Monastery of Old Orhei in Moldova
Monasteries located throughout the country occupy an important place among Moldovan attractions. Each of these holy places deserves special attention, in particular the monastery in Old Orhei.
It is worth starting with the fact that this is not just a monastery, but a historical and archaeological complex with a long history. This is evidenced not only by textbooks and history books, but also by visual evidence.
So, no more than 2 kilometers from the modern monastery is Traiansky Val - an ancient defensive structure from a natural earth embankment, apparently created in the days of the Geto-Dacians. Another legacy of antiquity is in the rock monastery - these are monastic cells located in the rock at the foot of the monastery.
From a distance one can notice peculiar cells in the landscape, but these are nothing more than windows in the cells.
Meanwhile, the architecture of a modern monastery is also impossible to ignore. Perhaps the building of the temple itself is not remarkable, but to a greater extent it is attracted by its surroundings and decoration.
Firstly, these are incredibly neat and well-groomed flower beds with such a palette of colors that you will only see in a fairy tale. Secondly, it is a stone path, gates and walls that enclose the territory of the temple: simple and tasteful, and, most importantly, in the style of the Middle Ages.
However, the delights of Old Orhei do not end there. In the courtyard of the temple there is an old water pumping station, which has been giving cool life-giving water to all travelers and wanderers for many years. A few steps away from it there is a huge bell, which has preserved the ancient inscriptions in the church Moldovan language.
Also behind the building of the temple there is an entrance to a through underground cell, where you can not only pray to icons and meet a monk serving there, but also light candles for health and peace. From the same cell there is an exit to a small stone ledge, from which you can look closely at the rocky monastery and simply admire the vastness of the Moldavian fields washed by Raut.
As a pleasant addition to Old Orhei, surprises are prepared: for history lovers, this is a small historical museum with unique exhibits, and for believers or simply dreamers - a large stone cross in the immediate vicinity of the temple, touching which, you can make a wish. Then you need to go around the cross three times, and all that remains is to wait for the fulfillment of the wish.