Page

June 6, 2016

2597 ROMANIA (Dâmboviţa) - The Princely Court in Târgovişte


The crusader Hans Schiltberger, who attended to the military expedition ended with the defeat of Nicopolis (1396), mentions Târgovişte as the capital of Wallachia, along with Curtea de Argeş. The Princely Court is attested during Mircea the Elder, in an act of his son, associate to reign, Michael I, dated 1417-1418, but the extending of the fortifications was made after the city became the only capital of the country (1431), possibly during the reign of Vlad Dracul or even during Vlad The Impaler.

Another extension of the fortifications was made at the end of the 16th century by the voivode Petru Cercel, but it has known the maximum period of development under the reign of Matei Basarab, who doubled the thickness of the walls, restored the moat, has built ten rectangular bastions (today can be seen the remains of seven of them), and restored in stone the five gates, named after the settlements toward that were heading the roads (Buzău, Curtea de Argeş, Dealu, Câmpulung şi Bucharest).

The Great Princely Church, a former chapel of the Princely Court, dedicated to the Assumption, was built between 1583-1585 by Prince Petru Cercel. Built in Byzantine style, it has a length of 30m and a maximum height of 14m. The sanctuary was repaired during the reign of Constantin Brâncoveanu, between 1698-1699, responsable for the work being Ianache Văcărescu. The church houses an impressive gallery of portraits of several princes of Wallachia.

About the stamp
The stamp is part of the series Anniversaries-Commemoration-Personalities (I), designed by R. Popescu and issued on January 27, 2006:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) (0.50 RON)
Ion C. Brătianu (1841-1891) (1.20 RON) - It's on the postcard 2597
Grigore Moisil (1906-1973) (2.10 RON)

References
Curtea Domnească din Târgovişte (rom) - Wikipedia

Sender: Mihnea Răducu
Sent from Voluntari (Ilfov / Romania), on 31.05.2016

No comments:

Post a Comment