The Chindia Tower, Targoviste - A Short History.

The Chindia Tower (Turnul Chindiei) is the most striking part of the Princely Court of Targoviste, the name Chindia could come from a few meanings, one is a place of festival or feasting, another simply sunset, a time when the guard would sound the curfew. Or it could be that the name is a composite of two words Chin meaning 'punishment' and Dia meaning 'from.' There is no definite agreement on where the name originates.

The Princely Court was begun under the reign of Mircea the Elder, around the 1390's, it was a stone structure with wooden defences, and was first mentioned in a 1418 document to Michael I thus; "from the very house of my lordship, from the very town of my lordship, Targoviste."

The Court was added to under Michael I, this mainly being the Chapel or Lady's Church which would later have the Chindia Tower build on its bell tower.

The Chapel as viewed from the top of the tower.

By 1430 it was widely recognised that Targoviste was the capital of Wallachia, and it needed a suitable royal residence. As a result the main Princely house was constructed during the reign of Vlad II Dracul. This new palace was almost perfectly square, its walls were around 2m thick with a vaulted cellar, a large hall for ceremonies and greeting guests, and private rooms for the Princes family. This was a large construction and was completed around 1440.

The Palace built by Vlad II Dracul

Another addition was the Church of St. Friday or the Small Princely Church, it is said to be the best surviving example of mid fifteenth century Wallachian church architecture in existence, also the wooden defensive palisade was given a deep entrenchment.

Church of St. Friday from the top of the Chindia Tower.

The Chindia tower was constructed during the reign of Vlad III Dracula, or Tepes, the impaler. Today it stands at 27m, it has three floors with openings and balconies and a central spiral staircase. There is a curious opening on the side of the tower facing the Princely Court, this would have been a wooden bridge for easy access from the royal apartments.

The wooden bridge entrance in the tower's base.

The tower in Vlad's day would have been much shorter, only two floors high, in 1476 Stephen Bathory mentions a castle in Targoviste, this is almost certainly the tower and palace complex.

According to Dracula: Prince of Many Faces by R. Florescu and R.T McNally; "two monks who came to visit the palace at Targoviste climbed to the top of the Chindia Tower and were shown by Dracula the usual scene of horror in the courtyard below, which was strewn with impaled cadavers..." 

The tower was obviously a practical construction, it would have been the tallest building in the whole area and a great platform to keep an eye on invaders, plus knowing Vlad's love of psychological torture, taking messengers and any guest he wanted to influence to his way of thinking up to see the butchery all around would have been terrifying.

Chindia Tower before restoration in 1840

Michael The Brave added to the tower installing artillery, it had many uses over the years, it was variously a beacon, clock and a prison, but it eventually began to decay. Between 1847 to 1851 the tower was restored adding another 5m to its height and giving us the tower we see today. 

In modern times the tower has become the civic emblem of the City of Targoviste and a great cultural icon of the Romanian people. It has housed a museum and hosts medieval festivals and related Vlad Tepes reenactments and festivities. It is regularly filmed for documentaries and is the backdrop for countless wedding and corporate photoshoots.

The tower has been used to advertise various products including a German KFC advertisement in 2014 that so angered Targoviste officials and the Romanian people in general, it was banned. The advert featured a naked man of small stature throwing himself off the tower into a red bowl held by a man in a large crowd below.

The site has a great gift shop with small models of the tower and a very informative guide book. The Princely Court is an amazing place to visit, it really fires the imagination, walking in the footsteps of history.

For the most detailed model I have ever encountered Squiz 3D take first place, the tower is in actual 1/56 scale, it has the correct amount of stairs inside, and all of the outside features are off set at the correct angles, it is accurate in every way. From base to roof it stands at 51cm (20" high!). As of the date of this post it is near to being available, not long now, I'll keep you posted.

Chindia Tower by Squiz 3D.

Photo of a very excited author by Julia Gosling.