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The Sinaia Monastery, located in Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, was founded by Prince Mihail Cantacuzino in 1695 and named after the great Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in Egypt.
As of 2005, it is inhabited by 13 Christian Orthodox monks led by hegumen Macarie Boguș.
It is part of the Bucharest archdiocese.
Its architectural style is Byzantine
The monastery gave its name to the town of Sinaia.
The monastery consists of two courtyards surrounded by low buildings.
In the centre of each courtyard there is a small church built in the Byzantine style.
One of them —"Biserica Veche" (The Old Church)— dates from 1695, while the more recent "Biserica Mare" (The Great Church) was built in 1846.
The monks possess a library that is a repository for valuable jewels belonging to the Cantacuzino family, as well as the earliest Romanian translation of the Bible, dated 1668.
Prince (Spătarul) Mihail Cantacuzino founded the monastery upon his return from a pilgrimage to Mount Sinai.
The first buildings were completed between 1690 and 1695.
It was designed to serve as a monastery as well as a fortified stronghold on the route from Brasov to Bucharest.
The initial plan was for the monastery to hold 12 monks, to imitate the Twelve Apostles, but in time the number of monks grew.
In the midst of the Russo-Turkish War, 1735–1739, before deserting the monastery, monks hid the valuables by burying them inside a bell.
During a battle, the Turks defeated troops stationed within the walls of the monastery.
The Ottomans burned the area and broke through the wall in two places.
Until 1850, Sinaia consisted of little more than the monastery and a group of huts.
In 1864, however, the monastic estate was assigned to the Board of Civil Hospitals (Eforia Spitalelor Civile), which opened a hospital and several baths, and helped develop mineral springs in Sinaia.
In 1948, the monastery was put under the patronage of the Archdiocese of Bucharest from the Board of Civil Hospitals.
The Romanian Patriarch, Justinian Marina, restored the buildings between the years 1951 and 1957 with money from the Archdiocese.
During this period, the whole monastery was fitted with running water, electricity, and natural gas.
Thanks to the efforts of King Carol I, the Great Church of the monastery became the first church to use electric lights inside.
Under the leadership of Hegumens Ioasaf and Paisie, construction of The Great Church began in 1842 using funds allocated by the monastery and was completed in 1846.
This smaller structure was enlarged by the Board of Civil Hospitals during a period from 1897 to 1903.
All these efforts gave the building the appearance it has today.
Created by architect George Mandrea, the structure utilizes the Moldavian style and the Brâncovenesc style from Walachia.
It is said that the belt of three green enamel lines that encircle the building represent the unity of the Holy Trinity in one God and the unity of the Three Romanian Kingdoms in one country.
The gold mosaic paintings inside were created by Danish artist Aage Exner in a typical neo-Byzantine style.
The main illustrations show five persons:
Iosif Gheorghian mitropolit primat – he re-opened the building in 1903
Carol I of Romania – shown dressed as an officer, with his right hand upon a rock pillar with a missing piece.
This symbolizes the missing Romanian territories at that time
Elisabeth of Wied – Queen consort of Romania, known in the literary world as Carmen Sylva
Princess Maria of Romania – Queen Elisabeta's only child, who died at an early age
Mihail Cantacuzino – builder of the Old Church
The furniture was made of wood (sycamore, maple, and oak) by Constantin Babic and his students at the Bucharest Art School (Ṣcoala de Arte si Meserii).
The King's throne displays the royal emblem and the motto Nihil sine Deo (Nothing without God).
The Queen's throne is embossed with the letters E.D. Both thrones are gold-plated.
The two Russian icons, of Saint Serghei and Saint Nicholas, were a gift from Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in 1903.
They were presented to the Hegumen Nifon Arhimandritul for the baptism of Prince Nicholae, son of King Ferdinand.
A remarkable piece adorning the monastery is the epitaphios by Anna Roth, made of silk and gold on a cotton base.
It took three years (from 1897 to 1900) to finish.
During the leadership of Hegumen Nifon Popescu (1888–1909), a large bell tower was added to the monastery walls.
It was completed in 1892.
The 1,700-kilogram bell was brought from the Colţea Tower in Bucharest.
To the left of the bell tower atthe entrance lies the Museum.
In 1895 the museum of the monastery was opened, the first exhibition of religious objects in Romania.
