Curtea de Arges, Monastery, Church

Curtea de Arges, Monastery, Romania

Curtea de Arges, Monastery 1517.

This Church was built by Voivode (designation for a warlord?)  Neagoe Basarab.  The name Basarab dates from far earlier, Basarab I ruling from 1325-1352, and it was this earlier Basarab who had unified much of the Romanian land from the Danube River to the Carpathian mountains, and conflicted with Hungarian ruler plans for those areas. See http://laivindur.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/basarab-i-intemeietorul/

Orthodox or Catholic?  See http://enciclopediaromaniei.ro/wiki/Basarab_I_Întemeietorul/ The best sites require clicking on the translate.

Th Curtea de Arges structure has origins in legend and fact.. One story claims that the Master craftsmen were killed, stranded on the roof until they died, so they could not create such beauty again. See http://www.rotravel.com/romania/monasteries/arges.

The Legend of Manolo.  Another names a Master, one Manole, who dreamed the building would be flawless if he walled his wife in the walls. So he did.  The building was beautiful, indeed. And it was then that the ruler herded the Masters to the roof, and Manolo tried to escape like Icarus by flying with wings. He leaped and did not survive. See http://www.romanianmonasteries.org/other-monasteries/curtea-de-arges

Another story adds details to the walled-in wife.  The ruler declared something like this: the first of the workers' wives to arrive with food for that day would be killed. The workers all told their wives to stay away, except for one.  His wife duly arrived, and was killed.  See http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtea_de_Arge%C5%9F_Cathedral.

The blogsite by Laivindur does not mention those.  Are they, then, unreliable?

Travel tip:  At Curtea, there will be a sign as you begin the road north to the Carpathians and to the Transfagarasan Pass, where Vlad III Tepes (the Impaler) had his castle, now a ruin at Poinari Citadel. The sign says whether the pass is open or not. We went without seeing the sign, but fortunately all was open, and there are places to stay if you are stuck. Just don't drive after sunset if you can help it - there are few markers to the next stopping point, and gas can run out.