Bărăția Church in Câmpulung: A Medieval Roman Catholic Monument in Romania
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Romania
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Kingdom of Romania, Ottoman, Principality of Wallachia
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page9 sections
History
Bărăția Church in Câmpulung, Romania, is a historic Roman Catholic monument associated with Transylvanian Saxon settlers and constructed in the second half of the thirteenth century in the Gothic style. Dedicated to Saint James, the apostle known in Western Christianity as James the Greater, it is described as the oldest surviving Roman Catholic church in the Bucharest ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Medieval origins
The first church was established in the thirteenth century, but the building visible today preserves a later phase of its history. Archaeological research showed that the present choir was built in the fifteenth century over the foundations of the earlier choir. The nave of the original church was later demolished, while its foundations continued to mark the building’s initial extent.
Religious and civic use
Bărăția was first served by Dominican friars, members of a mendicant order known for preaching and theological teaching. Franciscans later took responsibility for the church. Their presence is recorded in a 1764 chronicle by Blasius Kleiner, a Franciscan friar from Câmpulung.
During the rule of Șerban Cantacuzino, prince of Wallachia from 1678 to 1688, pressure was exerted to convert Câmpulung’s Catholic judges to Orthodoxy. The church also had a civic function. Until municipal autonomy was abolished in 1822, citizens gathered there on the third Sunday after Easter to elect their mayor.
Eighteenth-century renewal and modern restoration
The church was renewed during the eighteenth century, and the choir acquired its present form in 1760. The wider complex was restored in the early 1960s under architect Ștefan Balș. Later additions judged intrusive were removed, and the original interior and exterior pavement levels were reinstated.
Archaeological investigations directed by Dinu V. Rosetti between 1963 and 1965 accompanied the restoration. They exposed the foundations of the original choir and nave, allowing the earlier plan to be presented as part of the restored complex. Bărăția is protected as a Romanian national historic monument under the registered ensemble designation AG-II-a-A-13554.
Remains
Church and earlier foundations
The surviving church consists primarily of the medieval Gothic choir, whose pointed arches express the character of its construction. Built in the fifteenth century as an extension of the earlier nave, the choir occupies the foundations of the original choir. The foundations of the demolished nave remain visible and indicate the dimensions of the first thirteenth-century building. Restoration brought these buried structural traces into the layout of the present complex.
Later buildings of the complex
The Bărăția complex has three principal components: Saint James Church, Bărăția Tower, and the parish house. The tower dates from 1730, although its foundations and first two levels belonged to the medieval entrance tower at the church’s western portal. At the end of the nineteenth century, an additional upper level with a pointed roof was added, and a clock was installed. The parish house dates from the seventeenth century.
Memorial and archaeological remains
Inside the church is the tombstone of Laurențiu, a Saxon count of Câmpulung who died in 1300. Its Latin inscription reads, Hic sepultus est comes Laurencius de Longo-Campo, pie memorie, anno Domini MCCC. The stone is regarded as the oldest medieval epigraphic document in Wallachia and the first written mention of Câmpulung. It came from the original building and was moved three times during later construction.
A crypt, a chamber used for burials or the preservation of sacred remains, was also discovered beneath the church. It contained reburied bones, and during an intermediate phase the tombstone stood above it.
Painted representations
Bărăția Church has also been represented in nineteenth-century Romanian painting. Nicolae Grigorescu made an oil painting of the church in Câmpulung, while Theodor Aman produced a related work in oil on wood.
