Romania reopens tomb of Mircea the Elder after nearly century
The sarcophagus in which Mircea the Elder rests at Cozia Monastery is the original one, according to archaeologists from Vâlcea, Romania, who recently reopened the ruler’s tomb, nearly a century after it was first examined.
Experts from the “Aurelian Sacerdoțeanu” Vâlcea County Museum, the “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, and the “Olga Necrasov” Anthropological and Biomedical Research Center of the Iași Branch of the Romanian Academy are participating in this research project. The aims are, on one hand, to carry out the archaeological clearance of the monuments that make up the monastic complex in Călimănești ahead of their restoration, and on the other hand, to verify the sarcophagus—unique among noble and princely tombs in Romania due to its shape—given assumptions that it might have been moved at the beginning of the 20th century, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.
“There are several requests in the archives of the National Heritage Institute from around 1930 to move the sarcophagus from Cozia Monastery to the National History Museum. Through this research, we wanted to determine whether it had been moved. But no, it was not moved. It is the original one, and it is in good condition. It is a stone sarcophagus, unique in Romania, equipped with a cephalic niche, typical of tombs in Western Europe from the 5th to the 15th centuries AD. The tomb was first investigated during the interwar period, as part of a restoration project that began in 1927. Next to the voivode’s sarcophagus is the tomb of Michael the Brave’s mother, the nun Teofana. In 1938, the remains of the ruler and of Teofana were placed in marble boxes from Rusciuk and set inside this sarcophagus. During the same period, it was raised and placed on a fill layer, and a concrete slab and an artistically sculpted tombstone were added,” archaeologist Ion Tuțulescu told AGERPRES.
Voivode Mircea the Elder died on 31 January 1418 and was buried on 4 February of the same year at his foundation in Călimănești, as he had wished. Over the centuries, however, his tomb was repeatedly desecrated, as was the church in which it lies.
“The first reliable information about the desecration of the tomb dates from 1821, when Eterist troops, retreating toward Transylvania after their defeat at Drăgășani, plundered the monastery and, implicitly, the ruler’s resting place. Another desecration is noted during the German occupation of 1916–1918. In a document from March 1919, the monastery’s superior, Protosinghel Anastasie Popescu, wrote to the Ministry of Culture that ‘The Cozia monument is in a pitiful, lamentable state due to the enemy armies which, during their invasion along the Olt River, pillaged and desecrated this holy place. They turned the church and the chapel into a stable for horses, devastated the buildings, and left them in complete ruin.’ The troops that occupied Cozia broke the commemorative stone covering Mircea the Elder’s tomb; it was restored in 1936 with an inscription written by Nicolae Iorga. In 1938, the stone was replaced with the current funerary slab, brought from Bulgaria,” added the Vâlcea archaeologist, who is confident that these archaeological investigations will bring new information about the entire monastic complex.
Located on the Olt Valley, Cozia Monastery is considered the most important foundation of Mircea the Elder (1355–1418), although some sources indicate his father, Radu I (1330–1383), as the founder of the monastery (then known as Nucet). The consecration service took place on 18 May 1388, officiated by Saint Nicodemus of Tismana, who reorganized monastic life in Oltenia and founded the Vodița and Tismana monasteries. The first abbot appointed to lead the monastic community at Cozia was Hieromonk Gavriil, Nicodemus’ disciple.
The Cozia Monastery complex, a historical monument of national importance, includes the church dedicated to the “Holy Trinity,” dated to 1388 and expanded with a porch on the western side between 1705 and 1707; the chapel dedicated to the “Dormition of the Mother of God,” located in the southeast corner of the monastic enclosure and dated to 1583; the chapel “All Saints’ Sunday,” located in the northeast corner and dated to 1710, with partial reconstruction between 1958 and 1959; the refectory from 1853; and the surrounding buildings forming the enclosure, dated to the 14th, 16th, and 18th centuries.
The monastic complex has recently received non-refundable funding through the South-West Oltenia Regional Program 2021–2027 for consolidation, preservation, restoration, and enhancement of the monuments, with the goal of increasing the number of visitors by at least 10%.
