Description

Paperback. Pbo. Oblong large 8vo. (21 x 24 cm). In Romanian and summary in English. 132 p., 14 numerous color plts. and 102 numerous b/w ills. Distrugerea Mânâstirii Vâcâresti. The Vacaresti Monastery, built by Nicholas Mavrocordatos in 1716, was located on the Vacaresti hill, nowadays near Piata Sudului, but it was demolished in 1984 during the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, to make room for a Palace of Justice that was never built. It was the largest 18th-century monastery in Southeastern Europe and it had a church in the style of Curtea de Arges Cathedral. It was designed to be also used as a fortress, being seized by the Russian army, under commander Nicholas Repnin, in May 1771 (in the context of the Russo-Turkish War and Pârvu Cantacuzino's rebellion). Part of the buildings of monastery were used as prison. Inmates that were incarcerated at Vacaresti prison include Richard Wurmbrand, Tudor Arghezi, Ioan Slavici, as well as Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and other members of the Iron Guard. The nearby hill was home to Arghezi's long-time residence, the house he nicknamed Martisor (nowadays a museum).