Ialomicioara

The upper course of Ialomiţa River was praised by famous Romanian writers; the old Ialomiţa, the axis of the settlement in this area, has is spring in the Bucegi Mountains at the foot of Omu Peak, being the cradle of life and beauty of this land, even from the Dacian times and of those before them. The supreme god of the Dacians was Zalmoxis, who withdrew for three years in a cave on the holy mountain Kogaion; after his disappearance, he was considered dead and mourned by his people, but in the fourth year he returned, episode that some considered to be a resurrection, thus it was a parallel to Jesus Christ's resurrection. It is said that the cave of Zalmoxis is the Ialomicioara Cave.



Nearby the springs, at the entrance in the Ialomicioara Cave, the faithful ones and the monks from the area have built an Orthodox monastic dwelling several times. The churches and the cells, being made from wood, have had burned out four times during the four centuries of existence. The last fire had destroyed everything in 1961. Starting from 1st August 1993, the whole complex was completely rebuilt, being now an astonishing place, charming our hearts and souls.


The Ialomicioara Cave has had a long history, being certified for the first time in 1510 when the Wallachian prince Mihnea Vodă cel Rău would had hidden here. But the cave was first described in 1793. Cezar Bolliac, Romanian writer of the 19th century, discovered in 1870 almost all the major galleries till the Bears' Hall. Formed on the direction of a fault orientated East-West, the cave had risen in the emptiness left between the two compartments. To this very main purpose had contributed the infiltration waters and the brook which dissolved and eroded the limestone. One effect of this movement is the presence of some big friction mirrors some dozens of meters high in the Bears' Hall and Hades Hall.