Stavropoleos Monastery was founded in 1724 by Greek archimandrite Ioanide, who built both this church and an inn, that only made it till the end of the 19th century. It was common for the inns built in the centre of Bucharest to include a church in their courtyard, thus many inns appeared as annexes to churches and monasteries, in order to provide a source of income for the holy settlements. Stavropoleos is more than a monastery, it's actually a set of buildings, including the church and annexes, bearing the marks of the Brancovenesc style.

The patron saints of this church are Archangels Michael and Gabriel, but if you're wondering about the name of the monastery, know that Stavropoleos is a Romanian modification of the word "Stauropolis", in Greek, meaning "The City of the Cross". Stavropoleos hosts an impressive collection of icons, religious items, artistic pieces and fragments of paintings from the churches that were demolished during the Communist regime.

While visiting this monument of Byzantine culture, you can admire various types of icons, either painted on wood or glass, received or bought by the church's officials. Among the unique items here there's also a censer received as a gift from Ioanichie of Stavropolei in 1734, a candle from 1788, a gospel with 1735 inscription, an icon depicting Jesus – the tree of life, meant as a gift from Ioanichie in 1731.

The unique collection of the monastery also includes a fragment of carpentry from a wooden church in Southern Transylvania, a throne bearing the emblem of the Mavrocordat family, a Brancovenesc style candlestick and much, much more. The Stavropoleos library includes over 8000 books of theology, Byzantine arts, history and music. Old books are also to be mentioned, like 80 manuscripts and 400 printed works, very rare items in churches nowadays, specially since these are Romanian, Greek and Church Slavonic writings.

Aside from the works of art and religious architecture, the Stavropoleos settlement includes many series and collections of books and publications, both local and international. The Meridiane publishing house has a strong presence among those, but you can also see British Museum-edited catalogs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art managing these publications. European Medieval culture is also present here, together with history books, that detail the Romanian culture and civilisation in the 18th century and are very much sought after by students and researchers from this field of expertise.

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Spread the word about Romania! Share this article and let others know about the experiences Romania has to offer.

Subscribe to Newsletter: