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This monastery -- Snagov Monastery -- is located about 25 miles north of Bucharest in Ilfov County. (It's close enough that I'm including it as a Bucharest album.)
So what's the deal with Snagov Monastery? Honestly, I don't know. It seems there's no consensus on much of anything here, other than that the monastery exists. Nobody is sure when it was built, exactly, and that may have part to do with the reason it was built...if you choose to believe that, too.
This is (or not?) Vlad Tepes's final resting place. (For sake of argument, I'll say it is, though...who knows?) Vlad's English sobriquet is Vlad the Impaler (Tepes in Romanian), and he was...rather cruel. By the time of his death, he had many enemies, and it seems he was beheaded as his form of demise. This monastery was possibly built Vlad himself (at his orders, that is), or at the request of his grandfather.
Vlad's "tomb" in the middle of the church floor. Well...as he had a lot of enemies, one thought is that his burial spot was hidden. Some say he was -- and still is -- buried here, but deep under the floor, and animal bones were buried above him to throw off anyone who found the location. Well...the place was excavated, animal bones were found, and (I guess?) they didn't dig deeper. Short answer...nobody knows and it serves tourism's interests not to confirm. I'll leave it at that.
As for the aesthetics of the monastery, it's a standard Greek Orthodox church on the inside. That means...lots of paintings covering 100% of the wall. (This small monastery, though, is not a great example of Romanian churches; the churches up in Transylvania at Maramures are all much better representations. The painted monasteries there are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Having said all of that, if you're in Bucharest, this is worth seeing just for the fun of it. Day trips are cheap and easy.
Labrang Monastery (Tibetan: བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཁྱིལ་, Wylie: bla-brang bkra-shis-'khyil) is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its formal name is Genden Shédrup Dargyé Trashi Gyésu khyilwé Ling (Tibetan: དགེ་ལྡན་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་བཀྲ་ཤིས་གྱས་སུ་འཁྱིལ་བའི་གླིང༌།, Wylie: dge ldan bshad sgrub dar rgyas bkra shis gyas su 'khyil ba'i gling).
Labrang is located in Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu, in the traditional Tibetan area of Amdo. Labrang Monastery is home to the largest number of monks outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. Xiahe is about four hours by car from the provincial capital Lanzhou.
In the early part of the 20th century, Labrang was by far the largest and most influential monastery in Amdo. It is located on the Daxia River, a tributary of the Yellow River.
The monastery was founded in 1709 by the first Jamyang Zhépa, Ngawang Tsöndrü.It is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery town outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Labrang Monastery is situated at the strategic intersection of two major Asian cultures—Tibetan and Mongolian — and was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities. In the early 20th century, it housed several thousand monks. Labrang was also a gathering point for numerous annual religious festivals and was the seat of a Tibetan power base that strove to maintain regional autonomy through the shifting alliances and bloody conflicts that took place between 1700 and 1950.[5]
In April 1985 the Assembly Hall burned down. It was replaced and the new building was consecrated in 1990
The monastery complex dominates the western part of the village. The white walls and gilded roofs feature a blend of Tibetan and Indian Vihara architectural styles. The monastery contains 18 halls, six institutes of learning, a gilded stupa, a sutra debate area, and houses nearly 60,000 sutras.
At its height the monastery housed 4,000 monks. Like so many religious institutions, it suffered during the Cultural Revolution; and the monks were sent to their villages to work. After it was reopened in 1980, many of the monks returned; but the government restricted enrolment to around 1,500.[7]
It has a Buddhist museum with a large collection of Buddha statues, sutras and murals. In addition, a large amount of Tibetan language books, including books on history is available for purchase, together with medicines, calendars, music and art objects.
There used to be a great gold-painted statue of the Buddha, more than 50 feet high, which was surrounded by rows of surrounding Buddhas in niches.[8]
The monastery today is an important place for Buddhist ceremonies and activities. From January 4 to 17 and June 26, to July 15, (these dates may change according to the lunar calendar), the great Buddhist ceremony will be held with Buddha-unfolding, sutra enchanting, praying, sutra debates, etc.
