The Annunciation Day (Romanian ”Buna Vestire” or “Blagoveştenia”) is the feast that gathers, every year, a large number of tourists and pilgrims at the Durău Monastery, located at the foot of Ceahlău Mountain. On this day (the 25th of March) the Monastery celebrates its Dedication Day. After taking part in the religious service, people will enjoy fish dishes, being allowed to eat fish on this holy day.
In the popular culture, calendar the Annunciation Day is also known as the Cuckoo Day (Romanian “Ziua cucului”). The elders say that in the …

 
 
 Celebrating the Dedication Day of Horaița Monastery
 
 
 
Located in the Village of Crăcăoani, 6 km away from the road between Piatra Neamţ and Tîrgu Neamţ, Horaiţa Monastery is higly frequented by believers, who come here for recovering and forming a sacred communion with God. The Monastery celebrates its Dedication Day on the 25th of March, the day of the Announciation (Romanian “Buna Vestire”).
The church is built exclusively of stone and has eight towers, a unique element of the Moldavian ecclesiastical architecture, which stands as a symbol of eternity. The number and …

Isolated in the heart of the mountains, far away from the noisy world, The Horăicioara Convent (also known as “The Old Horaița”) is situated all around Cracaoani Village. The Horăicioara Convent „is a eagle’s nest hanging in the crack of an air cliff” as the famous Romanian writer Calistrat Hogaș recalled.
Not only is the place wonderful -a real oasis of peace and quiet- but is also believed to be a place where miracles happen. The monks and villagers say that nearby the convent there is a spring with healing water. …

 
Bistriţa Monastery
 
 
 
Its successive founders are the four great Muşat princes: Alexandru cel Bun, Ştefan cel Mare, Petru Rareş, and Alexandru Lăpuşneanu. The most precious religious artefact of the monastery is St Ana’s Icon reputed for producing miracles, presented as a gift by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II the Palaiologos and his wife Ana in 1407. In the early fifteenth century, the monk Chiril created here a genuine work of art by copying and decorating with miniatures the Tetraevanghel [the Four Gospels]. The tradition was carried on between the sixteenth and …

 
Durău Monastery
 
 
 
Commissioned in the seventeenth century by one of Vasile Lupu’s daughter, the monastery was rebuilt in 1835, at the expense of some affluent tradesmen in Piatra-Neamţ.
The church – made of stone and brick – combined traditional Moldavian architecture with laic elements. However, the western facade – in neoclassical style – is decorated with a frontispiece with recesses, al fresco icons and an exquisitely carved oak portal.
The painting made a century on by Nicolae Tonitza has a special character both owing to the style and composition of religious scenes and …

 
 
Ceahlău National Park
 
 
This park was declared a protected area in 1955, but the current limits were established in 2003. The 7,742.5 hectares of the park encompass the following reservations: Ocolaşul Mare (with the highest summit – 1,907 m), Poliţa cu Crini, Cascada Duruitoarea (30 m high) and Avenul mare (a spectacular sinkhole formed by waters in limestone).
Mount Ceahlău, Moldova’s precious stone, as the scholar Prince Dimitrie Cantemir called it in his famous work in Latin Descriptio Moldaviae (1716), has its share of spirituality. There have been sites of praying here …