100 Lei History of Gold - Cantacuzin Engolpion

The Cantacuzino engolpion referenced here is a Byzantine-style reliquary pendant associated with the Cantacuzino family, one of the most powerful boyar dynasties in Wallachia and Moldavia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Constantin Cantacuzino the Stolnic, the family's most learned member, maintained correspondence with scholars across Europe and built one of the finest private libraries in the region. The engolpion itself is held in Romanian museum collections as an artifact of Orthodox devotional practice among the high nobility.