Mănăstirea Condrița

What you see

Condrița lies on the edge of the village of the same name, beside the Catargul stream and surrounded by the forests of the Codri. There are two churches: one dedicated to St Nicholas and a Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God with a large crypt. According to moldova.travel, the buildings have almost fortress-like walls about 1.5 metres thick, and the ceiling paintings are still the 19th-century originals.

In the courtyard lies a stone with a cross and an illegible inscription. According to the monks, it marks the site of an 18th-century wooden church, the forerunner of the present complex.

History

Some sources date the beginnings of the monastery as early as 1616, but the oldest documentary evidence points to around 1783. Condrița long depended on Căpriana Monastery, its mother house on the other side of the forests, and only became independent in 1918.

Like most monasteries in the Moldavian SSR, Condrița was closed during the communist period. Monks came back in 1993. The village itself is small: at the 2024 census Condrița had 547 inhabitants. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Chișinău, although it feels like deep countryside.

Tips for your visit

At about 30 kilometres by road, Condrița is one of the easiest monasteries to reach from the capital, roughly a 35-minute drive. It fits well into a half day with Căpriana, its former mother monastery, which lies deeper in the Codri. Together they give a good idea of how the monasteries in this forest region were linked to one another.

The monastery is one of the most visited spiritual places in the country; at weekends many visitors come from Chișinău. If you are looking for quiet, come during the week. The wooded surroundings are good for a short walk, but paths are not marked everywhere: stick to clear tracks or take an offline map.