manole

In Romanian mythology, Meșterul Manole (roughly: The master builder Manole) was the chief architect of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery in Wallachia. The myth of the cathedral's construction is expressed in the folk poem Monastirea Argeșului ("The Monastery on the Argeș River").
The ballad "Monastirea Argeșului", alongside "Miorița", "Toma Alimoș" and "Dolca", was published by Vasile Alecsandri in the first collection of Romanian folk creations in 1852, entitled "Poezii populare, balade (Cântice bătrânești) adunate și îndreptate de Vasile Alecsandri". Although the popular text has several variants, because the author is anonymous, and the ballad was transmitted orally from generation to generation, the one published by Alecsandri is consecrated in literary form. The artistic value of these folk creations was - probably - the reason for which Alecsandri placed at the beginning of the collection of popular "gems" a quotation which became renowned: "The Romanian is born a poet".
Popular ballad "Monastirea Argeșului" illustrates the aesthetic myth in folkloric literature and is based on the belief that nothing durable and unique can be built without the creator's self-sacrifice, making this creation a philosophical poem.

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