Curtea de Argeș Monastery: royal tombs and the legend of Manole
Curtea de Argeș Monastery (Mănăstirea Curtea de Argeș) is an Orthodox monastery in the town of Curtea de Argeș, Romania, built in the early 16th century by Neagoe Basarab. Its richly carved church is one of the best-known monuments of Wallachia, and since 1914 it has been the burial place of the Romanian royal family.
A legend says the master builder Manole walled his own wife into this church so that it would stand. Today the same walls shelter the tombs of Romania’s kings and queens.
The history of Curtea de Argeș Monastery
Curtea de Argeș was among the oldest centres of Wallachia. In the 13th century the citadel of the Poenari family, with stone defences, was known far and wide, and around the middle of the 14th century the court of the Basarab princes and the church of St Nicholas Domnesc added to the prestige of the place. Here too stood the seat of the first Metropolis of Wallachia, founded in 1359, and a rulers’ seat and church organisation were already in place by that time.
Prince Neagoe Basarab, who reigned from 1512 to 1521, built his monastery on the foundations of that older church, which he is said to have found in ruins. Work took place between about 1512 and 1517, and by January 1517 the prince already spoke of “my monastery at Argeș”. The church is faced in pale grey limestone that was easy to carve and hardened in the air. It stands on a raised platform with a stone balustrade, and its outside is covered with ropework, arabesques and lilies, with elements that scholars link to Arab and Georgian art. In front of the entrance stands a small open baptistery with marble columns.
Neagoe did not live to see the paintings finished. His son-in-law Radu of Afumați completed the decoration, as an inscription dated 10 September 1526 records, naming the painter Dobromir. Fragments of that interior painting are kept today in the National Museum of Art in Bucharest. The archives were plundered by Hungarian and Ottoman troops, but several inscriptions in Greek, Slavic and Romanian survive. Repairs followed in 1681 under Prince Șerban Cantacuzino and in 1804 under the first bishop, Joseph. Travellers admired the monastery: Paul of Aleppo called it one of the wonders of the world in 1654.
After fires in the 1860s, King Carol I asked the French architect André Lecomte du Noüy to restore the church from 1875. The work was finished in 1885 and the church was reconsecrated in 1886, but it replaced the old frescoes with new paintings and changed the interior in ways that reduced the building’s historical value. The church became the necropolis of the royal family: Carol I was buried here in 1914, followed by Elisabeth, Ferdinand I and Marie. In December 2017 King Michael I was laid to rest here in a state funeral. Near the monastery a new archiepiscopal and royal cathedral has been under construction since 2009.
Curiosities about Curtea de Argeș Monastery
- According to the ballad of Master Manole, whatever the builders raised by day collapsed at night, until Manole walled up his own wife in the foundations. The prince is then said to have had the masons stranded on the roof so that they could not build anything finer.
- The masons supposedly made wings from wooden shingles and tried to fly down, but all fell; a spring beside the monastery, called Manole’s Fountain, is said to mark the spot where Manole landed.
- On the church roof, small domes seem to twist and lean against each other, and the windows of the domes are tilted at an angle of about 70 degrees, as though the drums were leaning to one side.
- Doves carved on the façade each hold a small bell in their beak, which is said to have rung in the wind.
- The slab over the grave of Radu of Afumați shows the prince on horseback with a sceptre in his hand, the most valuable tombstone in the church from an artistic point of view.
- Another tradition says Neagoe Basarab, while a hostage in Constantinople, designed a splendid mosque for the sultan and then used the leftover plans to build this cathedral.
Tours near Curtea de Argeș Monastery
Experiences in the area that you can book online with Viator:
Visiting Curtea de Argeș Monastery: what to see
- Walk round the church on its raised platform and look at the carved ropework, arabesques and lilies, and the small open baptistery with marble columns at the entrance.
- Inside, the 19th-century paintings, the iconostasis in marble, gilded bronze and onyx and the twelve carved columns symbolising the Apostles reward a slow look.
- The royal tombs are in the church, and the stone of Radu of Afumați is among its finest.
- Near the monastery you can see Manole’s Fountain and, to the west of it, the former monastery infirmary, recorded by a document as standing beside the church as early as 1524.
- Curtea de Argeș is about 22 km from Poenari Castle and about 31 km from Cozia Monastery, so the sites combine well in one day; check the current opening hours before you go.
Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.
Map: where Curtea de Argeș Monastery is
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors
Photos of Curtea de Argeș Monastery
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Questions
Where is Curtea de Argeș Monastery?
It stands in the town of Curtea de Argeș in Argeș County, Romania, in the historic region of Wallachia.
Who built Curtea de Argeș Monastery?
Prince Neagoe Basarab had the monastery built in the early 16th century, between about 1512 and 1517, on the site of an older church. His son-in-law Radu of Afumați completed its painted decoration in 1526.
Who is buried at Curtea de Argeș?
The church holds the tombs of Neagoe Basarab and Radu of Afumați and, since 1914, of Romania’s kings and queens, among them Carol I, Ferdinand I, Marie and, since 2017, Michael I.
What is the legend of Master Manole?
A folk ballad says the master builder Manole walled his wife into the foundations so that the walls would stop collapsing. The prince then left the masons stranded on the roof, and a spring is said to mark where Manole fell.
Are the paintings in the church original?
Not the ones you see today. The restoration led by André Lecomte du Noüy from 1875 replaced the old frescoes with new paintings; fragments of the original 16th-century paintings are kept in Bucharest.
What can you see near Curtea de Argeș Monastery?
Poenari Castle is about 22 km away, Cozia Monastery about 31 km, the Mausoleum of Mateiaș about 39 km and Horezu Monastery about 52 km.
Also nearby
Poenari Castle
Argeș · clifftop ruin linked to Vlad the Impaler
22 km away
Cozia Monastery
Vâlcea · fortified monastery and tomb of Mircea the Elder
31 km away
Mausoleum of Mateiaș
Argeș · hilltop memorial to the soldiers of 1916
39 km away
Horezu Monastery
Vâlcea · UNESCO monastery in the Brâncoveanu style
52 km away