Whether motivated by architecture, history or faith, many travelers to Europe are eager to visit the continent's great churches. Mike Peters explores some unusual wooden churches in an ancient region.

French kings were once crowned at the cathedral at Reims. The Dresden Frauenkirche, firebombed to rubble during World War II, stands proudly rebuilt on the Elbe River with its distinctive "stone bell?dome. St. Peter's Basilica is the heart of the Vatican. But if I were traveling to Europe on this Easter Sunday, I would hope to spend the morning in a much different building: one of the historic wooden churches that dot communities in the region once known as Wallachia. Now cultural treasures of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, many of these sturdy houses of worship have been sanctified by UNESCO as World Heritage sites during the past three decades.

The oldest and best-preserved wooden church in Slovakia is St. Francis of Assisi in Hervartov, probably built by Roman Catholics starting in 1499. Prized for the richly colored Gothic portraits and wall paintings created about two centuries later, St. Francis is one of eight wooden churches in a conservation area of the Carpatian Mountains with World Heritage site status.

The churches on the list are a mix of Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Evangelical. The three Evangelical churches add some extra layers to the historical interest of the area.

By law, these churches had to be built without any metal elements, within one year and without an entrance from the street. Protestants in the heavily Catholic area could only build one such church in a town or two in a county. The architecture ranges from Gothic to Baroque, and the Evangelical church at Kezmarok boasts not only a Baroque interior entirely made of wood but a pipe organ with wooden pipes - an artistic gem.

In Romania, tourism officials hope to capitalize on the region's natural beauty and traditional culture now that its historic wooden churches are more accessible thanks to new roads and infrastructure largely funded by the European Union.

Hidden for centuries in a corner of the northern Carpathians, the wooden churches of Maramures are one of Romania's best-kept secrets. Nearby, the church at Surdesti claims to be the tallest oak building in the world at 236 feet high, Reuters reports.

Maramures is a living, breathing open-air museum of centuries-old Balkan life. Villagers, who still wear traditional costume, use animals and wooden tools in their fields, weave by hand and are famous for carving wood, abundant in the nearby forests.

That pleasant sense of a bygone pastoral life - sheep-farming is important in these communities even today - is recreated in a more literal outdoor museum outside the Czech Republic community of Roznov.

Roznov's ecclesiastical treasure is St. Anne's Church from Vetrkovice, a typical rural wooden church of the Wallachian region. The church is surrounded by a symbolic cemetery for Wallachian notables, and a hearse shed stands behind the church.

The Wallachian Open Air Museum is part of the country's eastern region of Moravia. During a recent trip there while exploring the homeland of my grandfather, I was captivated by its agrarian charms. A "wooden townlet" of rescued municipal architecture of the late 19th and early 20th century combines relocated original houses and painstakingly recreated buildings fitted with interior displays of the traditional style of living, home-run trades and crafts. Visitors can explore the village mayor's house, a pub and tavern, a blacksmith's workshop and a burgher's house - all reflecting the spa character of the Roznov area.