Cotmeana Monastery is located in the Arges County, at 5 km from the route between Pitesti and Ramnicu Valcea towns.
Taking advantage of a very pleasant afternoon, at the end of November, we made a stop at the oldest church-monastery in Wallachia. The one who built for the first time, here, a wooden church, Cotmeana Hermitage, is Radu I, the ruler of Wallachia between 1377-1383. Later, this small church was devastated by a fire, the king Mircea cel Bătrân being the one who rebuilt this settlement between 1387-1389. The church has two patron saints: the Annunciation and the Beheading of St. John the Baptist.
The first documentary attestation of the Cotmeana Monastery is related to the construction of the Cozia Monastery, another important foundation of Mircea cel Bătrân (Mircea the Old) inscribed in a deed from May 20, 1388. Archaeological excavations around the Monastery have revealed secular tombs of some old monks who were buried with a wooden cross and a brick at the top in the XIV century.
The antiquities collection of the Argeș County Museum counts a treasure with gold coins, terracotta and ornamental discs discovered in this place. The church was restored by Constantin Brancoveanu in 1711 and later repaired between 1855-1857. But the history of the establishment also knew bloody periods, during the time of Mihnea cel Rău, due to the authoritarian policies of this ruler.
In February 1510, the battle of Cotmeana between Mihnea cel Rău and the Craiova governor is mentioned, the former hardly escaping with life and finding refuge in Transylvania.
What did we discover here? Inside the walls of the enclosure, provided with firing nets, there is the old settlement composed of the church and a wooden tower, which houses the oldest bell in Wallachia, a bell donated by governor Dragomir in 1383. A special story from the First World War: this bell was the only one that was saved from melting, all the others having to be ceded to Budapest to Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Next to the old church there is a Chapel dedicated to the Shroud of the Virgin, where all orthodox services are held now. Returning to the old church, made of exposed bricks, what we notice on the outside are the ornaments made of colored ceramic discs, present just below the serrated cornice. They were used for the first time in Wallachia for decorative purposes. These decorations were made in Byzantine-Balkanic style, specific to the XIII-XIV centuries.
As we step inside, a mystical air surround us, in semi-darkness. We find difficult to immortalize on photos the greatness and the inner magic of the 620 years of the church's existence. The thick walls preserve rare paintings and frescoes, hardly observable, due to the darkness and the old age, which erased the colors and damaged the walls.
The painting in the nave dates from the time of Mircea cel Bătrân, and the one in the narthex dates from the time of Constantin Brâncoveanu. We find here portraits of Mircea cel Batran and Petru Cercel. During the restoration by Constantin Brancoveanu, the stone frames of the windows and of the entrance door were replaced.
Subsequent restorations revealed the original forms of the settlement. One of the dilemmas we faced was the continuation of the restoration (especially the paintings) or keeping it intact, like an arch over time, with the imprint of old times. In the deserted garden, cared by nine monks, we were greeted by the mascot of the monastery: a kitten.
