Archive for biserica

St. Mary’s Basilica, Krakow, by night

Posted in Travel with tags , , , , , on 3 March 2010 by Watcher Romano

Yes, this is another ‘by night’ post.  And so will be the next one too. That’s because I have to work more and more during my trips. (let the money pour in…)

St Mary’s Basilica in Krakow, Poland, has got to be one of the most opulent churches one can ever visit, in the world. Ever. It is simply grandiose. I have included several bad photos just to create the sense of magnitude:

web-st-marys-basilica-krakow-1

St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland

web-st-marys-basilica-krakow-2-altar-vs-height

Huge Altar, St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland

Detail, Huge Altar, St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland

Detail, Huge Altar, St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland

Suspended Cross, St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland

Suspended Cross, St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland

Suspended cross

Suspended cross, St Marys Basilica, Krakow, Poland

To find more about this wonderful church, here’s it’s Wikipedia Page (starting point for documentation). Please stay tuned (RSS or email) for more pictures from this trip.

PS: it was actually almost evening when we got in and night when we came out, that’s why the title…

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Pestera Village Surroundings

Posted in "Art" ??, Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 11 November 2009 by Watcher Romano

Prahova Valley has a bad rep because of the fact that it easily accessible by car and is therefore filled with buffaloes.  This is very unfortunate as the area is incredibly beautiful. To prove this, I submit to you the following pics taken in the surroundings of the Pestera Village, near Moeciu, Brasov, Romania:

Pestera Surroundings

Pestera Surroundings

Pestera Surroundings

Pestera Surroundings

The village also has a church under construction, but very well signaled (two villages in advance):

Holy Trinity Church in Pestera

Holy Trinity Church in Pestera

Should you be interested to see this village for yourself, you have to start in Moeciu, and, coming from Bran, turn right and climb on top of the hill. You could also come from Zarnesti, go towards Prapastiile Zarnestilor and turn left at Fantana lui Botorog. This alternative has the advantage of first taking you to Magura village, and then on some dirt roads up to Pestera (more softroading).

Given that this is actually a village, the roads should be cleared and maintained at all times, so it would probably be no problem to go there in wintertime too (which will give you even more interesting photo opportunities).

If you happen to like these photos or find interesting the places that I show, please feel free to get free updates via RSS or by email.

PS: if anyone knows a way in which I could share KML files with you on this blog, please inform me. It would really add value to the information…

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Ciolanu Monastery in Buzau

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 26 May 2009 by Watcher Romano

Who says that the road back from anywhere should not be interesting? Departing from Luana Offroad Fest I stopped to visit Magura Sculpture Camp and neighboring Ciolanu Monastery.

Magura Sculpture Camp is yet another vestige of the (few) good things that happened during communism. Immense meadows host large stone sculptures,  produced directly there by artistst between 1970 and 1986, in annual summer camps. But I digress, I do not have good pictures from that site, I found it very difficult to overcome the obstacles created by nature (slopes, trees, bushes) and still create powerful images of the site. I promised myself I would return.

The subject of today’s rant post is Ciolanu Monastery, the only monastery in Buzau as old as the XVI century. It shares the same location with the Magura Sculpture Camp. Here’s what you will find if you decide to follow my advice and visit this place:

Ciolanu Monastery Outside

Welcome to Ciolanu Monastery

Ciolanu Monastery Inside

Ciolanu Monastery Inside

I took the opportunity created by the presence of a large and noisy group of children and sneaked inside the bells’ tower to get a Ken Rockwell like photo:

Should I hae been here?

Should I hae been here?

As opposed to numerous other monasteries, Ciolanu Monastery is relatively recently renovated and modernized. Still, the huge compound has an air of monahal solitude to it:

Monahal Atmosphere

Monahal Atmosphere

If you want more info, this is the official website. If you plan to visit, it’s not at all har to get there: on DN 10 from Buzau tu Brasov, in the vicinity of Magura you will find a brown indicator directing you to DC 79 . You pass the mental institution and go directly to the Monastery and Sculpture Camp.

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The Fortified Church at Biertan

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 13 May 2009 by Watcher Romano

“I went to Sighisoara and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” . That’s what the post about my Sighisoara trip would have been titled  had I not visited Biertan.  Fortunately, due to lack of sites to show off, the Tourist Information Office also has a map of adjacent fortified churches.

Reaching Biertan is easy:  on the road between Sighisoara and Medias, in the village Saros there is sign pointing you to Biertan. Once in Biertan, the fortified church is impossible to miss. What I found very interesting was the computer game – like scenery and light :

biertan-03

Biertan Church

Biertan Church - Inside

Biertan Church - Inside

The atmosphere was quiet, relaxed and peaceful. As opposed to Sighisoara (!!) I was aloowed to take photos and show everyone else this beautiful place…

Besides the Church, inside the fortifications there are 2 towers. The first one houses a small ‘museum’ illustrating country life ‘back in the days’  :

Tower one - Museum

Tower one - Museum

Tower one - Museum - Inside

Tower one - Museum - Inside

Tower one - Museum - Inside

Tower one - Museum - Inside

and the other one housing a crypt but nice to visit nonetheless:

Tower two - Crypt

Tower two - Crypt

Tower two - Crypt - Inside

Tower two - Crypt - Inside

I tried to visit another fortified church the same day:  Malancrav.  It was also advertised as ‘great’, so I drove a on a much more complicated track to get to Malancrav, but the church was closed and the key was somewhere in the village, quite far. As it was getting late I left for Bucharest…

I take this opportunity to thank all of you that kept visiting the blog in the time elapsed from the last post, and I promise that there are a lot more pictures taken and just waiting to be published. In order not to miss them, I suggest you use the EMAIL or RSS subscription methods.

