The Legend of Meșterul Manole
The twisted tower of Curtea de Argeș Monastery, built in the early 1500s, a masterpiece of Wallachian architecture and one of Romania’s most hauntingly beautiful legends.
The Legend of Meșterul Manole
When Prince Neagoe Basarab ordered the monastery to be built, the master builder Manole and his craftsmen tried to raise the walls but every night, whatever they built collapsed.
Manole dreamed that the only way to complete the monastery was to sacrifice the first loved one who came to the site at dawn. Manole and his builders swear that they will sacrifice the first wife who comes to bring food to her husband.
Manole prays desperately that it won’t be Ana.
When he sees her in the distance, carrying his lunch, he panics.
He prays for rain, storms, wind — anything to stop her.
The weather turns violent, but she keeps walking, step by step, soaked, determined, because she loves him and is simply bringing him his meal.
Nothing stops her.
He kept his vow.
They built her into the walls.
And only then did the monastery stand.
When the prince saw the beauty of the finished church, he feared the craftsmen might build something even greater elsewhere so he ordered them stranded on the roof.
Manole tried to escape by building wings from wood and shingles but he fell to his death.