The Neamț Monastery ( ro, Mănăstirea Neamț) is a

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...

religious settlement, one of the oldest and most important of its kind in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It was built in the 15th century, and it is an example of medieval

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

n architecture. A jewel of 15th-century architecture, the church was built during the reign of

Stephen III of Moldavia Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

(1457–1504) and finished in the year when the Moldavian army won the battle against King

John I Albert John I Albert ( pl, Jan I Olbracht; 27 December 1459 – 17 June 1501) was King of Poland from 1492 until his death in 1501 and Duke of Głogów (Glogau) from 1491 to 1498. He was the fourth Polish sovereign from the Jagiellonian dynasty, the s ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(1497).

Location

The monastery is located in the north-eastern part of Romania, in

Neamț County Neamț County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historic region of Moldavia, with the county seat at Piatra Neamț. The county takes its name from the Neamț River. Demographics Population In 2011, it had a population of 470,76 ...

, 10 km west of

Târgu Neamț Târgu Neamț (; german: Niamtz, hu, Németvásár, he, נאמץ טרגו, la, Ante Castrum Nempch) is a town in Neamț County, Western Moldavia, Romania, on the river Neamț. It had, , a population of 20,496. Three villages are administered ...

. It is accessible by car (DN 15B road) and train (Târgu Neamț railway station); the nearest airport is

Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central and Eastern E ...

, located about 60 km to the north.

Architecture

Sumptuous, with delicate colour effects, the monastery shows the maturity of the Moldavian architectonic style, which matured during Ștefan cel Mare's period. The façade of the church is covered with decorations characteristic of that time:

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

windows and friezes with enameled disks, coloured in green, yellow and brown. In the chamber of the tombs, which appear for the first time at this church, is the tomb of Ștefan al II-lea, son of

Alexandru cel Bun Alexander the Good ( ro, Alexandru cel Bun or ''Alexandru I Mușat''; c. 1375 – 1 January 1432) was a Voivode (Lord) of Moldavia, reigning between 1400 and 1432, son of Roman I Mușat. He succeeded Iuga to the throne, and, as a ruler, init ...

and uncle of

Ștefan cel Mare Stephen III of Moldavia, most commonly known as Stephen the Great ( ro, Ștefan cel Mare; ; died on 2 July 1504), was Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II, who was murdered in 1451 ...

Manuscripts and art

The art treasures kept at Neamț 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 The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. The calligraphers and miniaturists of Ștefan cel Mare who worked at this important center made many of the books given to

Putna Monastery The Putna monastery ( ro, Mănăstirea Putna) is a Romanian Orthodox monastery, one of the most important cultural, religious and artistic centers established in medieval Moldavia; as with many others, it was built and dedicated by Stephen the ...

. In the cells of the monastery, the chronicler Macarie wrote the chronicle of

Petru Rareș Petru Rareș (), sometimes known as Petryła or Peter IV (Petru IV; c. 1483 – 3 September 1546), was twice voivode of Moldavia: 20 January 1527 to 18 September 1538 and 19 February 1541 to 3 September 1546. He was an illegitimate child born (pr ...

's rule, and Eftimie the chronicle of

Alexandru Lăpușneanu Alexandru IV Lăpușneanu (1499 – 5 May 1568) was Ruler of Moldavia between September 1552 and 18 November 1561 and then between October 1564 and 5 May 1568. His wife and consort was Doamna Ruxanda Lăpușneanu, the daughter of Peter IV Rare� ...

's rule. The learned tradition of the Neamț 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. The monastery's library is said to be 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 Neamț Fortress, is the most important treasure of all those in the monastery, along with the icon painted by

Nicolae Grigorescu Nicolae Grigorescu (; 15 May 1838 – 21 July 1907) was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting. There is a metro station named after Grigorescu in Bucharest. It was given his name in 1990, before which it was named after Communist army ...

, "The Flight from Egypt".

Gallery

File:KlosterNeamt1.JPG, File:Mănăstirea Neamţ3.jpg File:Romania - Neamt monastery 10.jpg, File:KlosterNeamtDetail1.JPG, File:Mănăstirea Neamţ4.jpg File:Romania - Neamt monastery 5.jpg File:Manastirea Neamtului - July 2008 - 4.jpg File:Biserica Manastirii Neamt 01.jpg Neamt 5.jpg

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neamt Monastery 1497 establishments in Europe Religious organizations established in the 1490s Romanian Orthodox monasteries of Neamț County Historic monuments in Neamț County Christian monasteries established in the 15th century Churches established by Stephen the Great 15th century in Romania Lavras