It holds collections of icons and crosses from the 17th century, the very first Bible in Romanian (Bucharest, 1688), and many other precious objects.
The New Church dates back to 1846, but was renovated and enlarged in the following decades at the initiative of King Carol the 1st who used the monastery as a summer residence until the inauguration of the nearby Peles Castle.
Given the constant presence of its royal guests, the Great Church was adorned with the large-scale painted portraits of Queen Elisabeta and King Carol the 1st and two royal seats close to the altar.
The large proportions of the New Church and combination of typical elements of the ‘Brancovenesc’ style — the small porch with carved stone columns and ornated portal — and the Moldavian church style — high and solid walls similar to a fortress — create a one of a kind church in Southern Romania, a symbol of the cultural unity of the Romanian provinces.
The monastery was endowed in 1153 by the first Portuguese king, Afonso Henriques, during the Reconquista. The rectory was added in the late 13th century, endowed by King Dinis I.
Construction started in 1501 and took about a century. An example of the Manueline style of architecture, it merges the Gothic and Renaissance styles.
The Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Oudong Buddhist Monastery.
Oudong was once the royal residence and capital of Cambodia for around 250 years up to 1866. It is about 40 km. north-west of Phnom Penh.
It sits at the foothill of Mt. Phnom Oudong. We weren't going to see the mountain which happens to be dotted with stupas and shrines though. We were going to visit the very large Oudong Buddhist monastery and meditation centre.
Phuktal Monastery or Phuktal Gompa (often transliterated as Phugtal) is a Buddhist monastery located in the remote Lungnak Valley in south-eastern Zanskar, in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, in Northern India. It is one of the only Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh that can still be reached only by foot. Supplies to the monastery are brought on horses, donkeys, and mules in the warmer months, and in the frozen winters, they are transported through the frozen Zanskar River. A road is expected to be built up to the monastery, however, for now, it is a day's walk from Village Cha or Village Khangsaar, the end of the road leading from Padum.
Drepung Monastery is located at the foot of Mount Gephel about three miles from Lhasa, and is one of the great three university monasteries of Tibet.
Deyr ul-Zafaran Monastery (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܚܢܢܝܐ, Dairo d-Mor Ḥannanyo) is an important Syriac Orthodox monastery near the city of Mardin in Turkey. Founded in 493 AD, the monastery was formerly the seat of the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1160 until 1932 where it relocated to Damascus.
The monastery has 365 rooms - one for each day of the year.
The Cistercian monastery of Vyšší Brod is located about 30 km to the south of Český Krumlov, on the right bank of the Vltava river. The monastery church with its adjacent buildings was constructed step-by-step from the mid 13th century and it was finished in the later half of the 14th century. The oldest part is the one floor sacristy dated about 1270.
The Arkadi Monastery (in Greek: / Moní Arkadhíou) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery, situated on a fertile plateau 23 km (14 mi) to the southeast of Rethymnon on the island of Crete in Greece.
The current catholicon (church) dates back to the 16th century and is marked by the influence of the Renaissance. This influence is visible in the architecture, which mixes both Roman and baroque elements. As early as the 16th century, the monastery was a place for science and art and had a school and a rich library. Situated on a plateau, the monastery is well fortified, being surrounded by a thick and high wall.
The monastery played an active role in the Cretan resistance of Ottoman rule during the Cretan revolt of 1866. 943 Greeks, mostly women and children,[1] sought refuge in the monastery. After three days of battle and under orders from the hegumen (abbot) of the monastery, the Cretans blew up barrels of gunpowder, choosing to sacrifice themselves rather than surrender.
The monastery became a national sanctuary in honor of the Cretan resistance. 8 November is a day of commemorative parties in Arkadi and Rethymno. The explosion did not end the Cretan insurrection, but it attracted the attention of the rest of the world.
Arkadi Gorge
The Arkadi Monastery is located in the Rethymno regional unit, 25 km southeast of Rethymno. The Monastery is situated on a rectangular plateau on the northwest side of Mount Ida (Crete), at an altitude of 500 m.[2] The Arkadian region is fertile and has vineyards, olive groves and pine, oak and Cyprus forests. The plateau on which the monastery rests is surrounded by hills. The west side of the plateau stops abruptly and falls off into gorges. The gorges start at Tabakaria and lead to Stavromenos, to the east of Rethymno. The Arkadian gorges have a rich diversity of plants and native wildflowers.[3]
The Arkadian Plateau
The area the monastery is located in first developed in antiquity. The presence of Mount Ida (Crete), which is a sacred mountain because it was legendarily the childhood home of Zeus, made the area attractive to early settlers. Five km to the northeast, the city of Eleftherna had its cultural peak in the time of Homer and in classical antiquity, but its influence was also felt in the early Christian and Byzantine periods.
