Matei and Toma Cantacuzino Manor (ruins), Filipeștii de Pădure

Summary

The ruined late-17th-century manor of Matei Cantacuzino and his son Toma in Filipeștii de Pădure, Prahova County, one of several Cantacuzino residences in the area. Only ruins survive.

History

Construction began in 1680 and was finished in 1690 for Matei Cantacuzino and his son Toma, who also founded the Church of the Three Hierarchs in the village. After their deaths the manor passed to Bălașa Brâncoveanu. It fell into ruin before the middle of the 19th century and only ruins remain today. Monumente Uitate places the house stylistically in the pre-Brâncoveanu tradition, probably the work of the same masons as the Cantacuzino palaces at Filipeștii de Târg and Măgureni. It was already ruined when Carol Isler drew it in the mid-19th century; a survey of 1980 by architect Călin Hoinărescu shows a later reuse of the ruins. The remains stand in a yard shared with a primary school, the police post and the town hall.

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