Monastery of Horezu
The Monastery of Horezu is considered the masterpiece of the Brancovan style that influenced art across the region in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The monastery was founded in 1690 by Prince Constantin Brancovan, who let it be adorned with wall paintings and other rich decorations. The interior work was done by the Greek artist Constantinos, who also founded an acclaimed school of painting in Horezu. The tradition of Mount Athos was an example. The Brancovan style that developed under these circumstances is a synthesis of Byzantine and Northern Italian Renaissance architecture.
The main monastery consists of the central main church, around which the other buildings are grouped: a refectory, two-story monk’s cells, a bell tower and the prince’s residence. They are enclosed behind a wall. The area also holds another church (Bolnitei) and two hermitages outside the walls. Since 1872 this Monastery is in use as a Nunnery.
Map of Monastery of Horezu
Load mapCommunity Reviews
Nan
On my way from Transylvania to Bucharest, I visited the Monastery in Horezu. I had stayed over night in Targ Jiu and hopped a minibus direction Bucharest, getting off at Horezu. From the Horezu bus station, I walked uphill to the monastery.
It's now more than half a year that I visited. And frankly, nothing really stuck with me. I guess, you can see that it's a rather modern interpretation of an old pattern. It was built in the 17th century and clearly copies medieval Greek orthodox monasteries, e.g., Athos. It lacks a unique Romanian touch. Personally, I found the churches in Northern Romania significantly more impressive.
As mentioned in Els summary text, the inscribed property covers more than the main monastery. Due to bad planning/research I missed it. I saw a very nice picture from Samuel of (I think) Schitul Bolniţa. It's located to the right of the entry. There are also some buildings behind the monastery. It's not well signposted, as far as I could tell, so just snoop around.
Getting There
There are direct buses from Targ Jiu via Horezu to Bucharest. The next larger town is Râmnicu Vâlcea and there are local buses making the connection between Horezu and Râmnicu Vâlcea. Note: The local buses are really slow and do a huge detour through the country side.
The Horezu bus station is a bit outside of the city center at DN65. Don't expect much at the bus station. Upside: It's closer to the monastery, so it saves you a few meters. From the bus station, it's a 45min walk uphill to get to the monastery. You can either follow the car road. Or a small trail where you get a great panorama of the monastery and the mountains (see my picture).
While You Are There
Coming with luggage and not being aware of it, I missed a coule (T): Cula Greceanu. Supposedly, this one is the nicest of the proposed properties and I only managed to get a glimpse from the bus window heading to Râmnicu Vâlcea. I felt reminded of the Kaiping Dialou in China.
Around Râmnicu Vâlcea, you find Primeval Beach forests, some Dacian Limes (T) and Byzantine Church (T). If you travel on, Targ Jiu (T) is a good stopping point.
Joel on the Road
Horezu was our first visit in Romania, and our first encounter with an Orthodox monastery since focusing full-time on World Heritage sites. It's quite an enjoyable site - the walls hiding a brightly-painted Katholikon surrounded by flowers. The portico and interior of the church are both covered with bright paintings done in the "Brâncovenesc style", considered to be the only original Romanian art form. Unfortunately we couldn't film inside, but managed to get some fantastic shots on the portico.
Make sure you head out behind the main church, through the gate and up the hill. Here there's another small chapel covered in paintings, and you can really see how much of the monastery's original outer wall has been destroyed.
Read more from Joel on the Road here.
Tsunami
Japan / USA / Europe - 31-Jan-17 -
I visited the Monastery of Horezu WHS at about 8.30 on a Wednesday morning in early January 2017 by a rental car.
Anybody was able to enter the monastery compound freely for free at that time.
There was some sort of service going on in the main church of the monastery, in which photo is not allowed even without flash.
I walked around the compound to find a small chapel (photo left) further up the hill.
The entrance had double doors, a grill door first and a wooden door second. The grill door was locked, so I could not enter. But the wooden door was open, so I could see what's inside through the grill door. There was no sign for no photo, so I was able to get a snap of the interior (photo right).
Read more from Tsunami here.
John booth
This monastery is attractively located in the hills 4km north of Horezu village. Els' pictures accurately depict the buildings and frescoes, but I liked the small chapel beside the cemetery.
I reached the site by taxi from the bus station in the village. Buses link the village with railway stations at Petrosani, Craiova and Ramnicu Valcea.
Els Slots
The Horezu Monastery is located about a 2-hour drive south of Sibiu, on the road to Targu Jiu. I hadn’t found much visitor information beforehand, so I just hoped it to be open on a Monday morning in late August. When I arrived there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot, and one single souvenir stall out of a row that was open. It’s not a site that appears to be visited by hordes of tourists, certainly not foreign ones.
You have to walk uphill to get to the monastery. The entrance is via a gate in the thick surrounding walls. You can just walk in, there’s no entrance fee and it does appear to be open every day (as it is an active nunnery). From the gate my attention was immediately drawn to the church in the center of the grounds: it is very white and a bit odd shaped (I had seen that already in pictures), and its front portal is completely covered by wall paintings. Clouds had been covering the sun for most of the morning, but fortunately, the sun came out now to brighten up my pictures of this very pretty site.
I slowly walked around in the enclosure, which isn't very large. Under the bell tower is a small refectory, almost like a cave. It holds a table and about 40 chairs, and its walls are completely covered in paintings. What a place to eat every day! The Last Supper is depicted here too.
Several black-clad nuns were ambling about, doing their daily business of which gardening seems to be an important part. The grounds are well kept and adorned with flowers and plants.
I ended my visit at the church, where I first sat down gazing at the frescoes at the entrance. The crowded scenery depicts mainly mythological scenes. The interior of the church consists of two parts: the first holds wall paintings of the monastery's patron, Prince Brancovan, and his family. At the end, there is a massive wooden altar.
In all, I spent about an hour at the monastery. It's located quite far from any other sights (although there are other monasteries in the area). So I just had lunch at Horezu Town, of pottery fame, and after that made my way back to Sibiu.
Community Rating
- : Małgosia Łupicka Lisu Marian Violeta Mihai Dascalu
- : Jeanne OGrady KentishTownRocks Bodil Ankerly
- : Juropa Harry Mitsidis Roman Raab Feldhase Elia Vettorato WalGra
- : Joel on the Road Aspasia Dagmara Remigiusz
- : Els Slots Randi Thomsen Shandos Cleaver Cezar Grozavu JoStof Ivan Rucek Joebobs DavidS Tevity Alex Marcean
- : Svein Elias Martina Rúčková Kurt Lauer Joyce van Soest Jonas Hagung Philipp Peterer
- : Zoë Sheng Solivagant Nan Philipp Leu
Site Info
Site History
1993 Inscribed
1991 Referred
Bureau - pending better protection. Mission to be sent to Romania to help
Site Links
Connections
The site has 8 connections
Constructions
Geography
Religion and Belief
Timeline
Trivia
WHS on Other Lists
World Heritage Process
Visitors
114 Community Members have visited.