Dambovita Information
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 Ialomita and Dambovita 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 (2504m) 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 craddle and the center 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 letters 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. The landscapes of a breathtaking beauty, the gradual climate, the hunting and the piscicultural rich fauna, the museums, the historical and art monuments, the cultural and sports events, the spiritual university tradition, and also the tradition promoted by the folklore and ethnography are enough to drawn the tourists’ interest from all over the world. The cultural centers of the city invite you to other kinds of events, since here, in the last decades took place two editions of the International Theater Schools Festival, numerous national and international festivals of folklore, the National Festival of Satirical Graphics Ridendo Castigat Mores, the Mozart Festival of instrumental interpretation for students or the national contest of creation „Vacaresti Legacy”, with prose and poetry, essay and short theater sections. Also here unfolds the already famous festival „Golden Chrysanthemum”, a contest of drawing room ballad creation and interpretation, and also the ageless songs of soft music, certainly the most important contest of this kind in the country, with over 30 editions already closed. Denominated by the Romanian contemporary writer Mircea Horia Simionescu- an important representative of the Targoviste School- as Wallachian Florence, the city waits with hospitality its tourists. Along with the vestiges of its glorious past, the life of the city was marked by the buildings that now host the important institutions of the city. Among these, the headquarters of the City Hall has a special appearance, built between 1896 - 1898, having a baroque architecture inspired by the north Italian palaces, after the plans of the architect Baltazar Vignosa Giovanni. The conference room is enriched by panels painted in watercolour and original stained glass. The interior ceilings are made in golden polish ornaments. In the building’s square is the poet I.H. Radulescu’s bust. There shouldn’t be forgotten the surroundings, full of interesting things to see, as the monastic grounds Viforata (Aninoasa commune) and Gorgota (Razvad commune), or Nucet, as well as the ruins of the boyar courts Vacaresti or Balinesti, in the communes with same names. Pucioasa Situated at 20 km north of Targoviste, on the Ialomita valley, the Pucioasa resort has been known as „Pucioasa Stone” since 1649, or as „Pucioasa Fountain Valley”. From wherever one may look, Pucioasa seems a terraced locality, structured in three levels, as an immense Greek amphitheater. The hills and the forests offer a very clean air, important for the SPA treatments, with aerosol and negative ions which favor the physical reconstruction and stress annihilation. The gifts of nature won’t stop here, in the underground being numerous mineral waters, sulfurous, hydrocarbonated and calcic, which are used with amazing results in the treatment of the locomotor system diseases as well as for many other diseases, like the central and subordinate nervous system, gynecological, respiratory and ORL diseases, but also as rheumatic, allergic and weight control affections. For the visitors, a special interest is the architecture of the old houses and pavilions, one of the oldest being the host of an interesting museum of spa baths. Vulcana Spa Resort Placed on the Vulcana river’s bank, at 20 km north of Targoviste in a hilly area full of forests, with an altitude over 500 meters, the Vulcana spa resort is famous for the existence of its springs of iodine water, chlorine-sodium, calcic, magnesium and sulfurous water, comparable with the Vichy springs in France. The first testimonies about these springs’ existence are back in 1837, and in 1884. Dr. A.O.Saligny made the chemical tests of these waters and discovered that in Vulcana spa is the richest iodine water in Europe. Moroeni Situated in the north of the county, with access from DN 71, is the most beautiful and large commune, with a surface of 28,6 sq.km, crossed by the Ialomita river and the brooks Ialomicioara and Rusetu, the relief being predominantly mountain, made of Leaota and Bucegi massifs. On this vast mountain area are delimited 10 natural reservations belonging to Bucegi National Park. The alternation of sandstone, marl and conglomerate stones, determined the apparition of the spectacular and bizarre models of Aeolian forms, as the Babele and the Sfinx rocks, but also the special carstic phenomena as the slopes, funnels (Hornurile Tapului), dolinas, gorges (Horoabele, Ursilor, Tătarului, Zănoaga and Orzei), caves (Ialomiţa , Rătei), and mountain paths. Here are still present the Ice Age traces: moraines, stony ridges, basins and ice valleys (Mecetul Turcesc, Valea Sugărilor). In this splendid natural context has their habitat a series of species of plants and animals protected under the laws of preservation such as: edelweiss, azalea, bell-flower, savage orchid, mountain bubbles, chamois, mountain rooster, brown bear, lynx, Carpathian stag. The tourism attractivity is completed by the immense ski potential, and by the presence of the gradual climate with positive effects in the treatment of the respiratory and lung diseases (TBC Sanatorium Moroeni), and