Turda: Manastirea Mihai Vodă
The Mihai Voda Monastery, dedicated to Saints Michael and Gabriel, was founded in 2002 (September 10th) at the initiative of His Eminence, the late Metropolitan Bartolomeu Anania, pastor of this diocese at that time, and is the only monastery of the Metropolitanate that was built at his proposal.
In 2001, during the commemoration of Voivode Michael the Brave, his Eminence, who was attending the ceremony exclaimed that it would be appropriate for a monastery to be erected in the very place where the Voivode, unifier of the country, had lost his life, to honor his memory and for his name to be ceaselessly remembered in the holy shrine. Readily reacting to the initiative, the local authorities soon donated the land needed for the monastery and, so, its construction began in 2002 under the supervision of Father Vasile Stiopei from Turda, a famous founder of sanctuaries.
The Necropolis Monastery is an architectural copy and, at the same time, a restitution of the dignity of the old Mihai Voda Monastery from Bucharest, which was founded by the Voivode in 1591, while he was the Ban of Craiova, and which was seriously mutilated during the communist regime.
From a horizontal perspective, the church within the monastery complex is designed as a Greek cross - a feature characteristic of Orthodox churches - with a main nave, apses provided each with a window, the altar closing with a vault shaped as a half dome, a nearby Prothesis (where the Table of Oblation is located) and a nearby Diaconicon. The layout of the church is an admirable triconchos (a layout consisting of 3 apses in clover-leaf shape), with a steeple over the nave, supported by pendants. A mosaic depicting the Virgin Mary and Saints Michael and Gabriel, the protectors of the monastic dwelling, is displayed on the frontispiece of the church. The facade is decorated in a rhythmic brick pattern that extends to the whole building. The two facade sections with arcatures (small decorative arcades) are separated by a median belt and framed by rows of bricks at the corners. The steeple, with an octagonal shape, has a similar decoration covering a single section.
The monastery complex has a rectangular shape and has a fortress-like enclosure running along three sides. The east side ends with a stone clad wall. The main entrance is located In the western part of the enclosure. The bell tower holding two bells making harmonious sounds is located above the entrance. In the southeast, the complex houses a chapel dedicated to St. Siluan. The monastic cells are arranged on two levels, in front of which there is a gallery with semicircular arches supported by cylindrical columns. The monastery keeps an ever-burning candle flame for the man who ‘sacrificed himself for the Romanian people’.
Turda: Manastirea Mihai Vodă
The Mihai Voda Monastery, dedicated to Saints Michael and Gabriel, was founded in 2002 (September 10th) at the initiative of His Eminence, the late Metropolitan Bartolomeu Anania, pastor of this diocese at that time, and is the only monastery of the Metropolitanate that was built at his proposal.
In 2001, during the commemoration of Voivode Michael the Brave, his Eminence, who was attending the ceremony exclaimed that it would be appropriate for a monastery to be erected in the very place where the Voivode, unifier of the country, had lost his life, to honor his memory and for his name to be ceaselessly remembered in the holy shrine. Readily reacting to the initiative, the local authorities soon donated the land needed for the monastery and, so, its construction began in 2002 under the supervision of Father Vasile Stiopei from Turda, a famous founder of sanctuaries.
The Necropolis Monastery is an architectural copy and, at the same time, a restitution of the dignity of the old Mihai Voda Monastery from Bucharest, which was founded by the Voivode in 1591, while he was the Ban of Craiova, and which was seriously mutilated during the communist regime.
From a horizontal perspective, the church within the monastery complex is designed as a Greek cross - a feature characteristic of Orthodox churches - with a main nave, apses provided each with a window, the altar closing with a vault shaped as a half dome, a nearby Prothesis (where the Table of Oblation is located) and a nearby Diaconicon. The layout of the church is an admirable triconchos (a layout consisting of 3 apses in clover-leaf shape), with a steeple over the nave, supported by pendants. A mosaic depicting the Virgin Mary and Saints Michael and Gabriel, the protectors of the monastic dwelling, is displayed on the frontispiece of the church. The facade is decorated in a rhythmic brick pattern that extends to the whole building. The two facade sections with arcatures (small decorative arcades) are separated by a median belt and framed by rows of bricks at the corners. The steeple, with an octagonal shape, has a similar decoration covering a single section.
The monastery complex has a rectangular shape and has a fortress-like enclosure running along three sides. The east side ends with a stone clad wall. The main entrance is located In the western part of the enclosure. The bell tower holding two bells making harmonious sounds is located above the entrance. In the southeast, the complex houses a chapel dedicated to St. Siluan. The monastic cells are arranged on two levels, in front of which there is a gallery with semicircular arches supported by cylindrical columns. The monastery keeps an ever-burning candle flame for the man who ‘sacrificed himself for the Romanian people’.