Sinaia monastery

GPS Coordinates:
45.35542 N, 25.54922 E

Mihail Cantacuzino (1650-1716) second in command of Walachian troops,went on a pilgramage with his family and reached mount Sinai, where he visited an old IVth century Orthodox monastery Sf. Ecaterina. The impact was so stong that once home he commenced the building of the monastery, and named it after the mount. The town which came into being was also named Sinaia. The monastery built in between 1690-1695 had a double function: first of defence and surveillance, of the Prahova valley commercial route, and of cherity: providing shelter for the needy. Here one can find the Old Church, the Great Church, a museum and Tache Ionescu's (prime minister during WWI) grave.

The Great Church was built in between 1842-1846. In 1892 the Bell Tower was added, with its 1700 kg weighing bell. Tkanks to Carol I this was the first church lit by electic power. The paintings of the church were made by a Danish painter Aage Exner. They show Queen Elisabeth and her daughter Mary who died at a young age, and Mihai Cantacuzino, the founder of the church. The furniture is carved wood, the altar screen, the furniture of the nave and the two thrones are gold plated.

The King's chair bears the royal emblem and the 'Nihil sine Deo' (Nothing without God) inscription. Elisabeth's chair bears the monogram E.D. One of the remarkable pieces in the museum is Ana Roth's epitaf emroidered with silk and gold thread, made in between 1897-1900. There are two Russion icons representing Saint Serghei and Saint Nicholas, which were a gift from the Russian czar Nikolai II, to Nifon Arhimandritul, the leader of the monastery at that time, on baptising Nicolae, King Ferdinad's son.

In 1895 200 years after the Old Church was built the country's first exhibition of religious objects was opened. In between 1897-1903 Eforia which manages the wealth of the monastery renovated the building. It was then that the church gained its today look.

The restoration of the Old Church was completed in 2006. The painting on the porch and the open hallway are original, made by Pârvu Mutu, the favourite painter of the Cantacuzinos. The chapel was built in 1695. Its size and more than 300 years old, blackened paintings evoke the religious creeps of the catacombs in the early years of Christianity.