Museum of Forestry and Timber Rafting ("Gaty")

Historic site 📍 Carpathians

Until fairly recently, Carpathian timber reached "the big water" not by lorry but by rafting: felled trunks were driven down the mountain rivers all the way to the Hungarian plain. The Museum of Forestry and Timber Rafting near Sinevir, on the Chorna Rika (Black River), is dedicated to exactly this forgotten craft and is considered the only museum of its kind in Europe.

The heart of the exhibition was the klyauza, a special dam with sluices that was built here back in the mid-19th century. It stored up water, and when the sluices were opened, the flow carried the bokora rafts downstream with their bokorashi (raftsmen) on board. The dam worked until 1960, the museum around it opened in 1976, and the devastating flood of 1998 destroyed the structure itself. That is why most of the exhibits have now been moved to the visitor centre of Sinevir National Park in the village of Synevyr.

Despite its turbulent fate, the place remains a rare chance to see the tools of the lumberjacks and raftsmen and to understand how these mountains lived and earned their keep before the roads arrived.

FAQFrequently asked questions

What is timber rafting and who were the bokorashi?

It is an old way of transporting felled timber down the mountain rivers. The bokorashi (raftsmen) lashed the trunks into bokora rafts and steered them downstream through the rushing water; the work was hard and dangerous.

What can you see now?

The tools of the lumberjacks and raftsmen, a reconstruction of the rafting itself and the history of the klyauza. A large part of the collection is now shown at the National Park visitor centre in the village of Synevyr.

Why is the museum unique?

It is the only museum of forestry and timber rafting of its kind in Europe, dedicated to a craft that effectively disappeared with the arrival of roads and machinery.

What happened to the dam?

The klyauza worked until 1960, and in the autumn of 1998 it was swept away by a great flood. Since then the focus of the exhibition has shifted to the park's visitor centre.

Where is it and is it far from the lake?

The site is in the Synevyr community, not far from Lake Sinevir, so it is easy to fit into a route through the park.