'Câmpulung' (), or ''Câmpulung Muscel'', is a city in the
Argeş County,
Romania. It is situated among the outlying hills of the
Transylvanian Alps, at the head of a long well-wooded glen traversed by the river
Târgului, a tributary of the
Argeş.
Its pure air and fine scenery render Câmpulung a popular summer resort. In the city there are more than twenty churches, besides a
monastery and a
cathedral, which both claim to have been founded, in the
13th century by
Radu Negru, legendary first
Prince of
Wallachia.
History
Câmpulung was one of the earliest urban settlements in Wallachia, the
Transylvanian Saxons contributing to its development by bringing the
German urban culture. The earliest written evidence of the existence of Câmpulung (as well as the earliest medieval inscription in Wallachia) is dated
1300, and is to be found in the Câmpulung church. The inscription is an
epitaph of ''Laurencius de Longo Campo'', the mayor of the German community, the full text being ''Hic sepultus est comes Laurencius de Longo-Campo, pie memorie, Anno Domini MCCC'' ("Here is buried Laurentius of Longus-Campus, in pious memory,
Anno Domini 1300").
Câmpulung was the first capital of the
feudal state of Wallachia, until succeeded by
Curtea de Argeş in the
14th century. There was a considerable traffic with
Transylvania, over the
Bran Pass, 15 miles to the north, and with the south by a branch railway to
Ploieşti.
Near Câmpulung are the remains of a
Roman camp; and just beyond the gates, vestiges a Roman colony, variously identified with
Romula,
Stepenium and
Ulpia Traiana, but now called ''Grădiştea'' or ''Jidovi''.
Population
★
1900: 13.033
★
2002: 38.209
Gallery