also by the existence of accommodation possibilities (Pestera Hotel, Cota 1000 Hotel) and the tourism huts Babele, Padina, Zanoaga, Bolboci, and Scropoasa) and the existence of students’camps (Căprioara, Cerbul, Vanatorul) Cobia Situated in the south-west side of the county on DJ 702E, in a landscape specific to the high level plain of Gaiesti, crossed by the Cobiuta brook water, the commune offers to the visitors a necklace of churches (four) all built at the end of the XVIII century, with planimetrical constructions specific to the religious wood architecture from Dambovita with original architectural treatment, a true nobles for the connoisseurs. From a visit in these places shouldn’t miss Cobia Monastery, erected in 1572 under the patron St. Nicholas, an unique element in the existent monuments’ context due to the external decorations, exclusive in our architecture, the facade being made of green enameled bricks: ochre and sienna green, giving to the monument the aspect of an immense jewel. Pietroşiţa Having a mountain and hilly relief, crossed by the Ialomita river, the old settlement of Pietrosita is established starting with 1592, and has an important reservation of traditional architecture in the central area and other numerous multi-staged spread houses in the old hearth, many of them preserving the local constructors’ skills mark as the monumental gates and the stone embodiment. The basic activities were since ever the animal breeding, grazing, fruit growing, foresting, and a various series of handicrafts: carpentery, joining, smith’s trade, cartwrighting, stone carving, popular technique installations, and many others. But the real specific of the locality is weaving in the traditional loom or tambour. Pietrosita is a famous center in the entire country for its carpets, wall carpets and its costumes. Potlogi The residence of the commune with the same name, Potlogi, is placed in the southern side of the county on DJ 711A, in the vicinity of the highway Bucharest- Pitesti. The main attraction point is represented by the Brancoveanu Palace grounds. The palace in Potlogi was erected by Constantin Brancoveanu for his son Constantin, in 1698 and represents the highest level of that epoch’s architecture, due to the new elements in ornaments and the sculptural scenery, decorated with small volutes and acanthite leaves, tied with arches. The Potlogi grounds is, along with Mogosoaia grounds, one of the best preserved samples of Brancoveanu architecture elements. Bezdead Situated at 15 km of Pucioasa in the sub-Carpathian area, singularizing itslef as a geological distinct unit, its space having the configuration of a fortress surrounded by hills from all sides, covered with deciduous and coniferous forests here and there, presents particular characteristics which constitute themselves in true miracles of nature, as Rapa Soimului (Eagle Bluff), and Malu de Rasuna (The Border which Resounds). Malu de Rasuna, on the other hand, placed in the north side of the locality is an almost vertical wall with a height of about 20 - 25 m, compound of slim layers set as slate flats which resemble by far with the strings of an immense musical instrument. Its name (Border which Resounds) is due to the echo uttered with a special clarity, a special attraction for the tourists. The particular color combination makes the place even more attractive. I. L. Caragiale Situated in the north- east side of the county, on the Cricovul Dulce and Provita brooks’ valleys, the locality wears the same name as the name of the Romanian playwright born here, I.L.Caragiale. Visiting the memorial house of the writer can be seen a permanent exhibition which includes photos, manuscripts’ copies, posters, period furniture, and other elements that recall a part of the life and the activity of the great writer, born here, and whose name was adopted over the old name of the village - Haimanale (Vagabonds) name born probably due to a prison placed in the area. Răcari Recently declared city, having a southern position in the county’s territory, Racari is placed in a plain relief crossed by the water of the Ialomita river and Colentina and Ilfov at brooks which form numerous meanders and lakes where the fishermen can exercise their talent and skills. In fact, according to the local tradition, the village’s name comes from the multitude of the crawfish (rac). The inhabitants use to say that „if one had put the hand in the water, a crawfish would have clung on every finger”. Starting with the second half of the XVIII century, the estates in the surroundings entered in the Ghica family’s possession, which erected a manor house in a splendid natural park, the nobles and magnificence of which is still visible nowadays. Bucşani Marking the transition from the high plain to the hills, the locality is famous for the Dalles Park named so after who bought in 1868 the estate Bucsani - Jean Dalles - the same person who made the foundation „Dalles” in Bucharest. At 8 km far from I.L.Caragiale in Bucsani commune is the most complex reservation of aurochs in the country: The Black Reservation. Placed in the secular oaks forest Neagra, the aurochs reservation is spread on a surface of 162 ha, and is populated by 30 specimens brought from all over the country and abroad (Poland and Bulgaria) constituting an attractive spot for the tourists as well as for the scientific interest which is drawn by these rare species threatened by extinction.