The Monastery of Batalha, literally the Monastery of the Battle, is a Dominican convent in the civil parish of Batalha, in the district of Leiria, in the Centro Region region of Portugal.
If you like to use the images please make sure you give credit to my blog post about the Best Monasteries To Visit In Portugal
Rousannou (Ρουσανου) Monastery was founded around 1545 by Maximos and Ioasaph of Ioannina. The reason for the monastery's name is not known - it is actually dedicated to St. Barbara - but may reflect the name of a hermit who occupied the rock. It soon declined and became subject to Varlaam Monastery by 1614.
Meteora - Kalambaka, Greece.
The Monastery of Batalha, literally the Monastery of the Battle, is a Dominican convent in the civil parish of Batalha, in the district of Leiria, in the Centro Region region of Portugal.
If you like to use the images please make sure you give credit to my blog post about the Best Monasteries To Visit In Portugal
The Monastery of the Protection of the Mother of God in Bussy-en-Othe, France.
Having arrived, we settled in a 2-floor apartment in the newly renovated right wing of the monasterys building. Looking out the window I saw the dome of the recently finished church.
Located in the suburb of Chaidari, 11 km to the north-west of central Athens, is the 11th century Daphni Monastery ('daphni' means 'laurel' in Greek). It replaced an earlier monastery, founded on the site of the Sanctuary of Apollo Daphnaios, destroyed by the Goths in 395. Sacked by Frankish Crusaders in 1205, it was later given to the Cistercians, who abandoned it after the arrival of the Ottomans, who in turn presented it to the Greek Orthodox church. Deconsecrated in 1821 and used for a while as barracks and then a psychiatric hospital, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on account of the outstanding late 11th century mosaics that decorate parts of the interior of its octagonal church, the Catholicon, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. They would originally have been much more extensive. A lot of damage was caused by an earthquake in 1999, but the church and its mosaics have since been superbly restored.
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 Shio-Mgvime monastery (Georgian: შიომღვიმე, Shiomghvime, literally meaning "the cave of Shio") is a medieval monastic complex in Georgia, near the town of Mtskheta. It is located in a narrow limestone canyon on the northern bank of the Kura River, some 30 km from Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.
The Shio-Mgvime complex[edit]
According to a historic tradition, the first monastic community at this place was founded by the 6th-century monk Shio, one of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers who came to Georgia as Christian missionaries. St. Shio is said to have spent his last years as a hermit in a deep cave near Mtskheta subsequently named Shiomghvime ("the Cave of Shio") after him. The earliest building – the Monastery of St. John the Baptist – a cruciform church, very plain and strict in its design, indeed dates to that time, c. 560s-580s, and the caves curved by monks are still visible around the monastery and along the road leading to the complex. The church has an octagonal dome covered with a conic floor and once housed a masterfully ornate stone iconostasis which is now on display at the Art Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi. The monastery was somewhat altered in the 11th and 18th centuries, but has largely retained its original architecture.
The Upper Church (zemo eklesia) named after the Theotokos is a central part of the Shio-Mgvime complex constructed at the verge of the 12th century at the behest of King David IV of Georgia. Initially a domed church, it was subsequently destroyed by a foreign invasion and restored, in 1678, as a basilica. A refectory was built between the 12th and 17th centuries and directly communicates with the Cave of St. Shio. A 12th-century small chapel adorned with medieval murals stands separately on a nearby hill.
An archaeological expedition revealed, in 1937, a 2 km long aqueduct supplying the monastic communities from the nearby village of Skhaltba, and chronicled in 1202 as being constructed by Bishop Anton of Chkondidi, a minister at Queen Thamar’s court.
