Biserica Sf. Nicolae

Less than 10 kilometers from the city of Pitești, in the village of Ciocănăi in the commune of Moșoaia, there is a church that stands out for its atypical painting for a religious space. Also known as the “Church of Death”, it has an unusual representation on one of its walls: the laughing death.

According to history professor Corneliu Vasilescu, the painting of this church is indeed unconventional. In 1863, 23 years after the construction of the place, two painters – Stan Postelnic and Constantin Zugrav – created a fresco on one of the exterior walls of the church. It depicts an angel between two demons, the one on the right laughing and holding a scythe above which the word “Death” is written.

This strange image has an explanation in local tradition. It is said that during an Ottoman invasion that took place before 1840, most likely between 1820 and 1826, several villagers took refuge in an old wooden church. The Ottomans locked them inside and set the building on fire, and dozens of people were burned alive. Shaken by this tragedy, one of the founders of the new church decided to depict death on one of the exterior walls, as a symbol of pain and remembrance of the difficult times that the village of Ciocanai had gone through.

The villagers also talk about a curse attached to the painting, which would have befallen those who tried to erase it. In the 1980s, the local communist authorities were disturbed by the image of laughing death and asked the priest to cover it up, considering it inappropriate. The priest, fearful, refused to do so and had a local man known as Tuturel-Bilt whitewash the painting. Shortly after covering the frescoes, he died suddenly while dancing at a village wedding.

Not long after, the priest himself met a tragic end. During a funeral, the hearse went out of control and crushed him, causing the community to panic. According to a local woman, Ileana Oproiu, after the two died, the painting reappeared on the wall, albeit faded, fueling the villagers’ belief that something unclean existed there.

Sursa: adevarul.ro