South Carpathians, in the middle of the Iron Gates Natural Park and of the Almăj Mountains. It is one of six Czech villages in the area. The village name should not be mistaken with the Bigăr spring, occurring north of the Almăj Mountains.The village occurs north of the Sirinia Valley, a tributary of the Danube, this valley representing a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for botanical reasons. The Sirinia Valley crosses the southern flank of the Almăj Mountains, a massif belonging to the South Carpathians.The villagers of Bigăr earn their living through farming and logging, while up to the early 1990s their main occupation was mining for the Jurassic coal which occurs abundantly in the Almăj Mountains. The natives of Bigăr represent a special community in which the Czech language is permanently used, including a dominant background of the old Czech language. Today, the village includes mainly older people, while the youth work in the Czech Republic, most of them without immigrating, only to return home for summer holidays or for Christmas. The popular clothes, rural architecture, traditions and language are all well-preserved.