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:

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:

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:

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.