- This article is part of the 2014 project
| The Monastery of a Wood | |
 The wooden church | |
| The profile of the monastery | |
|---|---|
| Confession: | Orthodoxy |
| Hram: | The birth of Mary the Virgin |
| Founder: | Matei Basarab |
| LMI code: | VL-II-a-A-09742 |
| Data of the monastery | |
| Dating: | 1635 |
| The country: | Romania |
| Location: | Frâncești, Vâlcea County |
| Website: | Website |
The Monastery of a Wood is a monastic settlement in Frâncești commune, Vâlcea county, approximately 25 kilometers south of the municipality Râmnicu Vâlcea and 5 km from the city Băbeni, Vâlcea.
About
Short history
The oldest testimony about the appearance of the monastery in a land of special charm, on the edge of a secular forest with oaks like it, comes to us from the notes of the traveler on the lands of the Romanian Lands, the Christian Arab deacon Paul of Aleppo. This around 1653-1658, accompanying the Patriarch Macarie of Antohiei, claims that a monk found the icon in a hollow of a secular oak Mother of God. He also says he hears one voice which prompted him to build a church of that secular oak in that place.
Another written testimony existing from July 29, 1745 of the metropolitan Neophyte Cretan, says that "a shepherd named Radu, during the reign of Alexandru Vodă (1568-1577) he dreamed The Icon of the Mother of God, which Paul of Aleppo remembers, and by cutting the oak in which the icon was found, he made of its wood a little church, called for this reason "From a wood."
This is exactly what the poet Grigore Alexandrescu said around 1842, who visited the place, listening to the legends of the place.
However, the existence of secular oaks and the Icon of the Mother of God is still certain today, an icon of impressive dimensions, 1.5 m high and 1 m wide. These are indisputable proofs in defining the truth from the legends told by the elders.
Also, the truth of a part of the legend is mirrored by the material existence of the small oak church, made of thick beams and it seems that it was built around the middle of the 16th century. In the church there is the Icon of the Mother of God to which the existence of the monastic settlement is linked.
About when and where the icon was painted, opinions are divided, or rather different. Professor Andrei Grabor of the University of Strasbourg said that it was painted in the 4th century at Theothokos monastery in Greece after the model belonging to the apostle Luke, who first painted the Virgin Mary.
Professor I.D. Ștefănescu does not share Andrei Grabor's idea, stating that the icon was painted in Byzantium or Mount Athos, using an older model from the mid-16th century and seems to be the most plausible hypothesis. How he got to these lands is not known.
The legends of the appearance and construction of the monastic settlement are part of the truth, but the first documentary mention appears on April 20, 1635. An important written testimony is that of Matei Basarab from November 27, 1640 at the erection of the stone church. He noted that he built the monastery "for the sake of the foundation", listing the monasteries he founded.
The inscription of the stone church, which dates from 1715, the memorial of the monastery from 1804 made after the one from 1715, confirms that the document from 1640 of Matei Basarab is real and that the wall church is built by him.
But the notes of Paul of Aleppo, who visited the monastery 20 years after its inauguration, say something completely different. He states that the founder of the settlement is a contemporary boyar with Matei Basarab and his cousin, Preda Brâncoveanu, former great backer, great coucher, great vornic, future ban. The truth could be somewhere in the middle. The fact that the two are close relatives could have contributed together to the construction of the church, which is confirmed by the picture of the founders in the narthex of the church in the wall. Even the line of construction is typical of the era in which Matei Basarab lived.
After an important restoration made by the Ministry of Air and Navy, a restoration made between 1938 and 1940, the sanctuary became a symbolic place of worship and prayer for aviators and sailors.
Location
1 The monastery is located approximately 25 km south of Rm. Vâlcea and 12 km north of Băbeni, on the Otăsăului valley, in the commune of Frâncești.
Accommodation
The monastery offers:
- 9 rooms with 2 beds (***) - reservation required
- 2 rooms with 2 beds - attic - cat. a II
- 5 rooms with 4 beds - attic - cat. a II
Contact
- Address: 0250.762756, com. Frâncești, Valcea, Romania
- Goal.: 40.250.731170
- E-mail:[email protected]
- Official site:www.arhiram.ro
