This ancient wooden church is at Răcarii de Sus village, across the Jiu River from Filiasi, in the middle of Sfircea village, Bralostita.
It is part of the time-line of the area, starting with the stone age of Răcarii de Sus at Cerat, then the Matca River finds, then the ancient village from upper Răcarii de Jos, as well as Răcarii de Jos village, and then back to Răcarii de Sus village.
The walls of the church are partly brick, partly wattle and daub, with the whole wall plastered over after construction. Wattle and daub is a method of construction of walls where sticks are woven together, then the resulting mat is covered with clay. The result is stronger if animal dung such as cattle dung is added to the mix. However the method relies on a waterproof outer covering, and/or eaves on the roof large enough that no rain strikes the wall, and no water is splashed on the wall when rain strikes the earth nearby.
This image shows clearly the method of construction, with two sets of laths or sticks at an angle to each other, cemented with clay, and with a plaster covering. This plaster would originally have had paintings on it, but the lack of wide eaves and the lack of preventative maintenance mean that the integrity of the whole building is now threatened.
While the vertical end wall is in reasonable condition, the roof failed and let rain in, resulting in rotting and collapse of the barrel vaulted, painted ceiling.
The paintings on the ceiling have been damaged by rain leaking through the old roof. A metal roof has been added to the church to prevent further damage. It appears that some sort of straw matting has been used for the basis of the ceiling, which has then been plastered over, and painted.
Writing on the wall of the church.
Răcari Time Line
There is already a huge amount of data on this site concerning Răcari Village, Matca River, the Wooden Church, etc.
After a huge search in the area of Răcarii de Sus, Răcarii de Jos, Bralostita villages, also on the hills behind Răcari villages, Dr Gheorghe has a new theory concerning the area.
All of the villages have their own history, starting with the ancient ages. Not all villages have ancient sites around them, because there are many more people living in the region than in times long past. However, many of them may have ancient sites around them.
For Răcari Village, the Time Line can be proposed as:
Starting with the Stone and Bronze Age, there is a site, in the western part of the present day Village of Răcarii de Sus, called Cerat. This ancient Stone Age / Bronze Age site is placed on top of a hill, with a field on top of it, near a small river, the Matca, as all ancient villages have. Thus, we can place this Cerat site as number 01 on our time line.
From this 01 location, during Roman times, a huge castrum was built, not very far from the Răcari villages, on the same left bank of the Jiu River, on a place we can name 02 Matca Wooden site, where was found a few holes, like underground houses, as well as a huge wooden dam, called "Topila" for water for home use by the people there from the Middle Ages or later.
There must be, in the deep forest, an ancient village, around the Matca site, a place where people lived in underground houses (see the beautiful story of the Sultana woman), and also there must be a small ancient wooden church.
From the 02 Matca site, the people would have gone to the 03 Zidaru Spring site, where was built the ancient wooden church, perhaps the first or possibly the second, built by the Sultana women, as the story says. Today, this wooden church has been moved to Bralostita Village, over the Jiu River and still can be seen in the 03B location.
Going down to the small river, at the end of the Middle Ages, another church was built, the 04 Ghost Church, and later, the new church in Răcarii de Jos Village, 05. Here was the first modern village, Răcarii de Jos.
But some people from Răcarii de Jos migrated, in the 19th - 20th Centuries to the present day village of Răcarii de Sus, where a new church was built, 06.
So, this time line is like a circle, starting with the area of Răcarii de Sus, with the associated site of Cerat, then up north to the Matca wooden site, then to the east, to the Zidaru spring, then going to the south, where we find the present day village of Răcarii de Jos, and then going back to the west, to the present day village of Răcarii de Sus.
Photo and artwork: Adrian Gheorghe 9th December 2008