Neamţ Monastery

In the commune Vânători-Neamţ, 15 km north-west from Târgu-Neamţ, the visitors may find the oldest and most important monastic establishment in Moldova. Over the centuries, its founding fathers were the voivodes Petru I Muşat (1375-1391), Alexandru cel Bun (1400-1432), and Ştefan cel Mare (1457-1504), the last having commissioned here the most beautiful of the churches built during his reign, when visitors can admire the miracle-making Virgin Mary icon, painted in 665 in Israel [???].

Within the large and strongly fortified precinct of the monastery, there are two churches (The Ascension and St George’s), two chapels, the largest and the oldest monastic library, an invaluable museum of religious art, and a printing press hall, many monk-cells. The scholarly traditions of this establishment date back to the fourteenth century owing to the brilliant activity conducted here by a famous calligraphic and miniaturist school under the guidance of Gavriil Uric. The printing press opened here in 1800 also adds to the tradition of the monastery.

Photo Album

Video