Defense and Public Safety Towers in Oltenia

Built on an oriental model, the kula can also be found all over the Balkans

Steliu Lambru, 10.12.2023, 14:00

Before the 19th century, when there was no modern state with its bureaucracy and institutions, the safety of the people was in the hands of noble courts or monasteries. Especially when the neighborhood was one that resorted to terrorist practices, as was the case with the Romanian Principalities, nothing was safe. The Ottoman rule for centuries north of the Danube, on Romanian territory, especially in Oltenia, was often present with savagery through raids of sacking and destruction. And the solution chosen by the Romanian noblemen, the boyars, was that of building kulas, or tower houses, to defend themselves, their families, service personnel, and wealth.

Built on an oriental model, the kula can also be found in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, throughout the Balkan area controlled by the Ottomans. In Oltenia, there are 20 attested kulas, of which only five still exist today. The story of the towers of Oltenia was told to us by Liana Tătăranu, the president of the Heart of Oltenia Association.

At the moment, it is said that the oldest kula would be one of the kulas from Măldărăști, namely the Greceanu kula, dated somewhere around 1547. I could not say with certainty that this information is very correct, because it could not be dated even dendrologically. Those who have studied this kula in more detail say that, indeed, there was a core in the present building, let’s call it that. So, some expansions were made to the original construction, which are somewhere from the end of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th century. The Buzești brothers’ kula was built somewhere before the year 1600, and existed on their estate at Vlădaia in what is now Mehedinți county.

After the 16th century, after the conquest of Hungary by the Ottoman army, the Crescent establishes itself with authority in Central and South-East Europe, and the Romanian Principalities are cut off from European civilization. Although not under the direct control of the empire, the Wallachian state was a vassal of the Ottomans, which treat it brutally in every way. Thus, the kulas become a pressing necessity. Here is Liana Tataranu:

They basically were supposed to protect the boyars, and less so the villagers, from the invasions of the Turks, but we are not talking about the large invasions of the Turkish army. If we think about the entire period when the Romanian Principalities were under Ottoman rule, nothing could be done in the country without the sultan’s approval. And, from the time when Mircea the Elder was ruler, in the 14th-15th centuries, and the fortress of Giurgiu was lost, Wallachia no longer had any fortresses along the Danube. The Romanian rulers were no longer allowed to build any kind of fortresses, and then the first step was, starting with Mircea the Elder, to strengthen the monasteries. Most of the fortified monasteries were built by Matei Basarab, in the 17th century, where, let’s say, the villagers could also take refuge. But the boyars had nowhere to go. And then, they tried to take their own defensive measures, especially against the bandit attacks of Osman Pasvantoglu, Pasha of Vidin, and the Adalais, Turks from the island of Ada Kaleh. So this could be the explanation for why here, in Oltenia, we have the most kulas, because this was the area they were preying on.

The Oltenian kula was a prismatic building, consisting of a ground floor and several upper floors. The plan was square or rectangular, and the stone or brick walls were about a meter thick. The walls were provided with barbicans, and the connection between the floors was made by an internal wooden staircase. Architects Iancu Atanasescu and Valeriu Grama noted in the book ‘The Kulas of Oltenia’, quote ‘The forms of the Oltenian kula have evolved in accordance with the social-historical realities, reaching their peak in the second half of the 18th century. These architectural forms, the richness of the arches, the decorative elements, make the kula one of the most interesting and characteristic examples of Oltenian architecture’. Liana Tătăranu also wanted to point out the fact that the purpose of the Oltenian kula evolved over time.

In the first stage, the kulas were for guard, signaling and alarm, and some of them were the bell towers in the monasteries. We must say that all these kulas are located on definite lines. If we look at the map, it is very clear that they are on very well established routes, with a distance between them somewhere between 20 and 30 kilometers. They are placed in some strategic points, generally placed on top of a hill, somewhere higher up, so that they have the largest possible field of view, the largest possible visibility area. They had to be in line of sight of each other to signal possible attacks. Then there were the refuge kulas, for defense or temporary housing. Near them we always find the mansion where the boyar lived permanently with his family.

After 1821, and especially after 1829, after the Principality of Wallachia begins to secure its border, the practical importance of the kula decreases. However, it remains part of the architectural heritage of Oltenia.