Heading east from Tirgu Jiu, the Monkey came to the tranquil village of Horezu, in the hill country that precedes the Carpathian Alps. Horezu is renowned locally for its pottery, but to the Monkey it was a good chance to inspect one of Romania's painted churches.

This is another view of the same little church in Horezu. In Romania, the Orthodox Christian custom of painting elaborate frescoes of saints and biblical scenes on the interior of churches was extended to the exterior as well. Though Orthodox churches in Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and elsewhere often have some frescoes on the exterior, in Romania the art form was far more prevelant. Though the churches are quite beautiful, they do have practical limitations: Exposure to the elements has made restoration work necessary for many of the churches.

The Monkey traveled to the Horez Monastery near Horezu. It was built between the mid-17th and early 18th Centuries, and also featured elaborate frescoes on the exterior of its main church. The nuns at the Monastery requested that no photographs be taken inside the courtyard, but the Monkey was able to take a photo from outside the walls.

This photo isn't really related to the religious architecture on the rest of this page, but the Monkey did want to point out another very common sight in Romania: the Dacia. The result of a licensing agreement to use French firm Renault's designs, the Dacia was a centerpiece of the industrialization efforts undertaken by the Communists from the 1960s onward. Renault bought out its former licensee in 1999 and is investing significant capital in Dacia's Romanian plants with the hopes of creating a hub of auto manufacturing in Eastern Europe.

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