The restitution of the narthex of the Royal Church in Argeș
The restitution of the narthex of the Royal Church in Argeș

Summary/Abstract: The narthex of the Royal Church in Curtea de Argeș offers us today an iconographic ensemble that is heterogeneous and confusing. The large incomplete surfaces of the mural paintings from the 14th century, the erosions and exfoliations provoked by infiltration and capillary humidity, have generated successive re-makings of the painted ensemble, starting from the middle of the 18th century and especially through the 19th century. The restoration from the beginning of the 20th century added the disastrous effect of the transformation of the inferior register of the narthex in an area designated for the replantation of the frescoes originating from the nave. One of the major consequences of this transformation is the loss of coherence of the lecture of key-images that defined the eschatological sense of the narthex iconography. To be more specific, the Final Judgement is fragmented in an arbitrary manner and is hard to read today in its original form.

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