The Stone Wedding

This neighborhood provided a wonderful backdrop for films. The 1970s-80s transformed Rosia Montana into a huge stage: here were shot important films of Romanian cinematography such as:

The Stone Wedding - in two parts: Fefeleaga and At a Wedding (dir. Mircea Veroiu and Dan Pița), 1973.

The Spirit of the Gold - in two parts: Mârza and The Chest (dir. Mircea Veroiu and Dan Pița), 1974.

Flames Over Treasures (dir. Nicolae Mărgineanu), 1987.

The movie "The Stone Wedding", was directed by Mircea Veroiu and Dan Pița in 1973. It's a movie adapted from a book written by  Ion Agârbiceanu. The movie was filmed in Rosia Montana and with a scene of a wedding party, a scene that is filmed in the very courtyard of the house in front of which you are standing. Casa Acoș underwent several modifications at that time, with the perimeter wall being specially built for the film, and the wooden gate being borrowed from the Hungarian School on Sicilian Street, near the historic center. The Stone Wedding tells the story of a wedding where a beautiful and poor bride runs away from an ugly and rich groom, but it also tells the story of a different kind of wedding, in which a girl who dies prematurely is buried, dressed as a bride, by her grieving mother.

Above the house, you will notice the massive Văidoaia, inside of which you can see an impressive entrance that resembles a cave, but it's still a mining gallery. Mining associations in Roșia Montană, due to limited capital, reopened old works or tapped into previously overlooked areas for gold extraction. This led to the creation of expansive underground voids, spanning thousands of square meters with varying heights. Movement within these galleries relied on shafts, drifts, inclined plateaus, and corridors, even accommodating horses for ore transportation. Drillings for ore extraction required skills to minimize gunpowder usage. After blasting, miners assessed the stope, searching for visible free gold known as "stoves" or "mine flowers". These were collected and transported for processing, while ore with lower gold content was discarded.

From mines like this one in Văidoaia, the ore was brought to the surface in wicker baskets carried on the backs of children. Children were involved in this work because they could easily navigate through the narrow mine tunnels . They descended to the road and placed the baskets on horses. Caravans of horses, laden with ore and guided by children, traversed the narrow and winding paths between rocks and mounts, covering distances of up to 8 km to the stamp mills.

Upon arrival at the stamp mills, the children unloaded the ore and returned with empty baskets for a new journey. There was a lot of hustle and bustle in the past around Vaidoaia, its base being an area with many stamp mills and mining households.

You have listened to the content dedicated to the Stone Wedding and Rosia Montana’s Văidoaia Gallery.

The UNESCO tour of Rosia Montana is a project implemented by the non-governmental organization ‘Rosia Montana in Patrimoniul Mondial’. The audio-tour is co-financed by Romania’s Administration for National Cultural Funds. We based our story telling on local anecdotes and the works listed on the bibliography on our website. We encourage you to follow the trail that we prepared for you via our website. This will ensure that you discover all objects and their stories of Rosia Montana. Have a pleasant journey and ‘drum bun’ as we say here.