Curtea de ArgeÈ™

Curtea de Arges ( German Argisch ) is a Romanian town in the county of Arges and is located on the right bank of the river Arges, it flows through a valley of the Southern Carpathians.

Population

Curtea de Arges had in 2007 about 33,000 inhabitants, in 1900 there were only 4,210.

History

The city is one of the oldest in Romania. According to tradition, it was founded in the 14th century by Prince Radu Negru, who appointed the following to the first capital of the Principality of Wallachia. Therefore, they also received the name Curtea (German court ). In the city there are several historic churches. End of the 18th century created a bishopric.

Coat of arms

Blazon: ". In Gold a auffliegender, left -sighted, rotbewehrter, gray eagle with a left- turned- golden sword in goldbespitzter red scabbard in the mouth and a golden Fußspitzenkreuzchen in its beak " - " On the shield edge a schwarzgefugte silver mural crown with five towers built, in the middle a growing black eagle with a cross in its beak, and black windows in two rows. "

Monuments and landmarks

The Cathedral

The Cathedral of Curtea de Arges ( Curtea de Arges Mănăstirea, Curtea de Arges Catedrala ) is one of the most famous buildings in Romania. It stands on the foundations of a monastery and is located approximately one mile north of town. It resembles a very large and elaborate mausoleum was built in the Byzantine style with Moorish arabesques. Its plan is rectangular, on the back you will find very many extensions. In the center of the building rises a dome, on the front page two smaller cupolas, while a second cathedral, which is wider and taller than the center, from the cultivation rises. On each peak perched an inverted, pear-shaped shaped stone. It symbolizes a triple cross, which stands for the Trinity.

The cathedral is also the burial place of the Romanian royal family. The following members of the family were buried here:

Near the cathedral is a large royal palace in the Moorish style. The holdings of the cathedral were looted from Hungarian and Turkish, but some inscriptions of the Greeks, Slavs and Romanians have been preserved.

A stone plaque stating that the prince Neagoe Basarab built the cathedral from 1512 to 1521. Another reported that the Prince Ioan Radu has completed the work in 1526. A third description from 1681 reports of repair work by the Prince Şerban Cantacuzino I.. The fourth panel documented a Restoration by the first Bishop Joseph in 1804. Between 1875 and 1885, the cathedral was reconstructed and in 1886 it was restored.

Other monuments

• Prince Church " St. Nicholas of Curtea de Arges " ( Biserica domneasca " Sfântul Nicolae din Curtea de Arges " )
• Church " St. Nicholas the Small " ( Biserica " San Nicoară " or Biserica " Sfântul Nicolae cel Mic" )

Traffic

Curtea de Arges is located on the railway line that runs from Piteşti over the Red Tower Pass.

Legends

The legends have many Romanian poets inspired, among them the award-winning artist Vasile Alecsandri. One story describes how Neagoe Basarab, while he was in Constantinople Opel in captivity, designed a great mosque for the Sultan has to then build the cathedral after his return from the left over material.

Another version describes that Radu Negru an architect Meşterul Manole ( master Manole ) or Manoli employed. Manole did not manage to finish the walls, the prince threatened him and his assistants with death. Finally, Manole an old Roman custom, according to suggested, a woman living in the foundations of " incorporate " and that would appear the following morning as the first, should be immured. The other masons warned then their families, and Manole was forced to sacrifice his own wife. Then, the Cathedral was completed. When Manole and his masons told the prince, they might even build a larger building, Radu Negru then put them on the roof fixed, so that they could accomplish anything. They constructed thereupon wooden wings to fly down from the roof. But one after another crashed. A spring of clear water named after Manole, because he should have crashed exactly at this point, according to legend.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Gabriel Matei (* 1990), the Romanian football player