Curtea de Argeș () is a city in Romania on the left bank of the river Argeș, where it flows through a valley of the Southern Carpathians (the Făgăraș Mountains), on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roșu Pass. It is part of Argeș County. The city also administers one village, Noapteș.

On 7 July 1947 the total rainfall in Curtea de Argeș was in 20 minutes, which is a world record.

Etymology and names

The present name, literally The Court upon (river) Argeș, refers to the former status of the town as the capital of Wallachia. Some historians identify the Argeș River with ancient "Ordessos", however the name is unlikely to be derived from this name. The oldest archeological evidence of it being the seat of such a ruler dates from the 13th century.

The tradition of Wallachian chronicles differs from the Hungarian documents: they don't mention Basarab I and instead, they claim that Argeș was founded in 1290 by Radu Negru who crossed the Carpathians from Transylvania to found the cities of Curtea de Argeș and Câmpulung.

Decline

This Argeș court was the residence of the Wallachian hospodars until Mircea I of Wallachia, included.

After the Curtea de Argeș Monastery was built during the rule of Neagoe Basarab, the rulers of Wallachia favored it and, apart from donations (part of the town's domain), they gave it rights over the town. The monastery presided over trials in the marketplace and it was allowed to build a customs house and mills. This eroded the autonomy of the town and led to further economic slump.

The Ștefănescu-Goangă brothers, Mihail and Florian, contributed to modernizing the city's infrastructure during 1920s and 1930s. As a mayor, Mihail Ștefănesu Goangă oversaw the building of the city's first paved roads, post office, and central market. Florian Ștefănescu-Goangă founded the summer school of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Curtea de Argeș, which later became the , one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania.

During the Communist regime, state-led industrialization led to the construction of several major factories in the city, which became a major producer of agricultural proteins, porcelain, and textiles. During the 1990s, most of the communist-era industries closed down, but Curtea de Argeș remains a manufacturing center for textiles and high-end fashion.

Ecclesiastical History

Latin Bishopric of Argeș

In the first decades of the 14th century, a group of German Catholics from Saxony were brought under the authority of the Catholic bishop of (Hungarian) Transylvania and they were settled in the city. In 1381, the Latin Diocese of Argeș was founded as then-only Catholic bishopric in Wallachia, suffragan of the Hungarian Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kalocsa. No incumbent names are available.

It was suppressed in 1519/20 (just after the Orthodox Metropolis), its territory being used in 1590 to establish the Diocese of Bacău.

In the 17th century the bishopric moved to Bacău due to the decrease in the number of local Catholics.

Orthodox Archbishopric of Argeș

thumb|Episcopal Palace

A Greek Orthodox archbishopric of Argeș was established in 1396, under authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople by Callistus I, but disputed by the Bulgarian Patriarchate of Ochrid.

The Orthodox Metropolitan's seat was moved to Târgoviște in 1517, just before the Catholic bishopric ended its activity.

However, at the close of the 18th century, it again became the seat of the modern Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Argeș and Muscel, under the Metropolis of Wallachia and Dobrudja.

Landmark churches

thumb|St. Nicholas Princely Church

The city is the site of several medieval churches (among them the Curtea de Argeș Cathedral) having been an Orthodox bishopric again since the close of the 18th century.

The most important church is the Princely Church of Saint Nicholas built by Basarab I, completely renovated in 2003–2004. It resembles a stone fortress, connected through catacombs to a guard tower on a nearby hill. Ruins of the Prince's Palace Complex are still visible. It is mentioned in Alexandru Odobescu's Doamna Chiajna.

One of the most enduring and famous Romanian legends, the legend of Meșterul Manole, is related to the monastery's construction.

Natives

  • Mattei Dogan (1920–2010), political sociologist and academic
  • Nicolae Pleșiță (1929–2009), head of the Securitate Foreign Intelligence Service
  • Florian Ștefănescu-Goangă (1881–1958), psychologist, founder of the Romanian Institute of Experimental Psychology, and president of Babeș-Bolyai University
  • Bogdan Suceavă (born 1969), mathematician and writer
  • Urmuz (1883–1923), avant-garde short-story writer

<gallery>

File:Curtea de Arges.E.jpg|St. Nicholas Princely Church

File:Catedrala Curtea de Arges.jpg|Curtea de Argeș Cathedral in an 1880 engraving

File:BisericaEpiscopalaCurteaDeArges (17).JPG|Cathedral

File:Casa_Goang%C4%83,_Curtea_de_Arge%C8%99.jpg|Goangă House

File:Casa Cioculestilor - Curtea de Arges (3).JPG|Cioculeștilor House

</gallery>

See also

  • Wallachia
  • Basarab I of Wallachia
  • Curtea de Argeș Cathedral

Notes

  • GCatholic - Latin bishopric
  • Laurențiu Rădvan, At Europe's Borders: Medieval Towns in the Romanian Principalities, Brill, 2010,