Curtea de Arges Monastery is located in Curtea de Arges city from Arges county.
Summer Schedule (1.04 2014 - 30.09.2014)
Monday to Sunday: 8.00 AM - 8:00 PM
Winter Schedule (1.10.2014 - 31.03.2015)
Monday to Sunday: 9.00 AM - 5.00 PM
* opening hours may vary, they are just for guidance
2 RON/person
* visiting taxes may vary, they are just for guidance
Curtea de Arges Monastery is one of the oldest Romanian settlement and the most valuable Medieval art and church architecture building. It is the expression of elegance, litheness and attracts through the lines and lights games and the ingenious stone sculptures.
It was build on the site of the old cathedral by Neagoe Basarab, the Wallachia voivod, between 1512 and 1517 who wanted to build the most beautiful church that ever existed. The painting was done in 1526 by a Romanian painter and today it is fragmented and exposed in National Museum of Art from Bucharest.
The architecture style is the Byzantine one but the exterior decorative elements belong to Armenian, Persian, Georgian and Arabic art. However, here it makes up a perfect and harmonious unit. The monastery was damaged during the fights and wars and the restorations decreased its value.
Curtea de Arges Monastery is also known for its beautiful ballad about Manole, the Master who built his own wife, Ana, in the walls of the church. This sacrifice was necessary to stop an unexplainable phenomenon: the walls built by Manole were always crumbling during the night. After that, the voivod asked Manole and other nine masters if they can build another church more beautiful than his church and they accepted the challenge. But the voivod, to stop this, he destroyed the scaffoldings and all ten masters were trapped on the roof of the new church. Then, hoping for a safely landing they built shingles wings, but unfortunately all of them died. In the place where Manole crushed, a spring emerged from the ground and it was called The Fountain of Manole the Master.
Here are the relics of Holy Foliftea too. They say that she was a girl of 12 years who was murdered by her stingy father with an axe after she gave all the food to the poor people.
Since 1914, the church is royal necropolis because here are buried the king and queens of Romania: King Carol I and Queen Elisabeta, King Ferdinand and Queen Maria and King Carol II.
Curtea de Arges Monastery is unique in the history of our civilization because it is a medieval historical monument generated by a new and superior doctrine about God, human being, life and world. It is considered a symbol for the sacrifice of Romanian people, which is the base of all famous buildings from our country, fact which attracts over 100.000 tourists and pilgrims every year.
