Corbii de Piatra (Ravens of stone monastery)
Corbi, Poduri, Romania
About
The beginnings of monastic life at Corbii de Piatra (the Stone Ravens) are rather unknown. Most of the monastic settlements replaced older ones, going down through history to times beyond memory. This is how it must have been for the Ravens Monastery, located in the heart of a mysterious and very ancient ascetic Romanian settlement. The first document mentioning it is dated June 23, 1512, which is certainly not the date the monastery was first created, and there are accurate information stating that the holy place existed before this date. The cave church of is a typological derivative of the hall-church, with two altars meant for two patron saints, typical of the Byzantine world of the 10th century. It is typologically related to the group of cave churches of Cappadocia, as the special feature of the double altar with one single nave is unique in our country. This solution was probably convenient for the small communities of monks who can go without the deacon. The stylistic features, the quality of the painting, exclusive with Greek inscriptions, corroborated with information gathered from other documents, allow setting the exact date of the complex at the beginning of the 14th century. The cave complex of Corbii de Piatra is the tangible evidence of the existence of monastic nuclei of the anchorite type in Wallachia even before the organization of the Wallachian church in the 14th century. How to reach the place: go to DN 73C, Curtea de Arges - Campulung Muscel, to East until Domnesti (22 km), at the crossroad take the left path to Nucsoara (Domnesti - Stanesti - Corbsori - Corbi, 11km)
