Baia de Aramă – Churches, Monasteries and Nature Reserve

The Cornetul Băii şi Valea Mânăstirii nature reserve is a protected area of national interest and lies within the administrative territory of the town of Baia de Aramă.

The Cornetul Băii şi Valea Mânăstirii nature reserve lies within the administrative territory of the town of Baia de Aramă. The Baia de Aramă Monastery is situated in a small hollow.

Nature

It is surrounded by the Dochiciu, Dealul-Mare and Cornet hills. National roads connect Baia de Aramă Monastery with Târgu Jiu, Motru, Strehaia and Drobeta Turnu Severin. The spa resorts connected by these roads include Băile Herculane and Bala.

These connections therefore extend beyond the immediate locality and include several towns as well as the spa resorts of Băile Herculane and Bala. For the monastery’s regional context, its location in the hollow is therefore just as significant as the explicitly mentioned road connections and destinations.

Culture

In Pistriţa, the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God is registered as a historic monument under LMI code MH-II-m-B-10376. The church is a wooden church dating from 1819. Its nave is rectangular. The altar is pentagonal and polygonal. In the centre of the village, the church is located approximately 50 metres west of the DC40 communal road. The cemetery is next to the church.

The church in Pistriţa thus combines its registration as a historic monument with a clearly described wooden structure and a precisely specified location in the village centre. In particular, the combination of a rectangular nave and a pentagonal polygonal altar makes the architectural form comprehensible through specific elements, rather than reducing it to a general reference to local history.

Baia de Aramă is home to the church of the former Sfinții 24 Voievozi Monastery. It is a historic monument of religious architecture. It was built between 1699 and 1703. The church preserves wall paintings from 1703.

This building brings together its historical classification, the period of its construction and the preserved wall paintings from the same year. The dates 1699 to 1703 and 1703 retain the chronological distinction between the construction phase and the wall paintings.

Architectural forms

The Sfinții Apostoli Petru și Pavel wooden church in Brebina is a historic monument. It is considered a representative example of Oltenia’s wooden churches. Its floor plan has a single nave and no tower. The building is covered with wooden shingles.

In Brebina, the architectural form can be understood through several specific features: the single-nave floor plan is complemented by the absence of a tower, while wooden shingles form the external covering. Together with its classification as a representative example of Oltenia’s wooden churches, these details create a precise picture of this historic architectural form.

The Sfinții Voievozi Church in Titerlești is registered in the list of historic monuments under LMI code MH-II-m-B-10424. It was built in 1825.

In Titerlești too, the monument registration and year of construction are the two key details concerning the Sfinții Voievozi Church. The LMI code identifies its specific registration, while 1825 establishes the date of its construction.

Patron saints

The Sfinții Voievozi Monastery in Baia de Aramă celebrated a second patronal feast on 17 July 2019 in honour of Saint Marina. Saint Marina’s feast day is observed every year on 17 July.

The patronal feast thus connects a specific event from 2019 with an annual feast day on 17 July. Both dates are part of the religious history of the Sfinții Voievozi Monastery and supplement the architectural information with a dimension centred on the celebration.

Other places

Other places: Dubova, Şimian, Floreşti, Orșova, Gura Văii, Corcova, Eșelnița, Godeanu.

For the higher-level travel overview: Mehedinti.