Capriana & Hinacu Monasteries

Capriana & Hincu Monasteries

Capriana monastery has been under the protection of an important number of Moldavian rulers: Alexander the Kind, Stephen the Great and Saint, Petru Rares and Alexander Lapusneanu. Capriana Monastery is situated not far from the Straseni town and represents the architectural ensemble, which includes the Church of Virgin’s Assumption (1545), Churches of Saint Nicholas (1840) and Saint George (1903).

The most ancient is Virgin’s Assumption Church founded by Petru Rares in 1545. It has a triconchal lay-out.
After the reconstruction by Metropolitan Gavriil Banulescu- Bodoni in 1820, it kept unchanged only the decorative apses with arcature. In the course of construction, a bell-house with a pyramidal roof and an octagonal dome with a bulbous turret over the naos were built. The most magnifi cent is the Saint George Church, built in style of late Baroque in 1840.
The winter church of Saint Nicholas has the same traditional architecture like other medieval Moldavian structures.
The tomb of metropolitan Gavriil Banulescu-Bodoni is situated on the territory of monastery. Metropolitan Gavriil Banulescu-Bodoni, a prominent fi gure of our culture and Orthodoxy, was at the head of the Church since the occupation of Bessarabia and its annexation to Russian Empire, during the years 1813-1821.

Not far from the monastery, in the forest, there is an oak, which is called by the local villagers the Oak of Stephen the Great and Saint.
In the shade of that oak Stephen the Great and Saint took a rest after one of the battles.
Capriana is a true monument to the faith. Its walls keep the distant legends about the creation of monastery and a whole historical epoch of the evolution of Moldavian people…

The Hincu Convent is situated on the river Coghilnic, 70 km from the capital of Moldova, in a valley, surrounded by hills and secular forest.

Founded in 1678, the Convent was one of the richest monasteries on the south of Moldova from the XVIIth century.
People come to the Convent in great number and, especially, in the name-day of Saint Paraschiva, celebrated on October 27 (according to the church calendar).

The legend about the foundation of convent says that once, one of the eminent courtiers of the XVIIth century, Mihalcea Hincu with his daughter Paraschiva, escaping the Tatar foray, on the one clearing of Codri forest swore to built a monastery at that place if they survive. Mihalcea Hincu kept his word. During the XVIIth c., the wooden churches and cells were many times destroyed by the Tatars’ invasions. In hard times the Saint Paraschiva Monastery remained uninhabited.

In 1835 a stone summer church was built in Russian- Byzantine style. Later, in 1841, there came a church for the winter season.

From 1956 to 1990 the convent was closed by the Soviet authorities, and it functioned as a sanatorium for the Ministry of Health instead.
In 1990, at the request of the local population, the Hincu Monastery was reopened, becoming one of the most well arranged and most visited religious communities.
A lot of water springs surround the convent, one of them is mineralized. To our days, the Convent pleases the eyes and hearts of believers and visitors.

CAPRIANA & HINCU - the oldest monasteries in Cordu forest

# of pers.	Tour services: transportation, guide's assistance, entrance fee, EUR/per group	Additional fees: lunch, EUR/per pax
# of pers.	Tour duration - 4 hours	Tour of Hincu and Capriana Monastery + lunch, 5 hours
1	85€	30€
2	100€	28€
3-4	110€	22€
5-15	258€	18€
16-31	438€	16€
32-49	518€	16€

Infoline: 022 850 750