LIVING STONES

On the way from Ramnicu Valcea to Targu Jiu, right before Horezu, in Costesti, one can see,

upon the exit from a curve, a small former sand quarry. The hurried and uninformed traveler

can easily miss this ravine without knowing he went right past an open air museum unique in

the world, a museum dedicated to some extremely interesting stones generically named

“TROVANTI” (http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trovant). Whoever is curious enough to visit this

museum will certainly be amazed by the multitude of shapes, one stranger than the other, that

Mother Nature lent to these rocks ranging in height from a few dozen centimeters to a few

meters, with the mastery of sculptor at least as crafty as Brancusi or Kan Yasuda and through

methods known only to itself. They are popularly called “the living stones” or “the growing

stones”, although geologists have not yet reached a clear and unified opinion on how they

formed millions of years ago and do not share the popular belief that the stones grow by

themselves under the earth’s surface like underground vegetables. You can spend an entire

day marveling at these stones which, through their sculptural quality will feel to you extremely

alive, despite the specialists’ opinions.