18 km east of Săpânța you can find Sighetu- Marmației (being known as Sighetul Maramureşului in the past), first attested in 1326 and as a city in 1352.
Being the capital of Maramureş for over six centuries, the city of Sighet has traces of human inhabitation from the upper Paleolithic (10,000 B.C.), Neolithic, the bronze and iron age; the settlement on the Solovan hill from the Dacic period gives us the right to say that the city’s territory has been permanently inhabited by human communities ever since the most ancient times to present. Located at the confluence of waters and valleys, the town of Sighet biased the Maramureș area economically and politically.
The fortress of Solovan, ever since the beginning of the Iron Age was one of the biggest fortified settlements of Romania, and it was subject to attacks in the context of the exploitation of metals in the Maramureș mountains. Numerous traces of free Dacians in the area (Oncești, Călinești) and the archaeological discoveries of early feudalism archaeologically certify the perimeter of the city as the hearth of the existence of our daco-roman and then Romanian ancestors.
The city and its surroundings are a tourist site, having many important landmarks: The Memorial of the Victims of Communism and Resistance. Being situated very close to the City Hall, the former prison is one of the few international projects dedicated to the analysis of the communist past in East European countries;
“The Ethnographic Museum of Maramures” with departments of natural sciences, history and ethnography; “Maramureș Village Museum”; “Hebrew Culture Museum” – it presents an exhibition in honor of the Nobel Peace laureate, Ellie Wiesel. Regarding Maramureș and the customs that attract tourists every year, we have to mention: The Memorial House of Dr. Ioan Mihalyi of Apșa, “Winter customs and traditions festival – Marmația”. The festival takes place every year on the 27th of December and brings together people and popular traditions from all around the country.
Source: www.primaria-sighet.ro