The Tiganesti Monastery is situated 34 km far from Bucharest, on the road to Ploiesti, near a water course known as The Nuns’ Lake. It was founded in the XVIIth century as a monk monastery, on the land donated by the boyar Matei Tiganescu. At the beginning of the XIXth century, the monks were transferred to the Caldarusani Monastery and they were replaced by nuns brought from Silistea Snagovului and Bucharest.

The monastery is famous for its embroidery workshops, which provides many monastic settlements from the country with priest vestments; their works decorate even the Moorish room from the Peles Castle. The bell tower has a clock with a mechanism brought from Germany in 1911, which weighs 1.3 tons.

Surrounded by water from three sides, the Caldarusani Monastery is situated on a Peninsula on the Caldarusani Lake. During a conflict with Vasile Lupu, Matei Basarab, ruler of Wallachia (1632 – 1654), found shelter here in small hermitage, comprised of a monk and his eight disciples, so he decided to build a monastery in the memory of that event. Several icons, executed by the great Romanian painter Nicolae Grigorescu during 1854 – 1855, as well as a collection of large paintings by Gheorghe Tattarescu and Sava Hentia can be admired here. The monastery’s library holds valuable Roman, Greek, German and French manuscripts.

The Snagov Monastery is the oldest monastic settlement from the region. It is situated on an island on Snagov Lake, 40 km far from Bucharest. It was probably built by Mircea the Elder, as it was first mentioned in a document in 1408 and it is famous because it is said to hold the remains of Vlad Tepes, the dreaded ruler of Wallachia, who inspired the fictional character Dracula. The legend says that, after having been assassinated while trying to regain his throne, his body was taken by the monks from Snagov and buried in secret. The tomb of a richly dressed man has been discovered, but there is no real proof that it was him, as other historians claim Vlad Tepes mortal remains rest at a monastery he founded, Comana.

The monastery functioned as a treasury and it was an important cultural center, as Constantin Brancoveanu installed one of his printing presses here. Its remote location and hardly accessible position encouraged many Wallachian rulers to also use it as prison and torture building.

The bridge that connected the shore and the island was burnt during the Revolution from 1821 and never reconstructed. Nicolae Balcescu, one the leaders of the emancipation movement, sought refuge here, during the Revolution from 1848. Today, if you want to visit the monastery, you must get in touch with its abbot, that will help you cross the lake.

At Heresti, 35 km far from Bucharest, besides the monastery founded during the time of Matei Basarab, there are also two mansions worth visiting. The oldest and the most unusual (considering the time it was constructed) belonged to Udriste Nasturel, a high-ranking boyar and brother-in-law of Matei Basarab.

The part of Wallachia where this mansion is situated was frequently raided by the Turks and, yet, it is not fortified; the owner was more concentrated on displaying the elegance and good taste of the castles from Western countries, where he travelled a lot, as advisor of the country’s ruler. Today, the authorities have initiated a project called “The Museum of the Romanian Boyar”, centered in the Heresti mansion, aimed at reviving the historical legacy and rehabilitating the contribution this social category had in the country’s development.

Author: Iulian Fira

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