Bălilești: Churches, Manor House History and Wooded Hill Country

Bălilești presents cultural history in specific detail. The mural painting of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God near Curtea lui Mareș Băjescu shows the first known portrait of a master builder in Wallachia. At the Curtea, the ruins of the enclosing wall, distillery and cellar of the manor house have been preserved; these structural elements date from 1666.

Culture and History

The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God near the Curtea in Băjești was built in 1666 by the master builder Dragomir and painted in 1669 by Tudoran Zugravul. Curtea lui Mareș Băjescu in Băjești is considered a feudal court characteristic of the new boyar class of the second half of the 17th century. Among the settlements belonging to the municipality of Bălilești, Băjești is the earliest documented settlement; the record dates from 5 September 1519. A stone cross from 1662 stands approximately 250 metres west of the church in Băjești.

In the Românești district, the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God has a three-apse floor plan with polygonal apses and an open porch. It is also known as “Duminica Tuturor Sfinților” and is a historic monument dating from 1824. The Agripina Constantinescu House in Valea Mare-Bratia is a historic monument from the mid-19th century. The monument to the fallen of Bălilești stands in a small park near the town hall and combines an obelisk, a cross and two round sculptures of soldiers of the Romanian army. Priboaia has a tradition of pottery that includes, among other things, the production of jugs and bowls. The Museum of Ethnography and History in Golești, Professor Dan Dimulescu Collection, preserves examples of archaeological finds from the area of the former municipality of Golești, including Gumelnița, Dacian and Roman pottery.

Landscape and Waterways

The area of the municipality of Bălilești belongs to the Argeș Piedmont hills in the Getic Piedmont. Parallel, elongated interfluves widen southwards into broad, level ridges and are separated from one another by steep valley slopes. The municipality’s main landforms include plateau, terrace and floodplain. Most of the slopes between the floodplains and valleys of the municipality of Bălilești are forested. The Bratia, together with the Râul Târgului, is one of the main rivers in the municipality.

A suitable road network connects the villages belonging to the municipality of Bălilești with one another and connects the municipality to the DN 73 between Pitești and Brașov. In Bălilești, the cultural and historical evidence, the pottery in Priboaia and the archaeological ceramics in Golești can be considered separately from the landforms, wooded slopes and waterways. This provides different themes for travel planning: history and crafts on the one hand, and landscape and waterways on the other.

Other Places

Other places include Cotmeana, Nucşoara, Sălătrucu, Băiculeşti, Valea Mare-Bratia, Godeni, Oarja and Corbeni.

To the higher-level travel overview: Argeş.