Showing posts with label Romania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romania. Show all posts

Saturday, April 6, 2019

City in black














To hear never-heard sounds,
To see never-seen colors and shapes,
To try to understand the imperceptible
Power pervading the world;
To fly and find pure ethereal substances
That are not of matter
But of that invisible soul pervading reality.
To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul;
To be a lantern in the darkness
Or an umbrella in a stormy day;
To feel much more than know.
To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain;
To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon;
To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves;
To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets
Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching.
To be a smile on the face of a woman
And shine in her memory
As a moment saved without planning.
Dejan Stojanovic 

Monday, April 1, 2019

Corbii de Piatră (The Stone Ravens) Monastery















The Corbii de Piatră Monastery
 is lying in a place as if chosen by the Divinity itself and the construction
 itself is remarkable by its complete simplicity that makes you meditate, introspect and pray. The church is documentary attested in 1512 when it became a place of worship
The beginnings of monastic life at Corbii de Piatra (the Stone Ravens) are rather unknown.
Most of the monastic settlements replaced older ones,
going down through history to times beyond memory.
 This is how it must have been for the Ravens Monastery,
 located in the heart of a mysterious and very ancient ascetic Romanian settlement.
The first document mentioning it is dated June 23, 1512, which is certainly not the date the monastery was first created, and there are accurate information stating that the holy place existed before this date.
 
The cave church of is a typological derivative of the hall-church, with two altars meant for two patron saints, typical of the Byzantine world of the 10th century.
It is typologically related to the group of cave churches of Cappadocia, as the special feature of the double altar with one single nave is unique in our country.
This solution was probably convenient for the small communities of monks who can go without the deacon. The stylistic features, the quality of the painting, exclusive with Greek inscriptions, corroborated with information gathered from other documents, allow setting the exact date of the complex at the beginning of the 14th century. The cave complex of Corbii de Piatra is the tangible evidence of the existence of monastic nuclei of the anchorite type in Wallachia even before the organization of the Wallachian church in the 14th century.
 Dug into a huge rock wall (30 m high and 14.5 m long), the church is, from an architectural point of view, falls into the byzantine architectural typology, characteristically for the 10thCentury.
 On the other hand, this type of rupestrian citadel, having a camouflaged entrance (under 1 meter high) determines some historians to presume its age to be around the period the Christians were persecuted, that is about the end of the 2ndCentury, B.C. Other historians place their suppositions further back, presupposing that here would have been a Dacian place of worship, votive to the ancient God Zalmoxis.
 The unicity of this monastery is not given only by its aspect and the space around it but also by the fact that the church has two altars for the same nave. In front of the entry into the church, there is the refectory (the canteen of the monastery).
 The interior of the church is sublime, silent and simple.
 It is worth noting that the mural painting date from the 14th Century and still has large original parts of the old painting, depicting biblical scenes: The Nativity Scene, The Raising of Lazarus, The Annunciation, and The Transfiguration.It is considered to be the oldest rupestrian painting into the country.
An 11th old Century wooden church, placed into the yard, poorly build, skewed by the time and weather-bitten, completes the whole image full of spirituality and depth. This mysterious hermitage, from immemorial times, in which you are only allowed to whisper heavenly-minded and humble, is a place of pilgrimage for the believers and for the tourists that are seeking places endowed with special energies.


Mănăstirea Corbii de Piatră  este așezată într-un loc ales parcă de Divinitate, iar construcția în sine, se remarcă printr-o simplitate desăvârșită, ce predispune la meditație, introspecție și rugăciune. Biserica este atestată documentar la 1512, când a devenit lăcaș de cult cu hramul „Adormirea Maicii Domnului”, închinat domnitorului Neagoe Basarab.
Despre vechimea acestui lăcaș însă, sunt multe păreri, care consideră că originile s-ar situa în vremuri mult mai îndepărtate, ale istoriei. Săpată într-un perete uriaș de stâncă (înalt de 30 m și lung de 14,5 m), biserica se înscrie din punct de vedere arhitectural, în  tipologia bizantină, caracteristică secolului  X. Pe de altă parte, acest gen de adăpost rupestru, prevăzut cu o intrare de camuflaj (de sub 1m înălțime), îi face pe unii istorici să maergă cu prezumțiile, până la perioada persecuțiilor împotriva creștinilor, de la sfârșitul secolui al II-lea, după Hristos.
Alții merg cu supozițiile,  în vremuri și mai îndepărtate,  presupunând că aici ar fi fost un loc de cult dacic, închinat zeului Zalmoxis.
Unicitatea acestei mănăstiri, nu este dată numai de aspectul ei și al spațiului ce o înconjoară , ci și de faptul că, biserica este prevăzută cu două altare ale aceluiaș naos. Înainte de intrarea în biserică, se află trapeza (sala de mese a mănăstirii). Interiorul bisericii este sublim, tăcut și simplu. De remarcat, este pictura murală de secol XIV, care păstrează în original mari părți din pictura veche, ce redă scene biblice: Nașterea Domnului, Învierea lui Lazăr, Bunavestire, Schimbarea la față. Este considerată ca fiind, cea mai veche pictură rupestră din țară. În curte, o  bisericuță de lemn, de secol XIX, firavă și înclinată de timp și intemperii, întregește tabloul plin de spiritualitate și profunzime.
Acest schit misterios, venit din timpuri străvechi, în care nu poți vorbi decît în șoaptă, cu smerenie și pioșenie, este loc de pelerinaj pentru credincioși și pentru turiștii care caută locuri încărcate de energii deosebite.  

