Frumoasa Monastery

 

Frumoasa Monastery, with information from Alex

About 500 years ago, near the Cetățuia Forest, on the terrace of the Nicolina brook, the hetman Melentie Balica, a wealthy man of the time and in very good relations with the ruler Petre Șchiopul, built from his own resources the monastery that would be nicknamed "Frumoasa".(Beauty)

The sanctuary has had over time several names, including "Galata de jos", "Sinai", "Balicova" or, as we know it today, "Frumoasa". The monastery was dedicated to "Saints Michael and Gabriel" and was first mentioned on April 10, 1587.

In the middle of the 18th century, during the Russian domination, the monastery complex suffered and several royal buildings were demolished "to kill the boyars money" (Ion Neculce, "The Chronicle of the Land of Moldavia").

Gregory II Ghica is mentioned as the first restorer of the church and, under his guidance, the ensemble was expanded. The monastery received a porch, was covered again, painted inside, endowed with objects of worship, surrounded by stone walls, a bell tower was built. During the same period, two more palaces were built: one outside the walls - of the “ladies” (at that time the monastery belonged to monks) and one inside for the ruler and the boyars.

Currently, the Frumoasa Monastery in Iași is an Orthodox nunnery and you can visit, after the renovation, the Ruins of the Royal Palace, Palaces "on the walls", the Bell Tower and the enclosure wall, the Hanging Gate or the Funerary Monument of the Sturza family.