Cercetări arheologice în Curtea Domnească de la Târgşoru Vechi / Archaeological research in Voivodal Court at Târgşoru Vechi

Over 50 years ago, an archaeological team initiated the research in the area of the medieval town from Târgşoru Vechi. In 1956 only the ruins of three churches and some fragments of the buildings of the former Voivodal Court and Turnu monastery could still be observed. Those medieval remains were the starting point for the investigation of Târgşoru Vechi town, a town that today celebrates 600 years since it was first mentioned in a medieval document. The Novo Foro, as it was known in the Latin version of the document issued by Mircea cel Bătrân to the merchants of Braşov, was an important custom point, voivodal residence and later on, monastery. Following a project of restoration proposed by the architect C. Hoinărescu, archaeological excavations in the area of the Medieval Court were resumed in 2005. Excavations during two seasons (2005, 2006) aimed to verify and complete the results of the previous research undertook by N. Constantinescu, research that was abruptly stopped in the mid-1960-ies. The recent investigations provided new data about structures from interior of the Voivodal Court area, identifying a first habitation level going back to the 15th century. Also, the existing information referring to the cellar of the Voivodal House was completed with new data and a new chronological interpretation of other structures was proposed. A new opened surface (located in the north-east corner of the second medieval enclosure) allowed the identification a long-term inhabitated area, with the same evolution from the mud-bricks constructions to stone ones.