History
The defile was important when Rome occupied the area during the 1st century BC to 2nd century AD, building roads and fortifications along the Olt to north of the Danube. This line of fortifications was known as the Limes Alutanus, which once marked the eastern frontier of Roman Dacia. Remains of these Roman castra have been found in several villages, including those of Boiţa, Câlineni, and Călimăneşti. From the 14th to 18th century, several monasteries were built in the area. One of these, Turnul Monastery from the 17th century, even had cells that were carved into the cliffs by hermits from the 14th century Cozia Monastery, which was known for its exterior frescoes. The Ostrov Hermitage, also in the area, dates from the 17th century, while the Cornet Hermitage was built during the 17th and 18th centuries. There are also two fortresses, dating from the 16th century, located in Turnu Rosu and Boita.
Read more about this topic: Olt Defile
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“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... that there is no other way,
That the history of creation proceeds according to
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Do get done in this way, but never the things
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To see come into being.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)