Țipova Monastery
Mănăstirea Țipova
Interesting facts
- The earliest written mention of monks here is a document dated 13 November 1699 that concerns the storage of bread.
- In 1722 the property was ceded to the hetman Dumitrașco Racoviță, before the community was formally raised to the rank of monastery in 1815.
- An inventory of 1824 lists a library of 81 items, ten monks' cells and a watermill belonging to the community.
- Earlier, in 1847-1848, it lost its independence and became a dependency of the nearby Saharna Monastery, before being re-established in 1920.
- A new stone church was consecrated above the caves in 1831, alongside the rock-cut chambers.
- The ruins of an ancient Dacian fortress lie on a neighbouring hill above the river.
- The National Bank of Moldova issued its 50-lei commemorative coin with the monastery in 2013.
Why it is worth it
Țipova is the largest cave monastery in Moldova and one of the largest in Eastern Europe: a honeycomb of churches, cells and passages cut into a limestone cliff high above the right bank of the Dniester. The complex extends over three levels about a hundred metres above the river, with more than twenty chambers linked by tunnels, galleries and stairways, its windows and doorways opening onto the river valley.
The rock-cut monastery grew over many centuries. The oldest part, with the Church of the Holy Cross, is dated to the eleventh and twelfth centuries; a second complex with the Church of Saint Nicholas followed in the fourteenth century; and the largest, centred on the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, was carved between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Tradition says the first cells served as refuges from Tatar raids. A document of 1699 refers to the monks of Horodiște, the old name of the place, and in 1776 the monk Vartholomew renewed the community; in 1828 buildings were added on the hilltop above. The monastery was damaged in the Second World War fighting along the Dniester and was protected as a monument from 1975. It is depicted on a Moldovan 50-lei commemorative coin and on postage stamps.
Legends cling to the cliffs. Local tradition holds that Stephen the Great, the fifteenth-century prince of Moldavia, was married here, and an inscription interpreted as referring to the wedding led to the village being renamed Ștefan cel Mare between 1932 and 1940. Another story claims that Orpheus, the poet of Greek myth, spent his last years in this valley. Beside the monastery the Țipova stream cuts down through the limestone in a series of waterfalls, the highest about 16 metres.
Getting there
The monastery stands near the village of Țipova in Rezina District, on the right bank of the Dniester. It is reached from Chișinău by the R20 road towards Rezina and then by local roads. The nearest town in a straight line, Rîbnița, about 18 km away, lies across the river. The nearest airport is Chișinău International Airport (RMO), about 75 km away in a straight line.
On these lists
47.60311, 28.98483per Wikidata