Dambovita County

Description:

Placed in the central southern area of the country, in the vicinity of the Capital, Dambovita County is placed on the superior valleys of the lalomita and Dâmbovita rivers and the mid course of the Arges river.

With a surface of 4054 sq. km (1,6% of the national territory) situated in the vast curve of the Carpathians, with around 540.000 inhabitants, the county benefits of an exceptional natural environment, characterized especially by the zonal altitude, starting with plain relief and going till the Omu (2504 m) and Leaota (2133) peaks.

 Dambovita County was inhabited since the Inferior Paleolithic. The archaeologists discovered here a series of vestiges belonging to the Prund culture in Petresti and Potlogeni having its maximum development moment at the end of the XIV century and the beginning of the XVIII century, when Targoviste was the Capital of Wallachia.

The Dâmbovita County residence was documentary  stated in 1396 - when Mircea The Old, the Wallachian ruler prince transfers the capital from Curtea de Arges to Targoviste .Placed at the intersection of many important roads and situated on the continental trade route between central  Târgoviste a turope and the Oriental countries, Târgoviste has fulfilled the role of Capital till 1714, the year of Constantin Brancoveanu's death. After this particular moment the Capital was transferred for good to Bucharest.

 Testimonies of the past centuries' glory are many historical monuments such as The Princely Court, The Chindia Tower, The Princely Church, The Stelea Monastery and at only 5 km distance of Târgoviste there is the Dealu Monastery, where lays the skull of the ruler prince Michael the Brave, the first unifier of the Romanian Principalities.

During ages, Târgoviste has played an important role in the national culture. For a better understanding it is enough a visit to The Printing Museum or The Old Romanian Book Museum, The Writers Museum or The Angela Georgescu Memorial House, where is hosted the Vasile Blendea collection, or a visit to Gheorghe Patrascu Work House.

The craddle and the centre of the Romanian culture and civilization, the city placed between the Ialomita river and Dambovita river's banks has sealed its destiny during ages through the lettres that came out from the first printed tomes illustrated in a very inspired museum. The craddle of the cultivated poetry, through the rimes of Vacaresti poets, place of the exquisite and romantic inspiration of Vasile Carlova, Heliade and Grigore Alexandrescu, Targoviste lives its present evidenced today through daring aspirations for the third millennium without neglecting its romantically illustrated past in the Writers Museum.