Agapia Monastery is reached by a long drive down a side road from Targu Neamt. It is a lovely rural settling surrounded by wooded slopes. The monastery was one of the later ones to be built in the mid C17th and the frescoes inside the church date from the mid C19th when the monastery was restored. These were painted by 18 year old Nicolae Grigorescu who is considered to be one of the greatest Romania fresco artists. It is now one of the largest Orthodox monasteries in Romania and surrounded by a village where most of the nuns now live.
The monastery is surrounded by a white defensive wall with a green tiled roof. Nuns cells along the walls are reached from wooden balconies with brightly coloured pots of geraniums along them.Inside there is a white arcade round the base of the walls with a wooden balcony above with more cells. more nuns
The church is simple compared to the other Monasteries
http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/otherholidays/romania/day_six/six_one/index.html
we had seen in Bucovina and has white painted walls.
We visited on 21st May, which is an important day in the Orthodox calendar as it is the saints day of The Emperor Constantine and Helen his mother. The church was full of nuns and villagers. Although we did have chance to go in, it was virtually impossible to see anything. The Museum and carpet workshop was also closed.
Instead we did a walk around the village. While this was interesting, I did rather feel that it was put in as a time filler. The houses were made of wood and many had verandas. They were surrounded by attractive flower gardens.
We visited on a long day’s drive from Guru Humorului to Brasov during an eight day trip to romania. My full trip report with all the pictures is “here.”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/otherholidays/romania/index.html
