Corbii de Piatră Monastery, Argeș

An ancient, mysterious place carved into the rock

Where is it and when to visit?

Do you know where is Corbii de Piatră Monastery? Some do .... Others, no ..... Corbii de Piatră Monastery is situated in the village of Jgheaburi, commune of Corbi, Arges county, on Manastirii street nr. 110, communal road DC4, 55 km North of Pitesti. It can be reached by car via DN73 / DJ 731, and in Corbi is signposted right and right again, in the center, as you come from Pitesti. There is free parking 100 meters above the entrance. The tourist objective is open daily from 9:30 - 18:30. It can be visited with or without a guide. Both at the entrance, at the ticket booth you are offered this option, and during the exploration, if you see the neighbors of the place, they offer to give you information and help you to see into the cliff, i.e. they highlight what you should see.

Why come to this place?

to visit a stone church
identify mysterious images and ask yourself questions
to go through the rock cuttings and climb to the cross at the top for the view
to visit an authentic old house
enrich yourself with yet another tourist experience

About Stone Crows

Corbii de Piatră Monastery consists of a 14th-century cave ensemble, documented in 1512, when the nun Magdalina, Neagoe Basarab's aunt, Neagoe Basarab's aunt, founded the Corbii de Piatra Monastery. The Orthodox monastery was dedicated to the ruler Neagoe Basarab and bears the name "The Assumption of the Virgin Mary", becoming a monastery of the monastery. The monastery was reopened in 2003 and daily services are held here. I asked why it was called a monastery... as I hadn't seen any monastery, monastic life at the church in the rock. The monastery is in the village, further...

1. The cave church

Even from the street, the rock wall impresses us with its hollows. We climb a bit through the courtyard and at the base of the cliff we find a huge parallelepipedal hollow where there is a wooden bench. We turn to the left and there is another huge recess in the sandstone (in the stone) like a basket, which is also blackened on the side of the rock. Further to the left is cave church. The church is carved into the rock in a vertical wall 30 meters high and 15 meters long. The value of the church is given by its very old painting, from the 14th century, with Byzantine influences. A unique element of this church is that it originally had two altars on a single nave. In the 19th century a wall of the nave was collapsed.

The rock wall in which the cave church is located

the notch in the rock

Stone Crows

icons

old icon

cave church

church altar

2. Medieval knights' crosses and rock carvings

One indicator shows that even further to the left are medieval knights' crosses yes "petrified fish"carved in the 10th - 12th centuries. Several crosses carved like medieval knights' crosses can be identified in the rock. They are several and differ slightly from each other. Above we are shown where we can see the "petrified fish". This is another enigma which gives rise to interpretation. The eye is certainly carved, but the rest of the shape is said to be natural.

cross

knights' crosses

crosses in the rock

"petrified fish"

3. Latin cross and panorama

Landscaped staircases bordered by a metal bar climb above the mysterious cliff to the Latin cross with detachable pyramidal capital. Near the crossroads is a belvedere point. Go down on the other side of the cliff after a short "rocky ridge". Before the descent there is another branch off to the left at a place marked with signposts, from where you walk towards the glades. The path from there leads to 2 more viewpoints and can continue for the careful ones even up to the haiduc's cliff, which we will visit by another route.

cross with detachable capital

overview

stone ridge

this is the way down

rock

4. The authentic blue box

We arrive down the street in a place with tables and benches with shade. In the first household on the right we make a pit stop because here we still have something to see... We are greeted by a welcoming lady, who interrupted a few minutes of work in the garden for us... We visit Blue Box. It is an old house that belonged to the lady's ancestors, now uninhabited, now a museum. Here we can see an authentic old house in Corbi. The cottage is 155 years old and has been preserved and is cared for by the daughter of the lady who lived here, a very welcoming hostess, who graciously and lovingly shows you the house, but also the natural treasures behind the courtyard, which you can read more about.

picnic area

Little Blue House

authentic interior

Little Blue House

5. The petrified waterfall, the giant and other rock images

At the back of the garden, the lady surprised us with what she showed us on the rock walls we had climbed down. We had to admire Waterfall yes The Petrified Giant. Interesting, isn't it? Any questions? So do I. Still looking closely at the rock, the imagination began to create other faces, shapes.... We see the Dacian flag, the sheep or the dog, the lovers, and then somewhere under the rock wall to the right of the waterfall is a kind of well, called a chrysalis, where if you tap your foot in the sil you hear the sound of the hollow.

Lovers

snake

Dacian flag

sheep or dog

christopher

Waterfall

head of the giant fallen in the garden

The Petrified Giant

6. Zdrelea's Rock

On our second visit to Corbii de Piatră we identified another interesting stone formation. It is on the left side of the communal road that led us to the monastery, 200 meters before the monastery. From the road you can see an imposing rock. It is Zdrelea's rock, which can be climbed on a path. Zdrelea was a chieftain of the outlaws, was originally from Corbii de Piatră and was a blood brother of Tudor Vladimirescu.

Zdrelea's rock

7. Wider Panorama

From Corbii de Piatră Monastery we turn left on the national road crossing the Doamnei valley, turn left on the national road and then turn right on another national road. It winds up the hill opposite the village. Here an annual festival is organized in a wide clearing. And also here is a superb vantage point to the opposite bank, namely to the village of Jgheaburi and the vertical sandstone cliff in which the rock-cut monastery is carved. We identify the places we visited a little earlier.

Jgheaburi village and rock monastery

view from the opposite hill

Appreciations

In my opinion the information in this place is very interesting. At Corbii de Piatră Monastery I liked the rock church, the legends and the authentic old house. I understand efforts are being made to continue the improvements and better integrate it into the tourist circuit. It is a highly rated tourist attraction on Google.

Nearby you can also visit city of Pitesti. This destination can also be visited when you come down from a hike in the Făgăraș Mountains, in the area of Burnei's hut, Moldoveanu summit, tip Dara.

All the best!

Steps: