Barnovschi Church

The construction of the church “Assumption of Mary” was initiated in 1627 by the Prince of Moldavia, Miron Barnovschi–Movilă, a very gentle and pious ruler. Accused of betrayal, and after refusing to convert to the Islamic religion, he was beheaded in Constantinople by the order of Sultan Murad IV, in 1633. Inside the church we can notice the open porch in a Baroque style, the iconostasis of 1788 and the wonderworking icon of Saint Ann holding the Virgin Mary. The massive stone steeple, the ruins of the nearby cells and the basements of the Father superior’s house, near the blocks of flats, managed to survive the radical planning of the Civic Centre during the communist period. In the 1980s, blocs of flats were erected very close to the church door, in the monastery’s yard. (PHOTO : Mihai BULAI)