Cuțuilor Church, a worship house dedicated to Saints Emperors Constantin and Elena was built in 1836 by Constantin Cuţui, son of pandour captain Ghiţă Cuţui.
Since the founder died in the meantime, the church was painted at the expense of his son Mihalache in 1840. Afterwards the church had a few transformations, being entirely paved with cement and having a new door. The brick church is in the shape of a ship with a verandah, a narthex, a nave and an altar with two steeples. On the north side there is a circular small tower with an access stair to the bell tower.
In the verandah there is an inscription written in Cyrillic letters:
“This holy and godly church that celebrates the day of Saints Emperors Constantin and Elena was built from the ground up by landlord Constandin Cuţui in 1836 and it was painted at the expense and with the efforts of landowners Mihalache and Constandin Cuţui in 1840 in the days of our emperor Nicolae Pavlovici on August 10th, painter Constandin.”
The painting is done in fresco by painter Constantin. The portraits of the founders show Constantin Cuţui’s entire family, the men wearing the old landowner costume, while the women wore western style dresses. On the northern wall there is also a peasant in popular costume. The text explains that she is “aunt Iţa who cooked at the holy church”. It seems that the purpose of this portrait was to express the painters’ gratitude towards his peasant who cooked for them while they worked there. This theme is also found in churches from the Voloiac and Jirov villages, close to Broşteni.
Ghiţă Cuţui was pandour captain and his son Constantin, around 1815. An extremely beautiful legend says that a group of Turkish people from the Ada-Kaleh Island kidnapped Ghiţă Cuţui’s wife. For the ransom, the pandour sold part of his land, building afterwards the Cuţui fortress. Constantin Cuţui built the Saints Emperors Constantin and Elena church in 1836, the painting being completed in 1840 at the expense of his son, Mihalache.
Broșteni is a small town in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, România, comprised of villages Broșteni (capital), Căpățânești, Luncșoara, Lupșa de Jos, Lupșa de Sus și Meriș.
