Legends

The Legend of the area's toponymy

The story goes that there was once a rich shepherd who ruled the hilly lands at the foot of the Buila. He had four sons named Costea, Bărbat, Dobre and Bodea, to whom he divided the estate. They founded the villages: Costești on the Costești Valley, Bărbătești and Bodești on the Otăsăului Valley and Dobriceni on the Dobricenilor Valley.

Legend of the foundation of Arnota Monastery

They say that before becoming the sovereign of the Romanian Country, Matei Basarab escaped from the pursuit of a Turkish band by changing clothes with one of his archers, hence the name of the place Arnota (the mountain and the monastery) and hiding in a marsh where he built a monastery when he was crowned sovereign, the place where the sovereign lies buried with his father.

The legend of the Pahomie Hermitage and Sava the Outlaw

Pahomie, the name of the monk of the great banker Barbu Craiovescu, founder of the Bistrita Monastery, in 1519-1520 also built the Pahomie Hermitage, in memory of the fact that at Izvorul Frumos, in the wilderness of the Buila Massif, on his way through the forest to reach Sibiu, to escape the hunt of Mihnea the Bad, he found salvation for his life and those who accompanied him on his wanderings. Among his friends was the captain of Sava's host, who became Sava the Wayward, because his master had been staying here for a long time and often made raids on neighbouring villages to get food.

Legend of the Pătrunsa Hermitage

The hermitage is named after the mother of Bishop Climent's mother, the Virgin Paraschiva. This hermitage was built in 1740 by Bishop Climent of Râmnic, in memory of the fact that his mother Paraschiva Modoran from Pietrarii de Jos, who fled over the mountain for fear of a Turkish invasion, was born here and took refuge at the foot of Mount Buila, where she was "penetrated by the pains of the making" in the place now called Pătrunsa.