I visited the impressive Stone Ravens Monastery on 21 September 2008, in a one day trip that also included the Poenari Fortress. Located in the Corbi village, between Curtea de Arges and Campulung this is one of three rupestrian Churches in Arges, together with “Cetatuia” and “Namaesti“.
This 500+ year old church serves currently as yet another proof of the hard times Romanians had to endure during their permanently besieged history. All over Romania you can see regular people’s livelihood was very modest and poor, remote, secluded – easily to abandon when confronted with yet another invasion.Only the most important historical monuments are in military defensible places.
This Monastery was carved in the stone wall sometime before 1512 A.D. and it is said that it’s painting was never restored. With no further ado, here are the photos:
Going up the stairs one reaches the stone wall’s feet:
The interior: very quiet and modest, enchanting nonetheless:
You can see that this is actually a cave in the next shot:
If I’ve got your interest, here’s how to get to it (you should not regret it): take DN 73C from Curtea de Arges to Campulung, and in Domnesti, take a left to reach Corbi village. If you are in Corbi and you can not find the Monastery, you should give up traveling just ask any local. The road is good, cand be made with any car. Maybe Lamborghinis would have a hard time with the last 500 meters, but I am sure no reader of mine would take his Lambo to visit a mountain Monastery ;-).
If you want to see the ‘official’ site, in which they describe what the monastery is not !?!, or to see a very ugly map or some ugly photos here it is.
UPDATE: It has been very kind of Michele to point out to me that an archaic word in Scottish for Raven is Corbie , which I found very interestingly close to the Romanian Corb (Corbi)! Thank you Michele!
I just have to come back to the first thing we saw entering the compound:
We could understand the request of not bringing you pet to a holy place, and until the cats we had no beef with the sign, but the martens part really made us wonder about the habits of locals in the area.
If someone does not know what a marten is, IT’S A FREAKING WILD ANIMAL THAT PREYS ON SQUIRRELS, MICE, RABBITS etc. Here are the Romanian definition and taxonomy, and a Google Images Search to show you this lovely pet.
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My Journey into the World 
you bandit, I see I must write in English, to keep up with the trend. About the message written at the entrance oh the compound, I think it is an Ecological one meaning u should not wear dogs, cats and weasels! The orthodox church is modern and trendy. Amin
Very hard fotos (bad English translation of Romanian “foarte tari pozele”)
“Beautifu’ sto’y Adam and Eve” – Franky For Fingers – Snatch –
Thank you for the comments!
I also like to say ‘Very Hard My Brother’, in RomGlish 🙂
The interior shots rule… those made outside are missing something… I don’t know exactly what since every detail of the pics looks good but the overall effect is more like “nice” instead of “wow”…t
Thank You 🙂
I have the same feeling, and I also have an idea of what might be missing: the essential ingredient of [i]photo[i]graphy – THE LIGHT.
It was a very ugly afternoon, with a dense drizzle and grim atmosphere.
However, I was there and really thought the place deserved being known.
This does seem to conflict a bit with the ‘only show your best work’ rule BUUT this is the best [i]I could do[/i] under the circumstances 😦
I was thinking of trying some B&W, but these shots are not necessary good candidates because they are not rich with patterns…
Weasels and martens? I never take my weasels and martens into monasteries.
It makes perfect sense, but on the other hand, don’t you think they should have provided us with an organized space where to leave the dogs and martens to wait for us? 😀
e pizdos si frumos – pacat ca nam fost
Don’t worry, the road up to there is easy, there are no problems, you can go anytime…
Or have you left the country?
http://suntemingeri.blogspot.com/2008/10/cu-jderul-la-plimbare.html
“Very hard my brother”
If only more people could read this.
Heh I am really the first reply to this awesome post?!?
There are plenty of churches and other constructions carved in stone all around the world, its not a sign of “romanian people’s hardship and poverty”. I’ve seen these constructions before
as for weasels, it must’ve referred to clothing Im thinking
its an impressive-looking church, I only visited Romania once, I always wanted to go back and while looking for new spots I found this interesting place. Simple but impressive…I’m sorry but you’re not doing a good job of promoting your country with that tone
Beautiful country either way, too bad it’s not being promoted properly
Awesome post.