The Chindia Tower - an amazing old tower

The Chindia Tower is a tower in the Curtea Domnească monuments ensemble in Târgovişte, Romania, built in the 15th century. The tower was begun during the second reign of Prince Vlad III the Impaler over Wallachia and took its final form during the 19th century. It initially had a military purpose, but during history it has been used as a guard point, a fire spotter, and for storing and protecting the state treasury. Between 1847 and 1851, the Chindia Tower was completely restored by Gheorghe Bibescu who added 5 metres (16 ft) to its height. The building in its current form has a height of 27 metres (89 ft) and a diameter of 9 metres (30 ft).

It is not known exactly when the Curtea Domnească complex was built, but it certainly replaces an old manor house still in place by the 15th century during the reign of Mircea I of Wallachia. Nevertheless, the first documentary mentions of the Curtea Domnească date from 1403 and 1409. It is therefore believed that the construction works started during the first reign of Vlad the Impaler, but that the complex remained unfinished. Archaeological excavations conducted in the mid-20th century have revealed that the Chindia Tower dates from the second half of the 15th century leading historians to propose that it is the "castle" referred to in the November 11, 1476, account of Hungarian nobleman Stephen V Báthory. However, the tower is explicitly mentioned in documents at a relatively late moment. In 1595 Venetian traveler Antonio Pigafetta recorded the existence of a "tower in a church", which had an underground gallery in the direction of the Ialomiţa River. In 1703 Rev. Edmund Chishull, chaplain to Lord Paget's English embassy at İzmir, said after visiting the place that the building was comparable to towers of "civilized Christianity".

The tower was also noted by the Bulgarian Catholic bishop Petar Bogdan and foreign travelers such as Paul of Aleppo. The latter stated that "the court is in a high tower that serves as a lamp for the city clock", housing a fanfare which entertained the princes with Oriental music. Towards the middle of the 18th century, a Latin manuscript from the Batthyaneum Library states that the tower was used as a prison. In 1840 the French draughtsman Michel Bouquet provided a rendition of how the tower looked before its restoration.