(WIKIPEDIA)
Rila Monastery was founded in the 10th century by St John of Rila, a hermit canonized by the Orthodox Church. His ascetic dwelling and tomb became a holy site and were transformed into a monastic complex which played an important role in the spiritual and social life of medieval Bulgaria. Destroyed by fire at the beginning of the 19th century, the complex was rebuilt between 1834 and 1862. A characteristic example of the Bulgarian Renaissance (18th–19th centuries), the monument symbolizes the awareness of a Slavic cultural identity following centuries of occupation.
Labrang Monastery (Tibetan: བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཁྱིལ་, Wylie: bla-brang bkra-shis-'khyil) is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its formal name is Genden Shédrup Dargyé Trashi Gyésu khyilwé Ling (Tibetan: དགེ་ལྡན་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་བཀྲ་ཤིས་གྱས་སུ་འཁྱིལ་བའི་གླིང༌།, Wylie: dge ldan bshad sgrub dar rgyas bkra shis gyas su 'khyil ba'i gling).
Labrang is located in Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu, in the traditional Tibetan area of Amdo. Labrang Monastery is home to the largest number of monks outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. Xiahe is about four hours by car from the provincial capital Lanzhou.
In the early part of the 20th century, Labrang was by far the largest and most influential monastery in Amdo. It is located on the Daxia River, a tributary of the Yellow River.
The monastery was founded in 1709 by the first Jamyang Zhépa, Ngawang Tsöndrü.It is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery town outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Labrang Monastery is situated at the strategic intersection of two major Asian cultures—Tibetan and Mongolian — and was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities. In the early 20th century, it housed several thousand monks. Labrang was also a gathering point for numerous annual religious festivals and was the seat of a Tibetan power base that strove to maintain regional autonomy through the shifting alliances and bloody conflicts that took place between 1700 and 1950.[5]
In April 1985 the Assembly Hall burned down. It was replaced and the new building was consecrated in 1990
The monastery complex dominates the western part of the village. The white walls and gilded roofs feature a blend of Tibetan and Indian Vihara architectural styles. The monastery contains 18 halls, six institutes of learning, a gilded stupa, a sutra debate area, and houses nearly 60,000 sutras.
At its height the monastery housed 4,000 monks. Like so many religious institutions, it suffered during the Cultural Revolution; and the monks were sent to their villages to work. After it was reopened in 1980, many of the monks returned; but the government restricted enrolment to around 1,500.[7]
It has a Buddhist museum with a large collection of Buddha statues, sutras and murals. In addition, a large amount of Tibetan language books, including books on history is available for purchase, together with medicines, calendars, music and art objects.
There used to be a great gold-painted statue of the Buddha, more than 50 feet high, which was surrounded by rows of surrounding Buddhas in niches.[8]
The monastery today is an important place for Buddhist ceremonies and activities. From January 4 to 17 and June 26, to July 15, (these dates may change according to the lunar calendar), the great Buddhist ceremony will be held with Buddha-unfolding, sutra enchanting, praying, sutra debates, etc.
The monastery of Geghard (Armenian: Գեղարդ, meaning spear) is a unique architectural construction in the Kotayk province of Armenia, being partially carved out of the adjacent mountain, surrounded by cliffs.