The closest village to the monastery is Amnatos, located three km to the north. The villages that surround Arkadi are rich in Byzantine relics that prove the early wealth of the region. The Moni Arseniou monastery, which is several km north of Arkadi, was also an example of the grand Cretan monasteries.
Arkadi Monastery is in the shape of a nearly rectangular parallelogram. The interior resembles a fortress and is 78.5 metres long on the north wall, 73.5 metres on the south wall, 71.8 metres on the east wall and 67 metres on the west wall. The total area of the monastery is 5200 m².
The Emperor Arcadius, who founded the monastery according to tradition.
The exact date of the founding of the monastery is not precisely known. According to tradition, the foundation of the monastery is sometimes attributed to the Byzantine emperor Heraclius and sometimes to the emperor Arcadius in the 5th century. And, according to the second version, the monastery took its name from the name of the emperor. However, in Crete, it is common for monasteries to be named after the monk that founded the building, which lends support to the theory that Arkadi may have been founded by a monk named Arkadios. Other such monasteries are Vrontisiou, Arsiniou and Aretiou.
According to Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, the monastery was built on the site of an ancient city, Arcadia. Legend tells that after the destruction of Arcadia, all the springs and fountains stopped flowing until a new city was built.[5][Note 1] However, in 1837, Robert Pashley found evidence to suggest that it was impossible for the monastery to have been built on the ruins of another city,[6] so this idea has lost credence.
In 1951, the professor K. Kalokyris published an inscription dating to the 14th century and verified the hypothesis that a monastery was dedicated to Saint Constantine in this period. The inscription was located on the pediment of a church that predates the current one, over the entrance door. It read:
"The church carrying the name of Arkadi is consecrated to Saint Constantine. wikipedia
Monastery Panagia Kounistra
Skiathos
Greece
Chiesa
Church
www.mauriziomolinari.com/2010/09/23/piccoli-monasteri-ort...
Jvari (Cross) Monastery is a Georgian Orthodox monastery of the 6th century near Mtskheta (World Heritage site), eastern Georgia. The name is translated as the Monastery of the Cross. Jvari Monastery stands on the rocky mountaintop at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers, overlooking the town of Mtskheta, which was formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Iberia.
Prohor Pčinjski (Serbian Cyrillic: Прохор Пчињски) is an 11th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery in the deep south of Serbia, located in village Klenike, Pčinja District near the border with Macedonia. It is situated at the slopes of Kozjak at the left side of the Pčinja river.
The Monastery of the Cross (Georgian: ჯვრის მონასტერი) is an Orthodox monastery near the Nayot neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel. It is located in the Valley of the Cross, below the Israel Museum and the Knesset.
The monastery was built in the 11th century, during the reign of King Bagrat IV by the Georgian Giorgi-Prokhore of Shavsheti. It is believed that the site was originally consecrated in the 4th century under the instruction of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who later gave the site to the Georgian King Mirian III of Iberia after the conversion of his country to Christianity in 327 A.D.
By the 14th century, the monastery had become the center of the Georgian community in Jerusalem. By 1685, however, the monastery had been taken over by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate
Stauropigial Monastery of St. Onuphrious in Jableczna, 2004.06.25.
Liturgy served near Belarusian Border, close to river Bug.
Starts at 4.00 AM.
Procession to the chapel
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The Samye Monastery or Samye Gompa (Tibetan: བསམ་ཡས་) is the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet. It was probably first constructed between 775-9 CE under the patronage of King Trisong Detsen of Tibet who sought to revitalize Buddhism, which had declined since its introduction by King Songtsän Gampo in the 7th century. The monastery is in Dranang, Lhoka Prefecture. It was supposedly modeled on the design of Odantapuri in what is now Bihar, India.
The 18th century Puning Temple of Chengde, Hebei, China was modeled after the Samye Gompa.