Page:Nicolae Iorga - My American lectures.djvu/121

 Văleni, who had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, restored the old wooden church. The portrait of this pilgrim, Stoian, may still be seen on the walls of the new structure, clad in his fur coat, while near him is portrayed the then reigning Prince of Wallachia, Șerban Cantacuzino, crowned as an emperor, continuing the line of the Byzantine Caesars, whose descendant he was. It is a handsome brick edifice with an ornately decorated door, with a laughing mask in the occidental style below: carved stone sash-frames enclose the narrow windows. The partition separating the worshippers from the closed altar is made of stone and in its niches serene figures of stern Byzantine lineaments represent the life and martyrdom of Our Lord: beneath, the large holy images were roughly covered with wrought silver, reproducing the features of the pictures. Many vivid frescoes brighten the walls.

A great earthquake half-destroyed the pilgrim’s gift, but it was rebuilt. A second time the same fate befell it. A family of minor nobles helped to restore it thoroughly. They are portrayed on the wall at the entrance beside imposing scenes of the Last Judgment, the elect singing and the damned about to savour the everlasting torments of hell. The men, in their customary fur coats and round Turkish hats, the pretty women in white caps, flowing tresses and long and sumptuous robes sparkling with delicate flowers. The Greek artist sent by the monks of the monastery of the Holy Mount of Athos, to which the rich church was dedicated, added figures of a heroic size in a more modern style, subscribed with Greek inscriptions, similar to the old pictures of Cretan half-occidental character.

Here also I came in search of respite from my labours, before the railway brought Văleni in touch with the outer