Putna Monastery

On a dark night, while Daniil the Hermit prayed in the depths of his cell, Stefan-Voda arrived at his place. The Hermit led the prince to a nearby high place, from where he showed him some lights in the valley, and where angelic chants could be heard. The Hermit then told the ruler that there he should build a monastery in honor of the Mother of God. 

The ruler listened to his advice and laid the cornerstone of the monastery on July 10, 1466. The construction lasted three years. 

Stefan-Voda's Putna had splendid interior and exterior paintings. The voivode granted special rights to the monastery. The community functioned as an informal school, where Greek and Slavic languages, rhetoric, logic, church music, and even astronomy were taught, as well as embroidery, calligraphy, iconography, woodcarving, and pottery. 

At the "First Celebration of Romanians Everywhere" in 1871, great Romanian intellectuals were present: Ioan Slavici, Mihai Eminescu, Ciprian Porumbescu, A. D. Xenopol, Mihail Kogălniceanu, who supported the idea of cultural unity of Romanians and preceded the unification of all Romanians into one state. 

After the Union, Putna gathered the entire Romanian soul, in memory of Stephen the Great, the iconic voivode, a symbol of comfort and hope for the people. Coming here, King Ferdinand along with Queen Maria, on May 16, 1920, said: "The Cell and the White Fortress, the loss of which made your heart bleed, are ours." 

The communist regime brought serious restrictions to the monastery, but it remained a spiritual and cultural center of Moldavia. Even today, events dedicated to the poet Mihai Eminescu take place here, conferences dedicated to the academician Zoe Dumitrescu Bușulenga, who became a nun as Mother Benedicta, whose tomb is located in the monastery, and international history symposiums. 

You can visit the Monastery Museum, which hosts an extremely valuable treasure: one of the most precious collections of Byzantine embroidery technique in southeastern Europe, manuscripts, silverware, religious objects, and a replica of the sword of Saint Stephen the Great located in the Weapons Room of the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, Turkey.

A multitude of legends are tied to the origin of the place and the events that facilitated the construction of the Putna Monastery. 

Among these, the most well-known is the legend focusing on the old hermit Daniil the Hermit. He, having secret advice with voivode Stephen the Great, would have persuaded him to build a monastery nearby, on the beautiful valley of Putna. Through this achievement of the voivode, according to Daniil the Hermit's words, God would help him in everything he does. 

Another legend, which places Stephen’s decision to found the Putna Monastery between a lost battle and a won one, and its construction after both events.

According to chronicler Ion Neculce, Putna during the Stephenian era presented both exceptional ornaments and interior and exterior paintings of rare beauty. The chronicler was impressed by the appearance of the monastery, which was all gilded with gold, where the paintings and gilded elements blended in perfect harmony. 

A fragment of the original painting was embedded, at an unknown date, above the door leading from the narthex to the tomb room, constituting a modest testimony of the sumptuous ornamentation of the past.

At Putna, there are numerous invaluable treasures such as the Tetraevangelists, among which the most important is the Tetraevangelist written by the monk Nicodim, from the first community of Putna. On folio 266 verso is the most famous portrait of Saint Stephen preserved from his time. 

Alongside this, the monastery also houses the anonymous Tetraevangelist and the Tetraevangelist gifted by the logothete Petru Albotă. 

One can also admire the oldest preserved wooden cross in Moldavia and one of the most precious collections of Byzantine embroidery technique in southeastern Europe.