Curtea de Argeș Monastery: la leggenda del capomastro che murò viva la propria moglie nelle fondamenta
Secondo la celebre leggenda romena, tramandata nel poema popolare “La Monastirea Argeșului”, il capomastro Manole e i suoi operai non riuscivano a far reggere le mura del monastero, che crollavano ogni notte. Solo un sacrificio umano avrebbe potuto fermare i crolli: i muratori si accordarono per murare viva nelle fondamenta la prima moglie che fosse arrivata l’indomani a portare il pranzo al marito. Manole vide da lontano avvicinarsi la propria moglie incinta, Ana, e — pur pregando invano che una tempesta la fermasse — fu costretto a murarla viva nella struttura, che da allora resse. Il principe Negru Vodă (nella storia reale, Neagoe Basarab, che fece costruire il monastero tra il 1512 e il 1517), temendo che i muratori costruissero altrove un edificio ancora più bello, li fece bloccare sul tetto: Manole e i suoi uomini si costruirono ali di legno nel tentativo di volare via, ma caddero tutti a terra, uno dopo l’altro. Nel monastero riposano oggi Neagoe Basarab, sua moglie, sua figlia e il suo successore Radu di Afumați.
About Curtea de Argeș Monastery
Curtea de Argeș Monastery, an early 16th-century Byzantine-style Romanian Orthodox monastery and cathedral, was constructed under the reign of Neagoe Basarab, ruler of Wallachia, between 1512 and 1517. The monastery’s construction is inseparable from one of the most celebrated legends in Romanian folklore, recounted in the folk poem “Monastirea Argeșului” (The Monastery on the Argeș). According to the legend, master builder Manole and his workmen found their construction repeatedly collapsing overnight, no matter how carefully they built, until the masons concluded that only a human sacrifice, walled directly into the foundations, could make the structure stand. They agreed that whichever of their wives arrived first the following day bringing lunch for her husband would be the one sacrificed. Manole, watching from the hillside, saw with growing dread that the approaching figure was his own pregnant wife, Ana; despite desperately praying for a storm to delay her, he was ultimately forced to wall her alive into the building, which from that point onward stood firm. In the legend, the ruler — Negru Vodă, a figure blending the historical Neagoe Basarab with the semi-legendary founder of Wallachia, Radu Negru — then had Manole and his workmen stranded on the finished roof, fearing they might build an even more magnificent structure for someone else. Desperate to escape, the builders fashioned crude wings from wood in an attempt to fly to safety, but one by one they all fell to their deaths. The monastery today serves as a royal necropolis, housing the tombs of Neagoe Basarab himself, his wife, his daughter, and his successor, Radu of Afumați, cementing the site’s dual identity as both a foundational site of Romanian folklore and an important resting place for the country’s medieval rulers.
Key facts
- 1512-1517: monastery built under Wallachian ruler Neagoe Basarab
- Legend: master builder Manole walls his pregnant wife Ana alive into the foundation
- Legend’s conclusion: Manole and his workmen die trying to fly from the roof on wooden wings
- Royal necropolis: tombs of Neagoe Basarab, his wife, daughter, and successor Radu of Afumați
- Architectural style: early 16th-century Byzantine-influenced Wallachian design
History
The legend of Meșterul Manole ranks among the most widely known and culturally significant folk narratives in all of Romanian literature, its themes of sacrifice, creative genius, and tragic fate echoing similar “immured wife” or foundation-sacrifice legends found across the wider Balkan folklore tradition, from the Bridge of Arta in Greece to comparable tales in Serbian and Albanian oral culture. Neagoe Basarab’s historical patronage of the actual monastery, built between 1512 and 1517, situates the site within the broader flourishing of Wallachian Orthodox religious architecture during his reign, a period noted for significant ecclesiastical and cultural investment.
The monastery’s dual status as both the legendary site of Manole’s sacrifice and the genuine burial place of Neagoe Basarab and his royal successors gives Curtea de Argeș an unusually direct link between Romanian folklore and documented medieval political history, a combination that has made the site a significant destination for both religious pilgrimage and cultural-historical tourism.
What you see
The monastery church’s distinctive Byzantine-influenced exterior, with its ornately carved stone decoration and twisted spiral towers, represents one of the most architecturally distinctive Wallachian religious buildings of the early 16th century. Inside, the tombs of Neagoe Basarab and his royal family form the monastery’s principal historical monuments, standing within a building whose very walls carry, in local tradition, the memory of Ana’s sacrifice.
Practical information
- Opening hours: generally open daily with seasonal variation; check current hours before visiting
- Address: Strada Meșterul Manole, Curtea de Argeș, Argeș County, Romania
Getting there
Curtea de Argeș Monastery stands in the town of Curtea de Argeș, in southern Romania’s Argeș County, reachable by train or car from Pitești or Bucharest. GPS: 45.1568° N, 24.6755° E.
Nearby
- Curtea de Argeș town centre — the surrounding historic town
- Poenari Castle — ruined fortress associated with Vlad the Impaler, a drive away
- Vidraru Dam and Lake — scenic reservoir in the nearby Făgăraș Mountains
Sources
- Wikipedia — “Meșterul Manole” (en.wikipedia.org)
- Wikipedia — “Curtea de Argeș Cathedral” (en.wikipedia.org)
- Atlas Obscura — “Curtea de Argeș Monastery” (atlasobscura.com)
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