Discover the Curtea de Argeș Monastery and its gruesome legend

3 min read

In the little town of Curtea de Argeș, in the middle of Romania, an early 16th-century cathedral is a spectacular example of Byzantine Romanian Orthodox church architecture.
And probably its facade is familiar to many because a drawing of the cathedral itself is on Romania’s one Leu banknote, the equivalent of about 20 cents in Euro (or even USD)!
Built 500 years ago by Prince and Romanian rules Neagoe Basarab, the church became one of the most important in Southern Romania. Its original architecture inspired for centuries that of many other churches, but none came close to it, with consecration ceremony from 1517 highlighted the importance of the building.
Even the Patriarch of Constantinople and many priests from Mount Athos attended the event.
However, the following centuries were not easy for the monastery as fires, earthquakes, and attacks almost destroyed it.
It was partly restored in the following centuries by Matei Basarab, a Wallachian Voivode (Prince) between 1632 and 1654, and Șerban Cantacuzino, Prince of Wallachia between 1678 and 1688, but it’s the first king of Romania, Carol the 1st who carried the amplest renovation work.
French architect Emile Andre Lecomte de Nouy was in charge.
According to the restoration criteria of the time, the church was almost completely rebuilt and repainted, even if this controversial renovation destroyed the original impressive frescoes, and you can only admire some fragments at the National Museum of Art from Bucharest.
Following the restoration, the church became the necropolis of the royal family of Romania.

Beyond the awe-inspiring architecture, however, is a terrifying legend about the building’s construction.
When construction began on the cathedral around 1512, God supposedly wasn’t too pleased with the building’s progress.
The Romanian ruler Neagoe Basarab wanted the cathedral to be his 16th-century masterpiece, but apparently God wasn’t having it and, multiple times, the walls of the cathedral would collapse overnight.
Driven to desperation, the architect in charge of the project, supposedly an Armenian man named Manoli from Niasia (sometimes also spelled Manole), decided to make the ultimate sacrifice to appease God, bricking up his wife into the building’s wall. Since then, the cathedral’s walls have never fallen.
It seems a red mark on the cathedral’s outside wall designates where Manoli’s wife’s final resting place was in the edifice.

Although most of the story can’t be verified, the mythology has taken root and Manoli even has a water fountain named after him in the nearby park which, of course, has its own legend too.
According to popular folklore, after the cathedral was finished, Neagoe Basarab asked if Manoli could construct another building just as beautiful while the builder stood atop the cathedral’s roof.
When Manoli told Basarab he could, the ruler destroyed the scaffolding surrounding the roof—leaving Manoli and his crew stranded on the rooftop so they could never build another church to compete with this one.
From the top of the church, they tried to build wings cobbled together from building supplies on the roof.
Of course, their flight to safety was unsuccessful and Manoli and his crew died. The spot where Manoli landed supposedly sprang a natural spring, which today has been converted into a fountain.