View Of Ruins Of Carta Medieval Monastery Near Sibiu, Transilvania Editorial Image

Cârţa Monastery is a former Cistercian (Benedictine) monastery in the Ţara Făgăraşului region in southern Transylvania in Romania, currently a Lutheran Evangelical church belonging to the local Saxon community. It lies on the left bank of the Olt River, between the cities of Sibiu and Făgăraş, close to the villages of Cârţa (German Kerz, Hungarian: Kerc) and Cârțișoara (German: Kleinkerz). The monastery was probably founded in 1202-1206 by monks from Igriș abbey (daughter house of Pontigny abbey), and was disbanded in 1494, when the apostolic legate Ursus of Ursinis ratified Cârţa Abbey’s attachment to the Provostship nullius of Sibiu. The Cistercian monastery introduced and helped develop French Gothic art in the region.