365 Dishes » Short visit to Corbi rock church

If you manage to find the monk who is in charge to help visitors, you might find it an exiting place for available light photography.

I rate it:
A unique place of Romanian religious culture.

365 Dishes rated

Where the country road leaves the village of Domnesti towards Campulung shortly after the bridge over the Doamnei river valley, you would turn left to Nucsoara si Slatina.

It is a popular route into the Fagaras mountains with the highest peaks of Romania. The landscape is original and fascinating, the standard of living however low. Ubiquitous social contrasts – middle class houses next to gipsy settlements. Roadway covering in some places is partially removed by landslides, so it is well advised to drive slowly. After some twenty kilometers the characteristic rock which hosts the cave church appears on the opposite shore of Doamnei river right hand side.

The camera I used here was a compact 24 mm fixed-lens Leica X1.
12.9 MP Leica X1

While I call it here a rock church or cave church, the official name is “Stone Ravens’ Monastery” and, indeed, the long dining table outside makes me imagine a group of black dressed monks sharing dinner at sunset.

“Stone ravens” comes from the distinctive shape of the rock which holds the monastery – from the distance it looks like a raven beak if one wants to see it this way. Also ravens (Romanian: corbi) gave the place its name.

The two rooms inside the monastery are not used any longer but as a museum and the religious wall paintings that cover most of the interior are somewhat overwhelming, even in those places where you can just guess fading traces.