Photo credit: (c) mehedinti.djc.ro

Historians confirm a well-circulated legend of the early 18th century that the Wallachian ruler, also known as the ‘prince of Carpathians gold,’ was among Europe’s richest princes, but there were no indications about the circumstances in which he would have decided to protect his huge wealth by burying it.

Baia de Arama, elevation 300 m, is located 80 km north-east of Drobeta Turnu Severin, the capital city of Mehedinti County. Local archaeological research over the past 100 years have unearthed traces of human settlements from the Neolithic that went into the Bronze Age and the Icon Age and into the Roman Conquest, when mining was developed in the area. In 1392, royal decrees mention copper mining, with the first written record of the settlement going back to 1581.

Historian Cornel Boteanu says he has found written evidence attesting to the fact that in 1671-1863, Baia de Arama was a burg, and in 1864-1892 it became an urban commune.

‘It was to gain a special relevance under the rulers Mircea the Old, Matei Basarab and Constantin Brancoveanu. In fact, Brancoveanu was to lend the settlement an enviable shine among those time’s settlements in Wallachia,’ says Boteanu.

He believes Baia de Arama won historic resonance after 1806, when Tudor Vladimirescu was made the bailiff of Closani and boyars Glogoveni, prince Bibescu and official Draghicescu Hergot built here some structures for the ‘peace of the mind and the body.’ In Hergot’s fortified mansion, Hungarian revolutionary Kossuth was once hidden.

‘Traders and boyars were so much attracted by the mountainous area of Mehedinti County that they gave a helping hand to grand ruler Cornea Brailoiu, customs officer Milco Baiesul and, of course to Brancoveanu, with building, on the ruins of a former monastic settlement that apparently belonged to Nicodim the Saint of Tismana, a club-shaped monastery in a Brancovenesc style with an outside staircase, a belfry over the narthex and Byzantine painting,’ says Boteanu.

The Sts. Voivodes Monastery of Baia de Arama has been shrouded in legend as people claim that inside it or at the base of its walls ruler Constantin Brancoveanu (1688-1714), which the Ottomans nicknamed ‘the prince of Carpathian gold,’ would have hidden a treasure.

‘We could admit that the ruler’s treasury dating back from Dacians is just a legend, but locals claim that a priest discovered in the church’s walls a document issued by Constantin Brancoveanu himself alluding to the place where the royal gold had been stored,’ says Boteanu.

In the circles of so-called treasure hunters, there are some incomplete rough maps with markings of some of the alleged hiding places for the gold, which has determined many amateurs to dig in the thick of the night in the altar area of the church. In autumn 2013, the Culture Ministry issued a permit for diggings at the northern outer foundations of the church, endangering the monument.

‘Should we trust some written records, Brancoveanu himself would have been very interested in Decebal’s treasures. It has been alleged that at his court, Cantacuzino had established a secret chancellery to collect information, study and interpret old maps acquired or simply stolen by covert agents who would travel the country to find out stories about hidden treasures. It should not be ruled out that the wealth on display at the princely court was the cause of his death in 1714, given the Ottomans’ greed and the worry that the Wallachian ruler possessed endless treasures that he would use to equip his armies,’ Boteanu explains.

It is not known how much of it is fact and how much fiction. What is certain is that the mystery of the treasure could not be solved yet, as it was taken to the tomb by seven devoted servants of the ruler who, after hiding it, were killed.

Brancoveanu’s gold has even piqued communist ruler Nicolae Ceausescu’s curiosity. The dictator asked his political police Securitate to look for the gold in the former estates of Brancoveanu.

‘The mirage of Brancoveanu’s treasure will not deter adventurers from digging for it at the Baia de Arama Monastery, despite the fact that the Bishopric of Severin and Strehaia has decided to place this valuable monastic compound under video surveillance,’ says professor and historian Cornel Boteanu. AGERPRES