Mănăstirea Curchi

What you see

After a drive through the Codri forests of Orhei you reach a walled complex with lawns, flower beds and five churches. The eye-catcher is the large baroque cathedral, whose dome, according to moldova.travel, is 57 metres high, making it the tallest church top in the country. Next to it stand a stone summer church from 1810, dedicated to the Nativity of the Mother of God, and a winter church of St Demetrius from 1844. A fourth church, of St Nicholas, was built between 1936 and 1939 but never finished.

The restored façades and the well-kept garden give the whole place a solemn, almost park-like feel, in contrast to the austere rock monasteries along the Dniester.

History

According to the national tourism portal, Curchi began in 1773 as a wooden hermitage founded by the brothers Iordache and Mihail Curchi. In the 19th century it grew into a large monastery with stone churches. During the Second World War a fire destroyed two bell towers, the icons and the iconostasis of the cathedral.

In the Soviet period the monastery was closed. From 1959 to 1999 it housed a psychiatric hospital. Only in 2005 did Curchi regain monastery status, in a badly dilapidated state. A fundraising campaign led by the Moldovan president made the restoration of the churches possible.

Tips for your visit

Curchi lies about 14 kilometres south-west of the town of Orhei, close to the village of Curchi in the commune of Vatici. It combines well with Orheiul Vechi, some 35 kilometres further by road, in a single day trip from Chișinău. The monastery also welcomes pilgrims and has its own website, manastireacurchi.md.

The complex is a working monastery: only take photographs inside the churches if it is explicitly allowed, and bear in mind that services are held in the morning. Come in the late afternoon and you will see the light on the domes and the white façades.