While the main chapel was built in 1215, the monastery complex was founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator at the site of a sacred spring inside a cave. The monastery had thus been originally named Ayrivank, meaning "the Monastery of the Cave". The name commonly used for the monastery today, Geghard, or more fully Geghardavank (Գեղարդավանք), meaning "the Monastery of the Spear", originates from the spear which had wounded Jesus at the Crucifixion, allegedly brought to Armenia by Apostle Jude, called here Thaddeus, and stored amongst many other relics. Now it is displayed in the Echmiadzin treasury
Rila Monastery #rilamonastery #rylskimonastyr #goryrila #bulgaria #travelbulgaria #rilaMountains #summerlight #sunnyafternoon #orthodoxarchitecture #monasteryvibes #frescoes #cobblestonestreet #mountainvalley #unescoheritage #historicsite #klasztorrylski #monastyrrylski #goryriła #riłabulgaria #letniepopoludnie #swiatloslonca #architekturaortodoksyjna #malowidlanawscianach #dziedziniecmonastyru #gorskakraglosc #klasztornearkady #riłanationalpark #bulgariatravelguide #rilamountainsbulgaria #canon5dmarkiii
Vardzia
The 12th century cave monastery excavated from the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain is one of the highlights of the trip so far (along with the observatory last night). It is very different from the cave town we visited yesterday, and incredibly impressive. What we see today is a mere shadow of what it was like in its heyday – when everything was covered and invisible to would-be invaders. In its time, there were 13 storeys and over 3000 caves, but an earthquake in the 13th century destroyed nearly all the outer walls, exposing the carefully hidden caves. Over 800 monks lived here back then, now only six remain.
Labrang Monastery (Tibetan: བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཁྱིལ་, Wylie: bla-brang bkra-shis-'khyil) is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its formal name is Genden Shédrup Dargyé Trashi Gyésu khyilwé Ling (Tibetan: དགེ་ལྡན་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་བཀྲ་ཤིས་གྱས་སུ་འཁྱིལ་བའི་གླིང༌།, Wylie: dge ldan bshad sgrub dar rgyas bkra shis gyas su 'khyil ba'i gling).
Labrang is located in Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu, in the traditional Tibetan area of Amdo. Labrang Monastery is home to the largest number of monks outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. Xiahe is about four hours by car from the provincial capital Lanzhou.
In the early part of the 20th century, Labrang was by far the largest and most influential monastery in Amdo. It is located on the Daxia River, a tributary of the Yellow River.
The monastery was founded in 1709 by the first Jamyang Zhépa, Ngawang Tsöndrü.It is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery town outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Labrang Monastery is situated at the strategic intersection of two major Asian cultures—Tibetan and Mongolian — and was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities. In the early 20th century, it housed several thousand monks. Labrang was also a gathering point for numerous annual religious festivals and was the seat of a Tibetan power base that strove to maintain regional autonomy through the shifting alliances and bloody conflicts that took place between 1700 and 1950.[5]
In April 1985 the Assembly Hall burned down. It was replaced and the new building was consecrated in 1990
The monastery complex dominates the western part of the village. The white walls and gilded roofs feature a blend of Tibetan and Indian Vihara architectural styles. The monastery contains 18 halls, six institutes of learning, a gilded stupa, a sutra debate area, and houses nearly 60,000 sutras.
At its height the monastery housed 4,000 monks. Like so many religious institutions, it suffered during the Cultural Revolution; and the monks were sent to their villages to work. After it was reopened in 1980, many of the monks returned; but the government restricted enrolment to around 1,500.[7]
It has a Buddhist museum with a large collection of Buddha statues, sutras and murals. In addition, a large amount of Tibetan language books, including books on history is available for purchase, together with medicines, calendars, music and art objects.
There used to be a great gold-painted statue of the Buddha, more than 50 feet high, which was surrounded by rows of surrounding Buddhas in niches.[8]
The monastery today is an important place for Buddhist ceremonies and activities. From January 4 to 17 and June 26, to July 15, (these dates may change according to the lunar calendar), the great Buddhist ceremony will be held with Buddha-unfolding, sutra enchanting, praying, sutra debates, etc.
2008-07-21 Geghard i nærheten av Jerevan, AM: Huleklosteret Geghard. I dette klosteret ble det som angivelig er Det hellige spyd, det som ble stukket inn i siden på Jesus da han hang på korset oppbevart i lengre tid. I dag er dette viktige relikviet i Echmiadzin, hovedsetet til den armenske kirken.
2008-07-21 Geghard near Yerevan, Armenia: The cave monastery of Geghard. What that is alleged to be the Holy Lance, the one that pierced Jesus’ side at the time of Crucifixion. It has since been moved to Echmiadzin.