CURTEA DE ARGES. – City of Romania, capital of the Arges district, formerly the capital of the principality of Wallachia. In the 14th century it became the seat of the first Orthodox bishop, known as the bishop of the Ugro-Wallachians, and subsequently of the Catholic bishopric of Arges. C. contains the finest architectural monument in all Romania, the Biserica Domneasca (“princely church”), built in the 13th or 14th century.
BIBL.: A. Lapadatu, C. de A. et ses monuments, Bucharest 1909; V. N. Drachiccanu, C. de A., ibid., n.d.; P. Tafrali, Monuments byzantins de C. de A., 2 vols., Paris 1931. Mariano Baffi