Teleorman

Costea

Cula_Costea-Frasinet_TR-01.JPG Cula_Costea-Frasinet_TR-02.JPG
  • LMI (Historical Monument List) Code: TR-II-m-A-14340
  • Location:

    Frăsinet village, Frăsinet district, Teleorman county

  • Access:

    From the E 70 Bucharest – Alexandria European Road, before the entrance to Alexandria, turn right on a road to Orbeasca de Jos, Băbăiţa, Frăsinet.

  • References:

    Not in the public circuit

  • Original/current function: kula/ out of use, abandoned
  • Date: the beginning of the 18th century, rebuilt in the 19th and the 20th century
  • History:

    The kula dates back to the beginning of the 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, brothers Nicolae and Ioniţă Bâţcoveanu, chancellors of the Metropolitan Authority, were owners of that kula. In 1878, the kula was modified and its upper part was demolished. The famous historian Nicolae Iorga visited the kula in the 1930s. At the end of the 1960s, the kula was abandoned and fell into ruin. At present, although it has been rebuilt and the upper floors have been rebuilt too, the kula is abandoned once again.

    The kula and the Costea Manor share the same land area, apparently built by the Costea boyars in the 19th century. The manor was rebuilt in the first half of the 20th century. It was nationalised and became the headquarters of a collective farm after nationalisation and now it is abandoned and ruined.

  • Description:

    The kula has a compact square plan and, of all existing kulas, this is the smallest. It is a defence tower rather than a fortified dwelling. The renovation done over the past few decades involved the reconstruction of its upper part. At present it has three floors. The cellar occupies the ground floor and can be accessed from the outside. The upper floor is accessed by means of an outside staircase, now missing, which was probably built during reconstruction works in 1878. The second floor is taken in its entirety by a wooden turret, with embrasures embedded in the surrounding masonry. The kula has no windows, but just embrasures.

  • Conservation status: medium
  • Bibliography:

    Creţeanu Radu, Creţeanu Sarmiza, Kulas from Romania, Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1969

    Ionescu Grigore, The History of Romanian Architecture, Cartea Românească Publishing House, Bucharest, 1937

    Ionescu Grigore, Architecture on Romania's Territory Throughout the Centuries, The Romanian Academy's Publishing House, Bucharest, 1982

    The archive of the National Institute of Heritage

Institutul Național al Patrimoniului         Administrația Fondului Cultural Național