Description

Capriana & Hincu monasteries tour includes:

• Transportation
• English speaking guide
• Visiting Capriana monastery
• Visiting Hincu monastery

See below more details about the itinerary points included in this tour.

Itinerary

Capriana monastery

Founded in 1429, Căpriana monastery is one of the oldest monasteries of Moldova. The monastery is located in Căpriana village, 40 km north-west of Chișinău.

Established in medieval Moldavia, Căpriana is situated in a picturesque forested area once called Codrii Lăpușnei.

The first significant reference dates from a document issued in 1429 that gave Căpriana the status of royal monastery on behalf of Alexander the Good. In this deed the holy abode was referred to as "mănăstirea de la Vâșnovăț unde este egumen Chiprian" (the monastery of Vâșnovăț where the hegumen is Chiprian) and was given in the possession of Alexander's wife - princess Marena.

After a period of decay, the monastery was rebuilt at the behest of Petru Rareș, from 1542 to 1545.

Hâncu monastery

The Hâncu Monastery is a monastery in Bursuc village, Moldova.
The monastery was founded in 1678 by the Great High Steward Mihail Hancu after one of his daughters expressed a desire for the religious life. She became a nun and took the name of Parascheva. The convent was known by the name of Viadica until the 17th century.

In the middle of the 18th century, when the Tatars invaded, the nuns left the convent. After the Russian army arrived in Bessarabia under the command of Field Marshall Rumeantev in 1770-1772, the Hancu family successors asked the monk Varlaam from the Varzaresti Monastery to take care of the abandoned convent. Varlaam, together with a group of monks who came with him, took care of the household and repaired the cells, and in time the monastery became a living place for the monks.

In 1944, the monastery and all its holdings were nationalized. In 1965, the monastery was closed. The monks were forced to leave. In 1978, the monastery was transferred to the Institute of Medicine and it became a sanatorium for people suffering from tuberculosis and a spa for students and employees. Saint Pious Parascheva summer church was later turned into a club.

In 1990, Hancu Monastery was re-established as a place for monks, but in 1992 the community was abolished. However, in the spring of 1992, Hancu became a convent for nuns. Later that year, in September 1992, reconstruction of the monastery began. In 1993, the repairs to the Holy Virgin Dormition winter church, built in 1841, were finished. In 1998 the interior of the church was repainted. Saint Pious Parascheva summer church, built in 1835, was repaired in 1996. Three old buildings constructed in 1841 remain untouched on the monastery’s territory.

Today the monastery is home to a vibrant community of nuns.