Mănăstirea Căpriana

A gift from fourteen twenty-nine

In fourteen twenty-nine, Prince Alexandru cel Bun signed a charter. He gave a monastery in the woods princely status and granted it to his wife, Princess Marena. Today that monastery is called Căpriana. It still lies among the wooded hills of the Codri, some forty kilometres from Chișinău. It is one of the oldest monasteries in Moldova. Arriving today, you drive through oak and beech until the forest opens and the domes appear. It seems a quiet place, but Căpriana long stood close to power.

The church of Petru Rareș

Archaeologists date a first stone church to around fourteen twenty-five. Several princes supported the monastery, among them Ștefan cel Mare. After a period of decline, Petru Rareș had the main church rebuilt between fifteen forty-two and fifteen forty-five. That Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God still stands. It is considered the oldest surviving church in the country. Its sober walls show the architecture of the medieval Principality of Moldavia, long before the Russian era.

Books and a metropolitan

Căpriana was also a place of learning. The monastery had one of the richest libraries in Moldavia, including manuscripts and books from the Zograf monastery on Mount Athos. Behind the bell tower lies the grave of Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni. He led the church of Bessarabia from eighteen thirteen to eighteen twenty-one, the year he was buried here. The province had just been joined to the Russian Empire, and he played a major role in building up its church.

Years of silence

After the Second World War, everything changed. In nineteen forty-seven the monks were driven out, and in nineteen sixty-two the monastery closed. A sanatorium for children with tuberculosis moved into the buildings. One church became a village club, another a storehouse. The famous library vanished, and no one knows where the books went. Having survived five centuries, the monastery decayed within a few decades.

The restoration

In nineteen eighty-nine, monastic life returned. Between two thousand and three and two thousand and five came a major restoration, paid for by the state and private donors. In twenty sixteen, the metropolitan's remains were found again. That same year he was recognised as a local saint. Today the site has three churches: the old church of Petru Rareș, a Saint George's church from eighteen forty and a winter church from nineteen oh three.

The oak of Ștefan

In the forest near the monastery stands an old oak. Tradition calls it the oak of Ștefan cel Mare. The prince is said to have rested there after a hard battle. No one can prove it. But the monastery itself shares something with that tree. It stood here while borders were redrawn around it again and again, by princes, sultans, tsars and party bosses. It was closed, emptied and forgotten. And yet it still stands, with its churches among the trees.