The Lordly Church, which celebrates the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is „the oldest in Caracal“. It was built on the hill of Protoseni, from blocks of stone and bricks brought from the ruins of Romula Roman fortress (situated 6 km away to the North from Caracal). As it does not have an inscription, we do not know the exact years when it was built. Two hypotheses are stated, one saying that it might have been built between 1512-1521 by the Prince Neagoe Basarab (who had a sister in Caracal, Mistress Marga of the Craioveşti), and that it might have been restored by Mihai Viteazul at the end of the XVI century, when he had his lordly residence here, or that it might have been built by Mihai Viteazul, as determined by the archeological research carried out by the Iasi researchers, Nicolae and Voica Puşcaşu between 1973-1974.

The church was built from masonry, with smaller sizes than we may see today, but it suffered several transformations in time. The architecture researches of the face of the wall and of the structure show that the church, in its initial form, was designed as chapel with restricted use, built out of lordly donations. Its shape is rather unusual for Wallachia, but very similar to a series of monuments like the churches in Drobeta Turnu Severin, and it shows an obvious resemblance to a multitude of churches situated to the South of the Danube. The elongated rectangular plan, with polygonal apse at the altar, is made of an open church porch with three bays on the western, northern and southern sides, square nave and altar. It shows a semi-cylindrical vaulting on the porch and nave and semi-spherical dome at the altar. The exterior walls are 0.90 m thick, and the porch and nave walls are 1.40 m thick, suggesting the idea of a staircase in the wall leading to a belfry over the porch, or to a possible pulpit.

A specific feature of this church consists in the access to the porch, open on three sides, with three arcades displayed on each side, supported by simple, robust and austere columns. The face of the wall, apparently made of stone blocks of varied sizes (0,56x0,70 m; 0,50x0,46 m; 0,50x0,65 m), alternates with 4 or 5 rows of brick of sizes of 44x25x6 cm with joints of 4-7 cm. The window gap arches of the nave and of the altar, the arches of the porch, as well as the initial vault, have been made of bricks of 28x14x4,5 cm. The initial floor was made of Roman brick as well. While the exterior remains visible, with drawn joints, the interior is covered in plastering.

Between 1632-1634, during the ruling of Matei Basarab, the first modifications of the church appearance have been made. There are documents where Matei Basarab is presented as the builder, and in others, as the restorer. The most important modification of the initial aspect of the church consists in the super-elevation of the wall face by about 3.45 m, which totally changed the initial shape and proportions of the building. The super-elevation made of bricks is separated by the original walls by a decorative belt made of two rows of bricks. The older porch is closed, turning it into a pro-nave, and above it, most likely a steeple has been built, which explains the building of the two pairs of overhangs serving as buttresses over which the belt is applied.

There is not time delay between this super-elevation and the development on the length by adding an open porch on three-lobed columns, characteristic to the period of time where Constantin Brâncoveanu ruled (XVIII century), because the super-elevation by means of blind arcade decorations is extended over the porch and over the western side. Other smaller intervnetions followed, which contributed to the modification of the church aspect: the original semi-cylindrical vault is rebuilt, over the Roman brick floor, another identical floor is being laid, mounted on a mortar layer and elevating it by almost 20 cm, building up the older porch; the access into the church is provided by the central bay, from the western side, where a wooden door is mounted. 

For a rather long period of time, there is no news about the operation or modifications performed in the church. A document from 1798 reveals that the church was open to cult at that date, having two priests and a deacon, and it benefits from exemption of tribute.

In the following period, the „lordly“ church, as it is specified in a document of 1814 passed by Lord Caragea, was restored  by the clucer Costache Greceanu, Barbu son of Preda, Peiu Băcanu and Mihai Coiciu in 1817 and painted in 1838. At the same time, the descendants of Constantin Filipescu express their dissatisfaction that the church has not enjoyed the care of those benefiting from the incomes of the donated estate. In a document of February 7, 1844, Gheorghe Filipescu, son of Constantin, expressed his dissatisfaction with the failure to observe the conditions included in the donation deed, that the church was left in a „very bad state“. The inhabitants of the city have not satisfied the obligations specified in the act of 1793, and so the law asked them to make improvements and embellishments to the church for the citizens’ use. 

In 1890, a significant intervention on the monument takes place, when, due to a slight land displacement, a crack of few centimeters appeared in the southern part of the porch. To avoid the collapse, the porch openings were covered with brick, the columns were integrated in the masonry, and three strong buttresses were built to consolidate the monument. Over the porch, a wooden steeple was built, coated with sheet metal, the cross walls of the nave and of the pro-nave were demolished, creating a room longer by several meters, and the brick vault with cracks on the entire height is replaced with a new cylindrical flat vault, built on a structure made of cleats and reed. Also, at the altar and in the nave, the window gaps are increased, a new masonry temple is built, with three embrasures and slightly curved towards the nave, and the western façade is executed, from the belt upwards, by masonry doubling.

The restoration project of 1975, based on solid research, oriented the consolidation-restoration works executed between 1977-1982 towards a correct historical and scientific recovery of the monument, with the purpose to evoke the initial aspect as lordly church-chapel of the XVI century, at the same time marking the stages of historical alterations.

The construction has the shape of a nave, with a belt of recesses and apses. It lacks the inscription, which was probably missing before 1890 as well. The church does not preserve the original painting, which was in the byzantine style (fresco). Only the altar and the wall iconostasis preserve a painting executed in the oil technique, probably since 1890, when significant alterations of the interior architecture were carried out. From the stylistic point of view, this painting aligns with the style introduced by Gh. Tăttărescu in our religious painting with obvious Renaissance influences. Since 1990, the church underwent a series of capital repairs due to a period of approximately 30 years of decay. The painting was restored and completed in 2000 by the well-known church painter Florea Drejoi. The inscription was restored as well, and it was enclosed by the builders: Mihai Viteazul, Matei Basarab, Constantin Brâncoveanu.

The inscription has the following contents:

„With the help of the Father, with the blessing of the Son, and with the power of the Holy Spirit, this holy establishment was built, celebrating the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by the devoted Lord Martyr of the Romanian people, Mihai Viteazu, around the year 1597, building around it a lordly courtyard, in Caracal borough. The Prince Matei Basarab and the devoted saint, Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu, extended and consolidated the Holy Church. The Historical Monument Department began, in 1975, vast restoration and consolidation works, bringing it to the current architectural shape. With the blessing of His Holiness, Father Gherasim, bishop of Râmnic, in 1995, painting works in the „al fresco“ technique were initiated by the painter Drejoi Fl. Ion - Potcoava, Olt.

These works have been executed with the contribution of the parishioners and of other believers, with the support of the counselor members, and the initiators and persuaders were the Vicars“. The church lacks any adornments, which have been taken and transported to the Holy Bishopric of Râmnic during the time of Bishop Ghenadie, and to the museum of Brâncoveni monastery. The description of the Lordly Church of Caracal is also found in the Inventory of the Hungarian-Walachian Metropolitan Church of 1810 and in the Inventory of Oltenia Metropolitan Church of 1840. The Church Vicar is his holiness, Priest Ştefan Nicolae, and the church is on the list of historical monuments, with the identification code OT-II-m-B-08759.