Transylvania Trips - Enjoy Romania with us
Monasteries in Romania
Moldovita Monastery 
The first monastery erected on the site was the one built by Alexander the Kind-Hearted (1400-1432), between 1402 and 1410, but it collapsed at the beginning of the 16th century because of the very heavy rains and ground sliding; its ruins can still be seen today.
Moldovita Monastery that one can we see today dates back to 1532 and is due to ruling prince Petru Rares (1532-1546). It has, like Sucevita, the aspect of a fortress, with imposing towers and high, thick walls (6 m high, 1.2 m wide). According to the architectural tradition set by Stephen the Great, the church has a three-cusped plan, as well as an open porch.
The masters who painted its interior and exterior walls have decorated them with scenes from 16th century Moldavian daily life. But the most interesting painting is the Siege of Constantinople on the south facade, relating to the Romanians' fights against foreign invasions, especially Turks. The painting combines scenes of the siege of Constantinople from 1453 with others referring to a previous such attempt made by the Persians, in 626. The frescoes are due to Toma of Suceava and were painted in 1537, when Petru Rares had not yet given up his fight against the Sultan. ...[read more]
Voronet Monastery
The Voronet Monastery is possibly the most famous monastery of Romania. It is known throughout the world for its exterior frescoes of bright and intense colours, and for the hundreds of well-preserved figures placed against the renowned azurite background. The church of Voronet that Stephen the Great built included the chancel, the naos with its tower, and the pronaos.
The monastery is located on a riverbank, at the end of the long and narrow village of the same name, near the town of Gura Humorului. The age of the monastic site is not known. A legend tells us that Stephen the Great (Stefan cel Mare), in a moment of crisis during a war against the Turks, came to Daniel the Hermit at his skete in Voronet and asked for advice. After he won the battle against the Turks, keeping his promise to the monk, the prince built a new church, dedicated to St. George, the bringer of victory in battle. This is the present church that was built on the site of an older wooden church, the scanty remains of which have not been dated. The renowned researcher George Bals wrote in the 1920's that the churches of this period, and in part also those built in the following century, were "Byzantine churches built with Gothic hands".The structure and the interior spatial solutions were linked to the Byzantine and south Slavic tradition.
The exterior, with its buttresses and door and window frames were related to Western European High Gothic. The influences spread from Transylvania and Poland with craftsmen who were invited especially to build churches. ...[read more]
Putna Monastery
We know about Putna that it was the first monastery built by Stephen the Great (Stefan cel Mare). Moreover, the ruler wanted it to be his place of eternal rest. Thus, like Bogdan I and Alexander the Good, Stephen the Great meant the monastery to be the ruling family necropolis.
Stephen the Great proved his appraisal towards the church by the numerous gifts he made. As mentioned in the Putna 1 and 2 Chronicles, the ruler set the foundation in July 1466. The building of the church lasted for three years, but the interior walls were only built in 1481. The blessing of the church took place on 8 September 1470. It is very likely that the church suffered several changes in 1484, following a fire. The present building is from the 17th century, and was subsequently modified in 1757 and at the beginning of our century. With all the transformations, it keeps unchanged the fortress aspect so characteristic for the great Moldavian monastery settlements.
Undoubtedly the church of the Putna monastery was monumental as the masters and painters surpassed their own talent in working there. Chronicle writer Ion Neculce mentions its beauty. ...[read more]
Sucevita Monastery
Sucevita is chronologically the last and greatest monastic ensemble among the painted monasteries in Bukovina, as it has the appearance of a real fortress, with towers, buttresses and watch roads.
It was erected in 1581 by Gheorghe Movila, Bishop of Radauti, and consecrated to the Assumption in 1584. Ruling prince Ieremia Movila, Gheorghe Movila's brother, added to the church two open porches (to the north and to the south); he also built massive houses, thick surrounding walls and defence towers.
The legend has it that an old woman had been working there for thirty years, carrying in her ox wagon stone for the construction of the monastery. This is the reason why a female head is carved on a black stone in the monastery's yard. The fortress structure of the site had a defensive role; it actually prevented the mural paintings (made in 1595-1596) from serious damaging as it happened with frescoes of other painted monasteries. ...[read more]
Sambata de sus Monastery
Sambata de sus, also called "Brancoveanu" Monastery is located on the valley of Sambata river. The monastery is famous for being a place of recovery, comfort and spiritual balm for visitors who halt or pray in this sacred dwelling.
The history of Brancoveanu Monastery originates in the 17th century. At the beginning of this century, there is indirect evidence about the existence of the monastery in several disparate documents, which mention some monks of the monastery (especially in the "Urbarii" of the Fagaras Land); the first direct evidence is from 1614, when the village and the estate of Sambata de Sus become Preda Brancoveanu's property; he was Constantin Brancoveanu's grandfather, a landowner from the south of Carpathian mountains.
In 1785 the monastery was partially demolished by the order of general Bukow from Vienna. All the cells were completely destroyed, the church became a ruin and the monks were driven away. Throughout the 140 years since the destruction there had been many people who tried to restore it such as Metropolitan Bishop Andrei Saguna, Bishop Ilarie Puscariu, nun Maria Boros and so on, but with no results. The honor of becoming the second founder of the Brancoveanu Monastery was given to Metropolitan Nicolae Balan, who started the restoration work in the 1926. Its consecration took place in 1946 , after the war (that is why the precincts were not rebuilt). ...[read more]
Curtea de Arges Monastery
One of the oldest cities in Romania, Curtea de Arges (in translation: The Court of Arges) used to be the capital of Wallachia (we, Romanians, call this region Muntenia, as there are many mountains here). Another name for Wallachia is Vechiul Regat (The Old Kingdom), as its history indicates it as one of the first regions where royal dinasties set foot.
