Curtea de Argeș Monastery

Curtea de Argeș – the town where the monastery of the same name is located, where the kings of Romania are buried. Its beauty and charm and the legend of its construction have made it a place of pilgrimage for both tourists from all over the world and especially for local believers who come here to pray in a place of supreme importance for them.

Curtea de Argeș Monastery was built between 1512-1517 by Neagoe Basarab – the ruler of Romania, in the Byzantine style, with elements of Persian, Armenian and Georgian art, a combination that unites in perfect harmony to create its unique appearance. Thanks to this unique architecture, Curtea de Argeș is a place of worship with the most important artistic and architectural value. The interior of the church is impressive, with magnificent oil paintings of angels and kings of Romania, the work of the best French painters of the time, numerous golden icons, golden plaques with inscriptions by Queen Elisabeth, and twelve magnificent marble columns representing the twelve apostles. Here are buried the remains of angels and saints, and you can see the tombstones of Neagoe Basarab, Radu Negru (“The Black”) – Basarab’s son-in-law who continued to care for the monastery after the death of his father-in-law, and of the royal couples: King Carol I and Queen Elisabeth, and King Ferdinand and Queen Maria.

The Legend of the Builder Manole

Neagoe Basarab wanted to build the most beautiful monastery in his country, so he hired the services of the ten best builders, led by Manole, the best builder of all, and ordered them to build him a monastery the like of which had never been built before. Manole and the builders began their work with great vigor, but the walls they had built during the day crumbled at night. The angry Basarab threatened Manole that if they failed to build the monastery, he would execute them. The worried Manole fell asleep for a short time and dreamed that an angel came to him and told him that the walls of the monastery would only last if they were built on the body of one of the builders’ wives. He told his dream to the other builders and they agreed that the first woman to arrive at the site would be the sacrifice. Each builder prayed that his wife would not arrive at the site, but unfortunately for Manole, his wife arrived first, she was held captive, and so they built the walls of the beautiful monastery on top of it. Basarab saw their work and was very pleased. Manole and the builders began to boast about their ability to build more such magnificent monasteries, so Basarab was frightened because he wanted such beauty to be his only possession and ordered them to climb onto the roof of the monastery and dropped the ladder so that they could not come down. Manole and the other builders built themselves wings from the remains of the construction boards and tried to fly to the ground, but unfortunately they all crashed and died. At the place where Manole fell, a spring of water burst out, which was named after him (Fântana Meșterului Manole). On the south side of the church, where Manole’s wife was sacrificed, you can see a symbol with a red inscription on the wall indicating the location where Ana, the wife of the builder Manole, is buried.