A remote village lost among the sunny hills of southern Transylvania hides a real treasure. It is the church of St. Peter in the village of Valea Viilor (Vine Valley). The story of the village begins in 1263, when the settlement was first documented. The village, colonized by Transylvanian Saxons, gathered serfs and peasants, subjects of the nobleman Apafi, who in 1305 left the village heritage to his son, Gregor. In the fourteenth century, Valea Viilor was a thriving community that decided to demolish the old Romanesque church, built by the early settlers, and instead build a new church in the Gothic style, dedicated to St. Peter.
Article information
27-02-2015, 14:37
- Views: 3862
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 14:37
Valea Viilor or the Treasure of Saint Peter
Category: History / Transylvania / Valea Viilor
A remote village lost among the sunny hills of southern Transylvania hides a real treasure. It is the church of St. Peter in the village of Valea Viilor (Vine Valley). The story of the village begins in 1263, when the settlement was first documented. The village, colonized by Transylvanian Saxons, gathered serfs and peasants, subjects of the nobleman Apafi, who in 1305 left the village heritage to his son, Gregor. In the fourteenth century, Valea Viilor was a thriving community that decided to demolish the old Romanesque church, built by the early settlers, and instead build a new church in the Gothic style, dedicated to St. Peter.
Article information
27-02-2015, 14:34
- Views: 3995
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 14:34
Voroneț – The Sistine Chapel of the East
Category: History / Moldova / Voroneţ
One of Moldavia’s monasteries is so beautiful that art historians compared it to the Sistine Chapel. We are talking about the Voroneţ monastery, built by Prince Stephen the Great, proclaimed saint of the Orthodox Church, at the request of another Orthodox saint, Dani Hermit, the ruler’s advisor. At the heart of Voroneț lies a relatively modest-sized church, dedicated to St. George, which was built in 1488 in just three months and three weeks, a record for that time. Between 1488 and 1785, Voronet operated as a friary. After the monastic settlement was closed, the local parish took over the church. In 1991, the monastic life resumed as a convent for nuns.
Article information
27-02-2015, 14:28
- Views: 4362
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 14:28
Viscri – The White Church of Prince Charles of Great Britain
Category: History / Transylvania / Viscri
The Viscri village in Braşov County has a touching story. The village founded by the Saxons in the Middle Ages almost became a ghost town under the rule of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Fortunately, the village was revived due to the help of His Royal Highness, Prince Charles of Wales, heir to the Crown of the United Kingdom.
Article information
27-02-2015, 14:22
- Views: 9092
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 14:22
Suceviţa or the Legend of the Sinful Woman
Category: History / Moldova / Suceviţa
The legend of the founding of Suceviţa monastery says that all the stone required to raise the imposing structure was carried by a single woman and her oxen-drawn chariot for 30 years, in an attempt to redeem her sins. However, in reality, the monastery was founded by one of the most important aristocratic families in Moldova, Movilă, which gave the Moldavian and Wallachian people rulers, as well as Bishops for Moldova and Kiev.
Article information
27-02-2015, 14:19
- Views: 7770
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 14:19
Prejmer, the Fortress-Church of the Teutonic Knights
Category: History / Transylvania / Prejmer
Prejmer is one of the few fortifications established by the Teutonic Knights, a crusading order, founded in the Holy Land, in the city of Accra, at the end of the twelfth century. In 1212, following the expulsion of the Crusaders from the Middle East, as a result of the Muslim conquest of the Holy Land, the Teutonic Knights were invited by King Andrew II of Hungary to take possession of the Bârsa Land, in south-east of Transylvania, and fight the Cuman and Mongol pagans.
Article information
27-02-2015, 14:12
- Views: 6663
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 14:12
Moldoviţa, the Most Beautiful Monastery Founded by Petru Rareș
Category: History / Moldova / Moldoviţa
One of the most beautiful monasteries in Europe is the result of the collaboration between craftsmen from Moldova and Transylvania, during the rule of Petru Rareș, Prince of Moldavia, who also possessed major feuds in Transylvania. Moldoviţa Monastery is one of the most sublime expressions of the Moldavian Gothic architecture. In Moldoviţa, the first place of worship was built during the time of Prince Alexander the Good, in the early years of the fifteenth century. Nonetheless, this place of worship was destroyed, and in 1532, Petru Rareș decided to set up a new monastery, dedicated to the Annunciation.
Article information
27-02-2015, 13:57
- Views: 3668
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 13:57
The Humor Monastery, a Wonderful Aristocratic Establishment
Category: History / Moldova / Humor
Humor is one of the most interesting monasteries in Moldova, founded by the great chancellor Toader Bubuiog. The church of the monastery was included on UNESCO’s list in 1993. The church is dedicated to both the Assumption of Mary and St. George, because it took over the patron of a prior place of worship. In the early Middle Ages, near today's Humor monastery, there was a monk hermitage which had a wooden church. During the reign of Alexander the Good (1400 - 1432), Humor’s feudal lord, the magistrate Ivan, built a stone church, and in 1473, Stephen the Great gave the church a Four Gospels Book, on which the prince is painted, while Mary offers him this book.
Article information
27-02-2015, 13:52
- Views: 10854
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 13:52
Dârjiu, the Only UNESCO Monument that Feeds its Inhabitants
Category: History / Transylvania / Dârjiu
Included in 1999, the church of Dârjiu is the only fortified Székely church on UNESCO’s world heritage list. The church was built after a Saxon model at the end of the thirteenth century. This stone church was provided with battlements and guard roads, which allowed the locals to fight the Tatar and Cuman invaders. The village of Dârjiu was first mentioned in a papal document issued in 1334.
Article information
27-02-2015, 13:45
- Views: 6823
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 13:45
Câlnic - from Noble Citadel to Fortress-Church
Category: History / Transylvania / Câlnic
Câlnic is one of the most interesting fortress-churches in southern Transylvania. It is one of several fortifications established here by the Saxons. The citadel was first mentioned in a document in the year 1267. More precisely, when one of greavii, a leader of the Saxon community, Chyl of Kelling, began the construction of a keep that would also serve as a tower-house. The keep was completed in 1272. The building, enlarged and strengthened, still stands today, and is known as the Siegfried Tower. The church of the village was built next to this medieval tower. Initially, the church was Roman Catholic, then Evangelical-Lutheran, serving both the noble Greava family of Kelling, as well as the community.
Article information
27-02-2015, 13:36
- Views: 3630
- Author: admin
- Date: 27-02-2015, 13:36
The Moldavian Cathedral, under the Patronage of Two Saints
Category: History / Moldova / Suceava
The history of Saint George’s Church in the monastery of Saint John the New in Suceava begins in 1514, when the prince of Moldavia, Bogdan III, decided to build a new metropolitan cathedral, after the old one had been destroyed by a Polish invasion. Bogdan III began construction of the church, which was completed in 1522 by his son, Ștefăniță Vodă. In the period between 1532 and 1534, the church was painted inside and out, at the request of Prince Petru Rares. In 1579, the Bishop Theofan of Râşca added a small porch. Between 1522 and 1677, this church operated as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Moldova. Even when Prince Lapusneanu moved the Moldavian capital from Suceava to Iaşi, from 1564 until 1677, the metropolitan residence remained in Suceava.