Born into the home of a schoolteacher from Vâlcea in the Oltenia region beneath the Mountains, and brought up from childhood in a spirit of inquisitive study of history and geography, and having lived long enough to be able to say, today, that I am among the few who have had the chance to see with my own eyes the immense walls of the imperial barracks, situated at the bend in the Cerna River near what was then Fometești, which later came into the possession of the Sărari family, and which remain etched in my memory for their grandeur as crumbling vestiges of foreign occupation. They were even known as the Maria Theresa barracks! It is said that, before 1821, Tudor Vladimirescu used to come here to a fair where merchants traded cattle and oxen with enormous horns, and wheat, in exchange for earthenware pots and lime from the lime kilns of the people of Slătiori. I too saw these enormous horns in the home of C. C. Sărariu (from ‘sare’, meaning ‘salt’) – which had been turned into coat racks where, from silver hooks, the traditional Oltenian coats with lapels and caps were hung.
And so, being a curious sort, I too discovered – over 50 years ago – in a little corner of paradise, on the banks of the Cerna, between Măgurice and Măgura Slătioarei, the little church at Viorești, to which I have remained captivated all my life because of the cavalcade of path-walkers, which encircled the entire little church beneath the eaves, and the procession of these path-keepers on their small mountain horses, clad in white anteries with gaiters, and the white horses, with their tails tied in knots and their heads held tightly by reins across their chests by the border patrol horsemen, and, at the head of the procession, on a black horse, the local chieftain Urșanu, the founder. They all wore tall, black hats, hats which they did not remove even in the presence of the prince, an image that had remained etched in memory since the days of Maria Theresa’s barracks.
The border guards thus served both as sentinels on the frontier against foreign occupation and as guardians of the sacred national Orthodox Christian faith, for the liturgy was being celebrated before the altar. Thus, for 50 years and more, I have been captivated by the ethereal painting, noted by the researcher Maria Golescu in her study published in the journal Boabe de grâu in January 1934. For over 50 years, I too have striven to raise awareness of and protect this little church.
Thus, I have been an active partner alongside the civil engineer Diaconu, the architect Aurel Botez, and the painter Elena Murariu – the most dedicated and inspired saviours of this historic monument, built in the late 1700s, on the site of a hermitage – as the legend goes – once home to Orthodox Christian nuns. Civil engineer Diaconu built the protective walls to a depth of 8 metres to protect them from a river flowing down from Măgurice and striking the deep foundations; this river was diverted to flow into the Cerna. Architect and professor Aurel Botez, who was also responsible for the preservation of several important monasteries and churches – and thus went down in history – encouraged the construction of the foundations for the little church in Viorești, and the artistry of the painter Elena Murariu, who worked painstakingly for seven years alongside her finest students to restore the entire frieze, whilst the villagers from the hamlet of Viorești and the village of Gorunești, under the guidance of the parish priest Alexandru Prună – and I deliberately repeat ‘seven years’ – provided meals three times a day from their own resources and accommodated all the workers.
These were significant years, during which the Ministry of Culture, under the leadership of the historian Răzvan Theodorescu, provided substantial funding until the completion of the restoration and renovation works on the church. Upon ‘completion of the work’, as the people of Oltenia say, the consecration of the little church took place, attended by nearly 5,000 people, coinciding with the anniversary of the significant date recorded in the Chronicle, 5 September 1508, marking the granting of a charter by Prince Mihnea the Wicked to the people of Slătiori, the only free peasants in that world of monastic serfs. At the consecration, peasants came from villages in Gorj, Vâlcea, Mehedinți and Romanați, and Slătioara was granted the right to bear a coat of arms depicting the fruit-bearing tree, the earthenware jug, and the Cernei, Potecașul and Căpățânii mountains.