ROMANIAN MONASTERIES - promoters of art and culture-

1. ROMANIAN MONASTERIES- promoters of art and culture- ,,AUREL VLAICU’’ SCHOOL BRAILA ROMANIA

2. In the 15th-18th centuries, monasteries in Wallachia and Moldavia were generally erected, financed and maintained by enlightened ruling princes, high dignitaries or high clergymen. Monasteries became the main promoters of art and culture, with learned scholars, schools, training centres, libraries, and printing facilities attached to them. The art and historic treasures kept in monasteries are living tokens of the Romanians' need to store and preserve their history and culture at difficult and uncertain times. 

3. AGAPIA MONASTERY • The history of this monastery starts with the old settlement - Agapia din Deal (Agapia from the hill) - founded, probably, by petru Rares and his wife Elena, between 1527-1538 or 1541-1546 . The monastery has a museum with an important colection of objects having great historical and artistical value. There old icons from XVI-XVII and XVIII centuries or signed by N. Grigorescu, textures and embroideries, crosses, other religious objects etc. There are also old manuscripts, carpets in Moldavian style made in the monastery workshops.

4. BISTRITA MONASTERY • The Bistrita Monastery (Romanian: Manastirea Bistrita) is a Romanian Orthodox monastery located 8 km west of Piatra Neamt. It was dedicated in 1402 by Romanian Voivode Alexandru cel Bun whose remains are buried here. The church is historically and archaeologically valuable. It shows features of Byzantine architecture, has many beautiful ornaments, the 15th century entrance door being a work of fine craftsmanship. The bell tower was erected in 1498 by Stephen the Great. The monastery was an important cultural center for calligraphers, miniaturists and chroniclers. The monastery's museum hosts an important collection of medieval art.

5. CURTEA DE ARGES MONASTERY • The Cathedral of Curtea de Arges (early 16th century) is one of the most famous buildings in Romania, and stands in the grounds of a monastery, 1 1/2 m north of Curtea de Arges. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas.It resembles a very large and elaborate mausoleum, built in Byzantine style, with Moorish arabesques. The interior is of brick, plastered and decorated with frescoes. Close by stands a large royal palace, Moorish in style. The archives of the cathedral were plundered by Hungarians and Turks, but several inscriptions, Greek, Slav and Roman, are left.

6. HOREZU MONASTERY • Founded in 1690 by Prince Constantine Brancovan, the monastery of Horezu [Hurez], in Walachia, is a masterpiece of the 'Brancovan' style. It is known for its architectural purity and balance, the richness of its sculptural detail, the treatment of its religious compositions, its votive portraits and its painted decorative works. The school of mural and icon painting established at the monastery in the 18th century was famous throughout the Balkan region.

7. TISMANA MONASTERY • Tismana Monastery – also named “the Star of Orthodoxy” – is one of the oldest, the most important, and the most beautiful monasteries in Romania. The word “Tismana” is of Thraco-Dacian origin and means “Place fortified with walls”. The presence in the language of such toponimics derived from the root “tis” – or “dis” – is a strong proof on the Romanian people’s continuity of existence on the territory of Dacia. After a temporary Hungarian occupation of Severin, St. Nicodim the Wallachian and a group of monks from Vodita Monastery came to Tismana. The monastery will preserve along the centuries the work of the Romanian monks that taught many trades in the monasteries on Mount Athos, especially at Cutlumush Monastery, which was built by Vlaicu Voievode of Walachia.St. Nicodim’s cultural activity, in S-E of Europe and in Romanian Provinces, changes entirely the opinions regarding a so-called “foreign influence” upon Romanian culture. The Romanian culture is a product of the Romanian ethnical element developed in the monasteries on Mount Athos, were representatives of other nation had been trained too.

8. SINAIA MONASTERY • The Sinaia Monastery was founded by Prince Mihai Cantacuzino in 1695 and named after the great Sinai Monastery on Mount Sinai. As of 2005 it is inhabited by 13 Christian Orthodox monks led by hegumen Macarie Bogus. • The museum of Sinaia Monastery, built in 1895 on the occasion of the monastery’s bicentenary, is the first religious museum in the country and shelters invaluable worship objects, the first Bible translated in Romanian and printed at Bucharest (in 1688, with the good will of ruler Serban Cantacuzino) and a gorgeous collection of icons.

9. VORONET MONASTERY • Voronet is a monastery in Romania, located in the town of Gura Humorului, Moldavia. It is one of the famous painted monasteries from southern Bukovina, now in Suceava County. Between May and September 1488, Stephen III of Moldavia (known as "Stephen the Great") built the Voronet Monastery to commemorate the victory at Battle of Vaslui. Often known as the "Sistine Chapel of the East", the frescoes at Voronet feature an intense shade of blue known in Romania as "Voronet blue". "[T]he exterior walls — including a representation of the Last Judgment on the west wall — were painted in 1547 with a background of vivid cerulean blue. This blue is so vibrant that art historians refer to Voronet blue the same way they do Titian red."

10. NEAMT MONASTERY • The Neamt Monastery (Romanian: Manastirea Neamt) is a Romanian Orthodox one religious settlement, one of the oldest and most important of its kind in Romania. It was built in 14th century, and it is an example of medieval Moldavian architecture. Jewel of 15th century architecture, the church was built by Stefan cel Mare and finished in the year when the Moldavian army won the battle against King John Albert (1497).The monastery is located in north-eastern part of Romania, in Neamt County, 10 km west of Târgu Neamt. The art treasures kept at Neamt Monastery are proof of the intense artistic and cultural activity which took place here through the centuries. Here Gavril Uric showed his talent, the most important representative of the Moldavian miniature from the 15th century. His first known manuscript, dated 1429, is kept in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (UK). The calligraphers and miniaturists of Stefan cel Mare who worked at this important center made many of the books given to Putna Monastery. In the cells of the monastery, the chronicler Macarie wrote the chronicle of Petru Rares's rule, and Eftimie the chronicle of Alexandru Lapusneanu's rule.

11. The learned tradition of the Neamt Monastery disappeared in the 17th and 18th centuries, to be reborn at the beginning of next century, when Metropolitan Veniamin Costachi established a printing house here. In the monastery museum is the old printing press, which was used to print books since 1807. In the monastery is a famous library more than 600 years old. Among the almost 11,000 volumes are many rare books, some being the first ones printed in this country. The altar screen of the former church from Neamt Fortress, is the most important treasure of all those in the monastery, along with the icon painted by Nicolae Grigorescu "The Flight from Egypt".

12. CELIK DERE MONASTERY • The Celic Dere Monastery is situated in Frecatei Commune, in Tulcea County and is one of the most well known monasteries in Dobrogea, considered the center of Orthodoxism of the area.It is named after the nearby river, which translated from Turkish means “River of Steel”. According to the existing documents, the first church was built here at the beginning of the 19th century by the bishop Athanasie Lisivencof.  During the next years, a studio for religious painting, a primary school for adults under the age of 40, a workshop for rugs and traditional sewing, were founded under the care of bishop Nifon.