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Never too young to beg

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Street photography with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 4 December 2008 by Watcher Romano

All but the most remote monasteries and churches in Romania have beggars around, and the One Wodd Monastery is by no means remote. I think the post about the monastery was complete the way it was posted, so here is the ‘Aftershock’:

Never too young to beg

Never too young to beg

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One Wood Monastery – Manastirea dintr-un lemn

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 3 December 2008 by Watcher Romano

Just 25 kilometers after Valcea, in the small village of Francesti, exists a lovely small wooden monastery that is said of being built out of the wood of just one tree! I know what you’re thinking: is it a very small church or was the tree HUGE?
Well, here’s half of the answer:

Manastirea dintr-un lemn

Manastirea dintr-un lemn

and this is the other half of the answer:

Secular Oak

Secular Oak

If you know anything about Romania, I think it’s obvious to you by now that somebody felt the need to also build a brick edifice at the ‘One Wood Monastery’:

Manastirea dintr-un lemn-Modern Building

Brick-made "One Wood Monastery"

What would a monastery be if it did not have a mystic story? This one is as follows: one day somebody (some say it was a monk, others say it was a shepherd) found an icon miraculously appear in a secular tree, so he cut down one of the trees and made the whole church out of it, hence the name.

Icon Revealed

Icon Revealed

Whereas fountains and wells are a great idea to have as miracle workers, because people who want to make a wish throw some money therein – simple! Here is the problem with having a miracle working tree:

Please STOP

Please STOP

This is a place I strongly recommend you to visit, because it has a very special charme, it’s quiet and colorful. To get there, take the DN67 from Ramnicu Valcea to Targu Jiu, and very soon, after some 15-20 kilometers you will find an indicator to the left “To the One Wood Monastery” (in Romanian :-p ). From there you have some more 5-7 kilometers on an asphalt road.

You can find more info on Wikipedia (Romanian). If you like this post, check back for more from the same trip (Horezu, Arnota, Polovragi, Pestera Muierilor). Or better yet, subscribe to get email updates or be cool and use the RSS feed to be the first to know when something new is posted!

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Namaesti – The Rupestrian Church near Campulung

Posted in Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 24 October 2008 by Watcher Romano

Just 5 kilometers outside Campulung one finds the village of Namaesti, home to the George Toparceanu memorial house and to a second corner of the equilateral(?) triangle of rupestrian churches in Arges county.

This is a nuns monastery with a very nice compound, with flowers on every parcel of free space. On the flip side, because of it’s placement on a very steep hill with narrow alleys and a thick forest,  photo locations are rare. The place is beautiful nonetheless, and I was lucky to get there on a warm, sunny autumn day:

Namaesti Monastery - Full Splendour

Namaesti Monastery - Full Splendour

I think this angle best illustrates the charm of this place.

Of course I could not resist going on the top to get ‘another angle’:

View from the top

View from the top

An interesting thing about the way this church is built is that the cross on the top of the tower is not facing the main entrance:

Namaesti Front View

Namaesti Front View - Rotated Cross

BUT WAIT !! There is more! Inside the church there is a ‘miracle working icon’ which people come to visit from all over the country:

Miracle Working Icon

Miracle Working Icon

This page has some more historical info in English and these two are in Romanian ( 1 & 2 ). If you would like to go there, here’s a map to show you where it’s placed:

Namaesti on the Map

Namaesti on the Map

If anybody wonders about why use Microsoft, it’s easy. Google doesn’t have the slightest clue about Romania.

Ok, here’s just one more photo before we close up:

Pretty Unique Church Tower

Pretty Unique Church Tower

If you liked this post, be sure to visit the Stone Ravens Monastery too and to check back for pictures from Cetatuia, the last corner of the triangle. If you do not want to check my blog every day, just click here to get updates automatically delivered to you via email or get this RSS feed‘s adress into your aggregator.

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Candles

Posted in "Art" ??, Beautiful Romania, Black and White, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 1 October 2008 by Watcher Romano

Told you I had an obsession shooting candles at Churches and Monasteries:

In Memoriam

Romanians do keep the tradition of lighting candles separated in ‘for the dead’ and ‘for the living’.

This is a way for Monasteries to make some money since they are manufacturing the candles, but mostly a good opportunity for people to act / feel concerned about their closest ones: when you light a candle you say in your head the name of the person(s) whom you light the candles for. In the case of the dead, it’s in their memory.

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