Research carried out on the banks of the
Danube in which Maglavit is situated on, prove that the area has been inhabited since at least 1500 B.C. It has been mentioned in documents of the 14th century, bu the name of Toporna. In mid-1935, local
Romanian Orthodox shepherd
Petrache Lupu claimed to have seen and spoken with God. Over the following three years, some two million pilgrims came to Maglavit, 10 million
lei in donations were raised and King
Carol II ordered the construction of a church on the site of the reported miracle. However, interest in the story had withered by autumn 1938, the church remained largely unbuilt and the funds were embezzled. The episode was exploited by the far-right:
Iron Guard supporter
Nichifor Crainic eulogized Lupu, while his
Sfarmă-Piatră was still mentioning him in April 1941. Meanwhile, in 1935,
Iron Guard sympathizer
N. Crevedia claimed Lupu had cured him of uncontrollable blinking. ==Gallery==