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Bistrita Monastery Complex, Oltenia, Romania |
This post is one dear to my heart in a series on describing Romanian tourist destinations, because Oltenia is the south-western part of Romania where I spent many years of life. It is part of the historical Wallachia / Valahia province inherited from Dacians, situated between the Danube, The Southern Carpathians and the Olt River. It is known only by the very few informed travelers, although it does represent an important piece of the Romanian history and architecture. Among Oltenia province, the Wallachian (Valahian) Princes have built stunning monasteries, most of them in the Brancoveanu architectural style (Romanian genuine style named after Constantin Brancoveanu, the Wallachian prince who ruled between 1688 and 1714).
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Hurezi Monastery, Oltenia, Romania |
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Hurezi Monastery, right to the main entrance |
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Hurezi Monastery painting, left to the main entrance |
After I 've seen the advertising spots to promote Romania in 2011-2012, the images of the Romanian Monasteries in Oltenia Area were rising in my thoughts. So, I was looking to find some pictures taken in my road trips in this magnificent area, and I spotted today just few monasteries from Oltenia, Valcea County.
The most important religious architectural monument from the Brancoveanu period is Horezu Monastery (1690-1697) / Manastirea Hurezi - which has been inscribed since 1993 by UNESCO on its list of World Heritage Sites protected in Romania.
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Hurezi Monastery, Oltenia, Romania |
Impressive church at the foot of Capatinii Mountains / Muntii Capatinii!
It is protected by strong walls well preserved, decorated with exterior stone sculptures, and a valuable bunch of frescoes. The legend says that, being afraid of the Turks, the workers did everything at nighttime.
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Govora Monastery, Oltenia, Romania |
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Govora Monastery interior paintings, Oltenia |
The Govora Monastery is really small, modest, but well proportioned and following the genuine Brancovanian architectural style.There is still preserved a beautiful interior painting, as well as a feudal art museum. The legend of the Monastery From One Trunk said that an icon of the Mother of God, which creates wonders, was found in a hollow of a huge centuries-old oak tree, which was transformed by the peasants of the neighborhood into a church.
Other tourist attraction in Oltenia, Cozia Monastery(1386-1388) / Manastirea Cozia, is situated alongside the Olt Defile which has been cut by Olt River through the southern Carpatian Mountains. The Cozia Monastery, named also "Nucet" or "The Nut Grove", is the resting place of Mircea the Old (Mircea cel Batran), The Great Ruller of Wallachia, father of Michael The Brave / Mihai Viteazul Voievod, and Vlad the Impaler’s (Vlad Tepes) grandfather.
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Cozia Monastery, Valcea County, Oltenia |
"The Holy Trinity" Church of the Cozia Monastery was built by Mircea the Old in 1388 with Wallachian architecture and Byzantine Medieval influences.


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Turnu Monastery, Oltenia, Valcea county |
Close to this monastery, in Cozia Mountains, can be visited other religious arhitectural monuments : Turnu Monastery / Manastirea Turnu (1676) and Stanisoara Monastery (1747) / Manastirea Stanisoara.
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Turnu Monastery, Valcea county - interior paintings |
Bistrita Monastery / Manastirea Bistrita (1491 - 1492) complex preserves the church built by the "Ban " (the name of the official representative of the Prince of Wallachia in Oltenia Area) Barbu Craiovescu between 1520 - 1521 on the charming Gorges of the Bistrita River / Raul Bistrita.
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Bistrita Monastery, Oltenia - interior paintings |
The interior of the church was painted by Gheorghe Tattarascu, Romanian painter (1820-1894) who painted also more than 50 churches in Bucharest and the Metropolitan Church of Iasi/ Biserica Metropolitana din Iasi.
Arnota Monastery (1633 - 1636) preserves mural paintings made in 17th century with great folk documentary value.
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Arnota Monastery, Oltenia - mural paintings |
The Arnota Monastery was built by the prince Matei Basarab (whose grave lays in the monastery) and renovated by Constantin Brancoveanu in 18th century.
All of these are really amazing tourist attractions and centers of Romanian culture which today host also small museums of religious art. They lies in the Oltenia province, and may be visited in only one day trip starting from Bucharest, as you can see on the next map:
View Romanian Monasteries in Oltenia in a larger map
1 comment:
Great information about Bistrita Monastery Complex! It looks like a historical place. It is the most famous place in Romania. It is the major tourist attractions in this country. I’m recently come back denver to yellowstone tours with my wife. It is also nice place for visiting. The images are awesome. I must visit this historical place on my next tour. Thanks for this sharing friend.
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