Elena BOGAN
Lecturer, PhD., Faculty of Geography, Bucharest University, Romania;
E-mail: elena.bogan@yahoo.com
Ioana Mihaela IAMANDEI
PhD. candidate, Faculty of Geography, Bucharest University, Romania;
E-mail: iamandeimihaela17@yahoo.com
Published on December 4, 2018
Abstract
The Oltenia region, including the counties of Vâlcea, Gorj, Dolj, Olt and Mehedinţi, has a valuable cultural and religious heritage, with material and spiritual assets that exist in over 100 orthodox monastic settlements. These are monasteries and shrines hundreds of years old, some of them dating before the year 1000 AD. Most of them were built during the medieval period, and were endowed by the country’s leaders and representatives of the Church with valuable things especially consisting of gold and silver, objects and church vestments, manuscripts and unique or rare books, original murals and paintings. Oltenia is the one of the few regions that placed Romania for the first time on the UNESCO list, with the Hurezi / Horezu Monastery, in 1993. The monastery is a symbol of the Brâncoveanu architectural style and also of the Painting School, that imposed artistic expressions that can be recognized throughout the Balkans. After 1989, the monasteries from Oltenia region have started to open for the public more and more, bringing real development in tourism accommodation, restaurants and shopping. The St. Ana and Horezu Monastries are among the first to have developed around them real industries for the promotion of Christian symbols and also nearby tourist attractions.
Keywords
Orthodox monasteries, cultural tourism, cultural heritage, religious tourism, religious heritage, pilgrims, accomodation, Oltenia region
References:
- Umberto Eco, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language, Indiana University Press, 1986.
- Gheorghiță Ciocoi et all., Ghidul mănăstirilor din România, Bucharest, Sofia Publishing, 2013.
- Elena Bogan, Elena Ramona Roman, The Horezu ceramics – between traditional and commercial, in “Quality – access to success Journal”, vol. 14/2013, S1.
- Melinda Cândea, Tamara Simon, Elena Bogan, Patrimoniul turistic al României, Bucharest, Universitară Publishing, 2012.
- Bogan Elena, Roangheş-Mureanu Ana-Maria, Constantin (Oprea) Dana Maria, Grigore Elena, Gabor Sebastian, Dîrloman Gabriela, The religious tourism – an opportunity of promoting and developing the tourism in the Vâlcea Subcarpathians, in “Academic Journal of Economic Studies”, vol. 3, no. 3/2017.
- Ioana Mihaela Iamandei, Turismul Cinegetic și Turismul Piscicol în județul Mehedinți, Bucharest, Universitară Publishing, 2016.