Câmpulung or Câmpulung Muscel, is a city in the Argeş County

Arges County

Argeș is a county of Romania, in Wallachia, with the capital city at Pitești.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 652,625 and the population density was 95/km².*Romanians – 96%*Roma , and other.-Geography:...

, Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. It is situated among the outlying hills of the Transylvanian Alps, at the head of a long well-wooded glen traversed by the Râul Târgului

Râul Târgului (Arges)

The Râul Târgului is a tributary of the Râul Doamnei in Romania. It is formed at the junction of headwaters: Cuca and Bătrâna-References:* Administraţia Naţională Apelor Române - Cadastrul Apelor - Bucureşti...

, a tributary of the Argeş

Arges River

Argeș is a river of Southern Romania. It starts at the junction of headwaters Buda and Capra in the Făgăraș Mountains, in the Southern Carpathians and flows into the Danube at Oltenița.The main city on the Argeş is Piteşti...

.

Its pure air and fine scenery render Câmpulung a popular summer resort. In the city there are more than twenty churches, besides a monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 and a cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

, which both claim to have been founded in the 13th century by Radu Negru

Radu Negru

Radu Negru also known as Radu Vodă , Radu Negru, or Negru Vodă, was a legendary ruler of Wallachia....

, legendary first Prince of Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

.

History

Câmpulung was one of the earliest urban settlements in Wallachia, the Transylvanian Saxons

Transylvanian Saxons

The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...

 contributing to its development by bringing the German

Ethnic German

Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...

 urban culture. The earliest written evidence of the town's existence is dated 1300, and is to be found in the Câmpulung church. The inscription is an epitaph

Epitaph

An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...

 of Laurencius de Longo Campo, the mayor of the German community, the full text being Hic sepultus est comes Laurencius de Longo-Campo, pie memorie, Anno Domini MCCC ("Here is buried Laurentius of Longus-Campus, in pious memory, Anno Domini

Anno Domini

and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....

 1300").

Câmpulung was the first capital of the feudal state

Feudalism

Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...

 of Wallachia, until succeeded by Curtea de Argeş

Curtea de Arges

Curtea de Argeș is a city in Romania on the right bank of the Argeş River, where it flows through a valley of the lower Carpathians , on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roşu Pass. It is part of Argeș County. The city administers one village, Noapteș...

 in the 14th century. There was a considerable traffic with Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

, over the Bran Pass, 15 miles to the north, and with the south by a branch railway to Ploieşti

Ploiesti

Ploiești is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest....

.

Near Câmpulung are the remains of a Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 camp; and just beyond the gates, vestiges a Roman colony, variously identified with Romula

Romula

Romula or Malva was an ancient city in Roman Dacia, nowadays being the village of Reşca, Dobrosloveni Commune, Olt County, Romania It was the capital of Dacia Malvensis, one of the three subdivisions of the province of Dacia....

, Stepenium and Ulpia Traiana

Sarmizegetusa

Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital and the most important military, religious and political center of Dacians...

, but now called Grădiştea or Jidovi.

"Câmpulung" literally means "Long Field" in Romanian.

Population

• 1900: 13,033
• 1992: 44,125
• 2002: 38,209
• 2010: 39,454