Bistrița Monastery (, ) is a

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

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

located in Bistrița village, Costești Commune,

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county (județ) that lies in south-central Romania. Located in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt (river), Olt River), it i ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Initially built between 1492 and 1494 by the

Craiovești The House of Craiovești (), later House of Brâncovenești (), was a boyar family in Wallachia who gave the country several of its Princes and held the title of Ban of Oltenia (whether of Strehaia or Craiova) for ca. 60 years. History The fir ...

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

s, it was destroyed in 1509 by

Mihnea cel Rău Mihnea cel Rău (''Mihnea the Wrongdoer/Mean/Evil''; c.1460 – 12 March 1510), the son of Vlad III Dracula (Vlad Țepeș), and his first wife, was Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia from 1508 to 1509, having replaced his first cousin Radu cel Mare ...

and subsequently rebuilt between 1515 and 1519 by the Craiovești. The monastery was rebuilt for a third time between 1846 and 1855, following the damage sustained during the 1838 earthquake. The new church was painted by

Gheorghe Tattarescu Gheorghe Tattarescu (; October 1818 – October 24, 1894) was a Moldavian, later Romanian painter and a pioneer of neoclassicism in his country's modern painting. Biography Early life and studies Tattarescu was born in Focşani in 1818. ...

External links

Monastery's page on the official website of the Archbishopric of Râmnic
Buildings and structures completed in 1494 Historic monuments in Vâlcea County Romanian Orthodox monasteries of Vâlcea County Christian monasteries established in the 1490s 15th-century establishments in Wallachia 15th-century Romanian Orthodox monasteries 1494 establishments in Europe {{Orthodox-monastery-stub