http://www.imperialtransilvania.com 

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The Clay Castle - Castelul de lut Valea Zânelor
















La nici 50 de km de Sibiu, la Porumbacu de Sus, in Valea Zanelor, gasim Castelul de Lut desprins parca din povestile fratilor Grimm: in mijlocul muntilor, pe malul unui rau, inconjurat de vegetatie. Turistii vin pana aici doar ca sa-l vada si sa faca fotografii.


A childhood dream came true for Răzvan Vasile! The fairytale castle is today a real one, which, he hopes his son will enjoy with family and friends. It was not easy to raise it up, but the determination that he had, helped him to carry out a project that would have seemed impossible to many.  
"I wanted it to be a house from fairytales, because we have a little boy of seven years old and I traveled the country in various hostels. I wanted this to be something else, "said Razvan Vasile.
The castle is located 40 km from Sibiu, in the Fairies’ Valley and it will become a pension. It has ten rooms and a footprint of 320 square meters. It was built by craftsmen and workers of Maramures.
The foundation is made of concrete and stones, the structure is wood and the walls are built of cob (log of olid and then covered with cob), a mixture of earth, water, straw, clay and sand. The exterior walls are 60 cm thick and the interior walls have a thickness of 45 cm.

"The exterior plastering is of lime and sand and the towers are of river stone, built with lime and sand," explained Razvan Vasile, for casenaturale.org. Everything is made with natural materials, and the windows and doors are different, each room having its own separate entrance.



Saturday, May 21, 2016

Sfinţii Împăraţi Constantin şi Elena

Sfinţii Împăraţi Constantin şi Elena

desen de Daliana Pacuraru



Sfintii Constantin si Elena, "cei intocmai cu Apostolii", sunt pomeniti in Biserica Ortodoxa pe 21 mai.
Sarbatoarea Sfintilor Constantin si Elena este strans legata de taina si puterea Sfintei Cruci – semnul central al religiei crestine. Sfantului Constantin i s-a aratat pe cerul amiezii semnul Crucii spre biruinta (In hoc signo vinces – “Intru acest semn vei invinge”), in pragul infruntarii cu paganul Maxentiu, iar Sfinta Elena, mama sa, a descoperit la Ierusalim Crucea pe care Mantuitorul a fost rastignit. Sfanta Imparateasa Elena a trecut la Domnul la anul 327, putin dupa intoarcerea de la Ierusalim, iar Sfantul Imparat Constantin in 337, dupa 31 de ani de domnie.

The 21st of May is a very big holly day as we celebrate the saints Constantin and Elena. Constantin the Great was a leader of the Roman Empire who lived around 300 A.D. He was the son of Queen Elena and the first Christian Roman Emperor.
He established the new capital of Rome at the old Greek town of Byzantium, which he renamed after himself (Constantinople) and which would be the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. He raised Christianity to the status of a “permitted religion.” He took a direct interest in matters of doctrine and called the first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church at Nicaea.In traditional calendar, this event is known as Constantine Starling (Constantin Graur) or Cubs’ Constantine (Constantin al Puilor). Elders say that on this day birds teach their offspring to fly. May 21 is also an occasion for Romanians to celebrate their name day.
Known as those who made Christians free, the two emperors Constantine and Helen became true protectors of the Christians. During his reign, Emperor Constantine adopted a series of measures in favor of the Church and priests. They say his mother, Queen Helena,used to help oppressed Christians.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Noaptea Cărților Deschise















Pe 23 aprilie, în lumea întreagă s-a sărbătorit Ziua Mondială a Cărții. În România, Editura Litera a organizat  cea mai importantă campanie dedicată sărbătorii lecturii, Noaptea Cărților Deschise.

Acesta este prilejul nostru din fiecare an de a ne întâlni cu voi, iubitorii de carte, într-un cadru prietenesc, pentru a marca simbolic un eveniment dedicat uneia dintre celei mai importante invenții ale omenirii, CARTEA.
Alături de voi, am făcut din acest eveniment un adevărat manifest pro-cultură ale cărui ecouri au depășit granițele țării. Este o realizare importantă pentru România, țară pe care statisticile europene o plasează la coada listei la capitolul obișnuințelor de lectură.
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