Vieroș Monastary

It is a construction of the famous and brave boyars of Golești (a family descending from the family of the Basarabi Craiovesti), and is situated on the valley of the river Vierosul, surrounded by beech forests. It was built in a traditional “muscelean” style, between the 1571 and 1573 by the steward Ivascu Golescu.

He steward's descendants, Stroe Leurdeanu and his wife Visa, repainted and partially rebuilt the monastery in 1645. Also, in 1825, Samuil Tartasescu, the future lieutenant of the bishop of Arges, rebuilt and repainted the place of worship at his own expense. The monument was restored, eventually, in 1924-1927 and 1978-1984.

A team of archaeologists from the County Museum discovered several hundred-year old vestiges at the Vierosi monastery, vestiges made by the boyars of Golesti, dating back from 1573-1575. The diggings also revealed remains of constructions made in the XVIth and the XVIIIth centuries (annexes of the monastery). The trail of a water supply channel was also identified, this being built at the beginning of the XVIIIth century. The archaeologists also found several terracotta tiles which represented a two-headed eagle, a shield framed by the heads of four Turkish men.

At the access limit to the monastery a stone cross was placed (1836), this being a presumptive argument of the existence, inside the monastery, of a masons’ workshop. The assembly has more elements: the main church – “The Entrance of the Virgin Mary into the Temple”, the small church from the cemetery – “The Dormition of the Mother of God”, the bell tower, the priorship, the sanctums, the monastary wall. In time, the components of the monumental assembly have degraded intensively. Thus, except for the churches, all of the other elements are already considered ruins.

The bell tower was the first one affected by the degradation, becoming a ruin in time; nowadays, only its southern part is visible. The historic research revealed the fact that the alcoves and the columns that edge the church entrance, are not corresponding with other contsructions made in the same period, as they have a strong romano-catholic influence, thus being argumented the hypothesis that, when the monument was built, the workers and architects were catholics.

At the entrance to Vierosi monastery, we can see Samuil Tartasescu's stone cross.