Golia Monastery

The first church was built by the chancellor Ioan Golia around 1550. The Voivode Vasile Lupu rebuilt the ensemble in 1653, and his son, Ștefăniță Vodă, finished the project in 1660. On the façades, the Neoclassic elements combine with the Renaissance emphases, while the roof decorations belong to the style of Polish and Russian Baroque. The inner Byzantine original fresco is similar to that of the UNESCO-honoured churches in Northern Moldavia. The chandelier offered by the Tsar Peter the Great, the princiary thrones, and the iconostasis are priceless. The writer Ion Creangă was deacon here for six years and lived in an old house inside the monastery, which hosts a little ethnographic museum. The steeple with its 120 steps offers an impressive view over the city. (PHOTO : Cosmin CEUCĂ)