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 km 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. In shape it is oblong, with a many-sided annex at the back. In the centre rises a dome, fronted by two smaller cupolas, while a secondary dome, broader and loftier than the central one, springs from the annex. Each summit is crowned by an inverted pear-shaped stone, bearing a triple cross, emblematic of the Trinity. ...[read more]
Cozia Monastery
Bathing its historical walls in "waves upon waves of billowing crests", there where the Olt gathers its waters after they have broken through the steep rocks - of the pass in the mountain which gave its name to the monastery, Cozia (like its sister Tismana, farther off, and like the neighboring monasteries of Turnu and Stanisoara), is set in one of the most picturesque of the many carpathian landscapes which are the pride of Oltenia, this immense repository of such monuments.
This natural setting is associated with an original architectural and decorative diversity, with one of the richest collection of old art and scholarly books, and, at the same time, with the indefatigable achievements of great cultural and national scopes carried out on both sides of the Carpathians for over five centuries; all harmoniously embedded in the unique magnificence of these legendary sites.
The foundation of Mircea the Elder was built between 1386 and 1388 in a region which, at that time, was difficult to reach, but where walnut trees easily grew; the name of the place itself derives from the Petcheneg-Cumanian term "coz" = walnut, which became Cozia = nut grove. On the grounds of other philological information, this interpretation of the name seems more reliable than others which made it derive from the Slavonic "koz" = goat. However, at the bottom, both names correspond to the same local features; the criterion used differing according to circumstances and to either botanical or zoological occupation. ...[read more]
Attractions
Bran Castle Museum
Bran Castle Museum is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia in Brasov County. This castle is known as the homestead of Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) and is the most visited attraction of Romania.
Corvins' Castle (Hunyadi Castle) Museum
The Corvins' Castle impresses by the presence that dominates the city of Hunedoara. For those ones attracted by the Middle Age, the Corvins' Castle represents an unique monument in Romania and one of the most interesting in Europe.
Peles Castle Museum
Located in Sinaia (44 km from Brasov), Peles Castle is considered by many one of the most beautiful castles in all Europe. It was the final resting place for several Romanian monarchs including King Carol I, who died here in 1914.
Fagaras Citadel
Fagaras Fortress is the most impressive monument of the town, and the core around which the town was actually built. Ladislaw Kan started to built it in 1310 on the former place of a 12th century wooden fortress strengthened by earthen walled fortifications. The former fortress had been burned down by the Tartars in 1241. The fort was enlarged and rebuilt in the 15th-17th centuries in the Transylvanian Renaissance style and came to be known, alongside with Deva, as one of the strongest fortifications in Transylvania.
Rasnov Citadel
Rasnov Citadel (Rosenau in German), is located on a rocky hilltop in the Carpathian mountains, 200m above the town of Rasnov in Romania. It is 15 km southwest of Brasov and also about 15 km from Bran Castle. The fortress is on the Bran Pass, a trade route connecting Wallachia with Transylvania. The view from the top of the castle hill is spectacular.
Rupea Citadel
Rupea Fortress, located on the Northwestern side of Brasov county, was built on a basalt rock. The first trace of the citadel is on a document where the writers referred to it as Koholom citadel meaning the rock eminence. It is said that on that particular rock once existed a Roman camp, during the time Dacia was conquered by Romans. Later on, the Saxons and Hungarians who settled on these lands rebuilt the camp.
Sighisoara Citadel
The Sighisoara Citadel is the old historic center of the town of Sighisoara (Hungarian: Segesvar, German: Schaessburg), Romania, built in the 12th century by Saxon colonists. It is the last inhabited medieval citadel in Europe and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, for its 850 year old testimony to the history and culture of the Transylvanian Saxons.
Deva Fortress
Deva (German: Diemrich, Hungarian: Deva) is a city situated on the left bank of the middle course of the Mures river. It is the capital of Hunedoara county in Romania and has around 80,000 inhabitants, including subordinated villages. In Ancient Times it was a Dacian fortress called Singidava.
Harman Fortress
The Harman fortress is located 8 km north-east of Brasov. It dates back to the 13th century when the Saxons built the original church in a Romanesque style which was restored in a Gothic style.
Brasov Citadel
Brasov, known as Kronstadt in German or Brasso in Hungarian is one of the largest cities in Romania. It is located in the center of the country and surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains. The city provides a mix of wonderful mountain scenery in the nearby Poiana Brasov and medieval history with Germanic influences in the old town.
Sibiu Citadel
In 2007 Sibiu is the European Capital of Culture (together with Luxembourg). It is the most important cultural event that has ever happened in the city and a great number of tourists are expected, both domestic and foreign. The city of Sibiu and its surroundings are one of the most visited areas in Romania.
Suceava Fortress
Suceava is the capital city of the Suceava County, Bukovina, northeastern Romania. It is sittuated on a commercial high-way that linked the Baltic with the Black Sea. The town of Suceava gained its importance from the presence of the main royal palace which Petru I Musat built here at the end of the XlVth century. Close to the royal court and the citadel stood the Mirauti Church, the first Metropolitan Church of Moldavia, which once housed the relics of Saint John the New, one of Moldavia's patron saints.
Prejmer Fortress
Prejmer (German: Tartlau; Hungarian: Prazsmar) is a town in Brasov County, Romania. It is located 18 km northeast of Brasov. Prejmer Fortress (15th century) - is the best-preserved peasant fortress of Transylvania, included in the UNESCO patrimony.
