i6 
Land & Water 
April 25, 1918 
Rumania's National Shrine : By G. C. Williamson 
Cathedral of Curtea de Argcs, a town in the Carpathians 
VERY few persons have travelled in Rumania 
compared to those who have followed the 
ordinary tourists' ways, but the country was 
well worthy of more attention, and those whose 
occupation or desire have led them in past 
years to visit that interesting land have been well rewarded. 
It is a country of great natural beauty, its mountains and 
rivers, forests and valleys well repaying attention. Its 
people are little spoiled in the more remote districts by 
modem civilisation, and their village handicrafts and those 
of the vagaband gipsies who abound in the place are of 
great interest. 
Its language, which is so closely akin to Italian, is 
easy to learn, the costumes of its people are beautiful and 
picturesque, its history is one long romance, and many of its 
notable buildings are of the highest architectural and his- 
torical importance. Students of Roman antiquities will find 
there a new field of activity, and the Roman basilicas, 
the Trajan monuments at Adamklisi commemorating his 
Dacian victories, the Villa of Commodus at Celeiv, the Trajan 
wall at Cernavoda, the great road of the Dobrudja, and the 
Temple at Slaveni, will all repay closer investigation. The 
student of natural history will be interested in the famous 
black buffaloes of Rumania, in the remarkable hosts of 
waterfowl, in the rare species of crows and woodpeckers, and 
in the bears and chamois. The entomologist will find several 
very rare insects in the country, especially some curious 
weevils ; while the mineralogist will find ample fields for 
attention in the numerous mines of rock salt, nickel-cobalt, 
arsenic, gold, lignite, anthracite, cuinabar, sulphur, and 
china clay. The greatest attraction as an architectural 
monument is, however, the national shrine of the Cathedral 
of Curtea de Arges, a church of unique importance, by far 
the most famous in the country, and differing from every 
other chvu-ch in Europe. 
It is very dear to the national heart of the people, and if 
it has been injured in the recent attacks of the enemy there 
will be undying hatred on the part of the people toward 
their ruthless and treacherous invaders. 
The cathedral was founded in 1517 by Prince Nagul 
and his wife Despina of Serbia, continued by his successor 
and son Theodosius, but completed by Radul d' Afumati, the 
Voivode of Wallachia who, with the aid of the Hungarians, 
defeated the Turks in 1522. 
Of the original ' building, little save the walls and the 
tombs of the founders and their successors now remains, 
and of the accessories and treasures with which Despina 
enriched it still less, but all its architectiu-e is of the deepest 
interest because it belongs to many successive periods, and 
because it is so very national in its strange Byzantine-cum- 
Moorish characteristics. , 
In the convent of Krusedol is still preserved — or was 
when I visited it— the collar of a chasuble wrought 
by Despina and her four children for the cathedral and com- 
pleted on June 15th, 1519, as the needlework inscription 
itself sets forth, and in the great church itself are two fine 
images or icons which belonged to the founder, having 
on one of them Despina represented with her son Theodosius 
in her hands and the inscription "O Queen of Heaven, 
receive they servant John Theodosius and guard him in thy 
kingdom." 
There is, furthermore, a piece of , beautiful woven 
material from a robe found in one of the tombs carefully 
preserved in the cathedral. In 1681 considerable additions 
were made to the original structure by Prince Serban 
Cantacuzene, but while Rumania was under the Turkish 
rule— and for a long period the districts of Wallachia and 
Moldavia were simply so many roads across which the Turks 
passed in their plundering expeditions against Hungary— 
the buildings erected by the Voivodes were destroyed, so 
that in 1866, when the late King Carol visited the place 
he found the magnificent building largely in ruin. He took 
the advice of VioUet le Due as to its restoration, and the 
great French architect recommended an artist named 
