Meșterul Manole

Who is Meșterul Manole?

In Romanian mythology, Meșterul Manole was the chief architect of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery in Wallachia. The myth of the cathedral's construction is expressed in the folk poem Monastirea Argeșului.

The ballad "Monastirea Argeșului" was published - alongside "Miorița", "Toma Alimoș", "Dolca" - by Vasile Alecsandri in the first collection of Romanian folk creations in 1852, entitled "Poezii populare, balade adunate și îndreptate de Vasile Alecsandri". Although popular text has several variants, because author is anonymous, and the ballad was transmitted orally from generation to generation, the one published by Alecsandri is consecrated. Artistic value of these folk creations was - probably - the reason for which Alecsandri placed at the beginning of the collection of popular "gems" a quotation getting renowned: "Romanian is born poet".

Popular ballad "Monastirea Argeșului" illustrates the aesthetic myth in folkloric literature and is based on belief that nothing durable and unique by goodliness can not be built without the creator's self-sacrifice, making this creation a philosophical poem.