Place:Curtea de Argeș, Argeș, Romania

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Curtea de Argeș is a municipality in Romania on the left bank of the river Argeș, where it flows through a valley of the Southern Carpathians (the Făgăraș Mountains), on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roșu Pass. It is part of Argeș County. The city also administers one village, Noapteș.

On July 7, 1947, the total rainfall in Curtea de Argeș was in 20 minutes, which is a world record.

History

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Capital of Wallachia

One of the oldest towns in Wallachia, Curtea de Argeș was the capital of a small local state which was the start for the unification of the lands south of the Carpathians. The oldest archeological evidence of it being the seat of such a ruler date from the 13th century.^[1]

Câmpulung was the seat of Basarab I, the voivode of Wallachia, who was first mentioned in a document written in 1324 at the court of Charles I of Hungary. The next year, a conflict broke out between the two and in 1330, Charles I organized an expedition against the "unfaithful" Basarab and destroyed the Argeș stronghold.

The tradition of Wallachian chronicles differ from the Hungarian documents: they don't mention Basarab I and instead, they claim that Argeș was founded in 1290 by Radu Negru who crossed the Carpathians from Transylvania to found the cities of Curtea de Argeș and Câmpulung.^[2]

While Câmpulung is sometimes credited as the first capital of Wallachia, the Wallachian chronicles mention only Curtea de Argeș as being the capital, this being supported by the fact that the Hungarian documents mention that Charles I attacked the Argeș stronghold and not the Câmpulung one.^[2]

After 1340, a new royal court was built at Argeș, containing a palace and a church, the whole compound having an area of 0.76 hectares.^[2] It was here that the Metropolitan Orthodox Church of Wallachia was founded in 1359.^[2]

The town traded with Transylvania, focusing on the town of Sibiu, to which it had a direct road crossing the Olt Valley and . The commercial area of the town was around the court and the St. Nicholas in Târg Church, where the bazar was located.

Decline

This Argeș court was the residence of the Wallachian hospodars until Mircea I of Wallachia, included.^[2] The following rulers used both Argeș and Târgoviște as the seats of the court and traveler Johann Schiltberger mentioned that in 1396 both cities were capitals.^[2]

From 1396 to 1460, Wallachia was tributary to the Sunni-Islamic Ottoman Empire, the hospodars being vassals of its Great Sultan.

During the 15th century, their court was used alternately with the one in Târgoviște, but in the 16th century, the capital was completely moved to Târgoviște and the Argeș court was rarely visited.^[2]

Argeș was one of the most important towns in Wallachia in the 14th and 15th centuries, but starting with the 16th century, its importance began to fade. The Orthodox Metropolitan's seat was moved to Târgoviște in 1517, while the Catholic bishopric ended its activity in 1519. A fall in the trade with Sibiu and Brașov also led to a population decline.

After the Curtea de Argeș Monastery was built during the rule of Neagoe Basarab, the rulers of Wallachia favored it and, apart from donations (part of the town's domain), they gave it rights over the town. The monastery presided over trials in the marketplace and it was allowed to build customs house and mills. This eroded the autonomy of the town and led to further economic slump.^[3]

Modern era

The united country's first modern king, Carol I of Romania renovated the Curtea de Argeș Monastery and designated it as a royal necropolis in 1886. Curtea de Argeș became the burial place for the Royal House of Romania (a branch of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty), including Carol I, Ferdinand I and Queen Marie, and Michael I and Queen Anne. King Carol I also built a railway linking Curtea de Argeș to Bucharest; the city's railway station, designed by architect and constructed by engineer Elie Radu in 1898, stands out as one of the distinctive architectural masterpieces of the city.

The Ștefănescu-Goangă brothers, Mihail and Florian, contributed to modernizing the city's infrastructure during 1920s and 1930s. As a mayor, Mihail Ștefănesu Goangă oversaw the building of the city's first paved roads, post office, and central market. Florian Ștefănescu-Goangă founded the summer school of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Curtea de Argeș, which later became the , one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania.

During the Communist regime, state-led industrialization led to the construction of several major factories in the city, which became a major producer of agricultural proteins, porcelain, and textiles. During the 1990s, most of the communist-era industries closed down, but Curtea de Argeș remains a manufacturing center for textiles and high-end fashion.

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