Book XVI.
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Sect. I.
Description of the City of Bokaresht.—The Village and Palace of Dobrani.—Remarkable Corn-mill.—Convent of Comana.—Village and Palace of Coyani
We were made to alight in the Convent of St. George; which is well known as a dependence on the Resurrection; and is occupied by an Abbot and Monks under the Patriarch of Jerusalem. This town of Bokaresht[1] is very large, and is said to have contained for many years about six thousand houses. It has forty churches and convents; and the famous River Dombovitsa flows through its centre. We afterwards went to the Corta; which is a building of great dimensions, and is surrounded by tall wooden walls. It was, formerly, of old standing; but was pulled down by the late Matthi Voivoda, and rebuilt entirely new. It is an edifice surprisingly elegant and delightful to behold; and is handsomer and more cheerful than the Corta of Torghisht. Its church is dedicated to The Assumption of Our Lady; and therein we performed an Ἁγιασμός.
Then we went, on one side of the town, to a lofty eminence commanding a view of the surrounding country; where the present Beg has been engaged in building a large convent, with a magnificent and most splendid church, resembling the Church of Argi in the interior: but this is of brick; and in the nave has twelve pillars, each of one round piece of stone, to make up the number of the twelve Apostles. It is surmounted with four large cupolas, and has spacious outer galleries. He has covered the roof with lead, the weight of which is said to amount to forty thousand okkas. We performed in it an Ἁγιασμός; and his Holiness sprinkled it, according to custom: for it had not yet been finished, and consequently remained unconsecrated. It is dedicated in the name of
- ↑ "Bucharest is a large city, situated in an immense plain, and said to contain one hundred thousand inhabitants: the houses are built of wood and plaster, with a court or garden, according- to the oriental custom: the streets are laid with planks, like those in the towns of Russia. The inhabitants are composed of a mixture of all nations and religions, who have distinct places of worship, and, under the government of the Sultan, enjoy a degree of toleration unknown in many of the more civilized states of Europe."—Kinneir, p. 17.
