Horezu Pottery

The small town of Horezu in Oltenia has made pottery for centuries, and its particular style, recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, is instantly identifiable: a cream or ochre ground with fine concentric lines, spirals, stylised trees, fish and above all the cockerel that has become the town's emblem, drawn freehand with a cow's horn fitted with a goose quill. The division of labour is traditional, with men throwing the pots and women painting them, and the clay is still dug locally, cleaned, kneaded and turned on a foot-driven wheel. Family workshops around the town open their doors, and you can watch the whole sequence from wet clay to a finished plate. The town also gives its name to the nearby Horezu monastery, a masterpiece of the Brâncovenesc style and a World Heritage Site in its own right, which makes the two an easy pairing.

What you actually see

• The workshops - throwing on the foot wheel and freehand painting with the horn and quill.
• The cockerel motif - the town's emblem across plates, bowls and jugs.
• The annual pottery fair - potters from across the region gathering in early summer.
• Horezu Monastery - the nearby Brâncovenesc monastery, listed in its own right.

When to go

Workshops are open through the year on working days, and the pottery fair in early summer brings potters from across Romania. Weekdays are better than weekends if you want to watch work rather than just buy. Combining it with the monastery makes a full half-day.

Honest expectations

It is a craft visit rather than a sight: the reward is watching people work and buying something good, not a museum experience, and if that does not appeal there is little else in the town. Some roadside stalls sell mass-produced ware from elsewhere alongside the genuine article, so go to a named family workshop. Horezu is well off the main tourist routes in Oltenia, so it needs a car.

Nearby

Horezu Monastery is minutes away; the Transalpina mountain road climbs north into the Carpathians.