Don’t be fooled by the exuberant Moorish style of the Curtea de Argeș cathedral. The various legends associated with this Romanian Orthodox church tend to be, well, grim.
In one tale, the architect — to be able to finish the building — is forced to sacrifice his wife by walling her alive in the cathedral. In another, the Prince who had ordered the construction of cathedral had the masons stranded on the roof, for fear they’d build a greater church for someone else. The builders tried to escape by flying off with wings they’d made out of wood. No, this tale doesn’t end well either.