Museum of ”Metropolit Dosoftei”

The „House with Arcades” was built in 1677 on the old Saint Friday Street. It is one of the oldest standing buildings in Iași, with a medieval Byzantine architecture, in a cubic shape with massive walls. Close to the building stands the imposing bronze statue made by Iftimie Bârleanu in 1975,representing the scholar Bishop Dosoftei Barilă.Dosofteiinstalled the second printing press of Moldavia here and is remembered in history as the first hierarch who translated religious books into Romanian(Psalter in Verse)and who militated for using Romanian inside the Church. Since 1970, the building hosts the Old Literature Section of the Romanian Literature Museum. The collections include the first print in Romanian from Moldavia (Cazania, 1643), old icons, and cult objects. (PHOTO : Mihai BULAI)